Peace of mind…Vital to health and well being…Procrastination…

View along the highway to Hanalei.

It’s easy to forget the value of peace of mind and quickly it can be whisked away in a moment from a phone call, a disappointing email or the sudden change of plans when something we thought was “in the bag” actually is not.

The beach on the way to the town of Hanalei.

We’ve found that one of the most influential aspects of our travels is having peace of mind, providing our health and health and well being of those we love is intact, as a result of avoiding procrastination.

We don’t have the privilege of procrastinating for long. Most tasks facing us, if not attended to promptly, may result in a domino effect that could become considerably costly in both time and money. We strive to avoid putting anything off for too long.

A tiny island off the coast in Kilauea.

As we near the time of departure wherever we may be living at the time, the list begins to accumulate as if it has a mind of its own. That’s about now with about three weeks until departure. The list includes the following:

• Arrange online for our visas for Australia, which we’ll be entering and exiting on several occasions over the next two years. 
• Pay baggage fees online in advance of the upcoming flight (20-minute flight from Kauai to Oahu). 
• Cleaning the property to ensure it is as spotless as it was when we arrived which includes using oven cleaner to clean the bottoms of the pots and pans we used, rearranging the cupboards once our food it out, moving the furniture back to its original place which we often move to accommodate our needs and my most dreaded, cleaning the refrigerator.
• Tossing old worn clothing and almost-empty toiletries.
• Pack everything one day prior to departure, making piles a few days prior.
• Checking on upcoming accommodations to ensure they’ll have a roll of toilet paper, a bar of soap, towels and bottled water waiting for us in the event our flight arrives too late for shopping. 
• Check on the safety of drinking the tap water where we’ll be living.
• Check on the location of the best local grocery store.
• Get the password for the Internet.
• Contact Julie (our designated contact) with flight and accommodations, information, and inform her once we’ve arrived. 
• Check on the availability of SIM cards for our phones allowing us to make calls when away from our laptops, check maps and use data as needed.
• Ensure we have enough cash on hand for tips and taxis.

Also important when leaving the US for this extended period, we’ve had to be certain we had any necessary supplies or clothing on hand before we pack. Yesterday, we received a 20-pound package from our mailing service with supplies we’ve ordered. 

As always it was like opening a gift as Tom cut the box open for me while I stood by anxiously awaiting to go through its contents. Included in the box was such things as an electric razor for Tom (blades so expensive everywhere), a haircutter (I’m going to try to do a buzz cut for Tom which we’ll write about with photos), three pairs of Tom’s favorite cargo shorts with lots of pockets and a few cosmetic items for me.

Narrow one-way bridge on the way to Hanalei as we headed to Tunnels Beach.

The most exciting item in the box for me was the six new tee shirts. As I took off the tags, neatly folding them, I went through the drawers to determine what I was ready to toss to replace these. It wasn’t difficult. I found several shirts I hardly wear either due to wear and tear or a small stain that wouldn’t come out in the wash. I’d never wear a shirt with a stain so off in the garbage it went along with several other items.

As a result, my clothing load is back to its usual weight which won’t result in any excess baggage fees for the upcoming flights to include a flight on June 11th from Sydney to Cannes (information for which we recently posted).

A sandbar at the beach.

Another task we’ll accomplish on Monday is to arrange for the extension of the rental car which ends on May 15th when originally we’d planned to go back to Oahu for 9 days. But, after we realized how much we like it here in Kauai and how comfortable we are in this condo, we arranged an extension with the owner until May 23rd when we’ll fly to Oahu, staying over one night.

After spending 11 nights in Oahu when we first arrived in Hawaii, we’d decided spending 9 more nights wouldn’t appeal to us. There’s more commotion in Honolulu/Waikiki that we’d prefer. 

Crossing the Hanalei River on a one-way bridge. Notice the horse in the background.

Instead, we’ll spend one night at a hotel close to our favorite restaurant, Burger in Paradise where I had the best Cobb salad on the planet, and Tom, the best burger. It’s funny but we chose to stay overnight in Oahu, more to return to this restaurant than to make a stress free trip to the ship.  Well, almost.

We could easily have flown to Oahu on the same day as the cruise and taken a taxi to the pier. But, in our attempt to make travel as stress-free as possible, we decided to stay overnight. We’ll pack what we need in the duffel bag avoiding the necessity of opening our luggage, perhaps even wearing the same clothes (different underwear) two days in a row.

This tied up horse was grazing in the yard of an oceanfront property.

In my old life, I’d have been planning what to wear to board the ship; the outfit, the shoes, the purse, and the jewelry. Now, I throw on a pair of shorts or jeans, a tee-shirt, the same everyday shoes, and the same everyday earrings and I’m good to go. How I’ve changed. Tom does it as he always did. Nothing has changed there.

Also, there were credit cards in the package (when the others had expired) which we immediately activated and signed. Our snail mail is down to a minimum; most often government and pension stuff. 

With recent rains almost daily, vegetation is a lush green color.

After removing all the packaging and tags on the items in the box which, by the way, the 20-pound box cost $100 to mail, UPS from Nevada to Kauai, we put everything away feeling confident nothing upset our total baggage weight.

Today, it’s sunny and if it continues for another hour we just may head to the pool. Tonight is pot luck dinner at the home of friends Alice and Travis along with another couple, Louise and Steve’s who’s home we visited at our first Full Moon party. Without a doubt, this will be another enjoyable evening.

Ke’e Beach at the Napali Coast. We stopped by to see if there were any Hawaiian Monk Seal resting in the sand of which there were none.

We’re bringing salad and low carb muffins to share, with steak for Tom and yellowfin tuna for me for their grill.  Easy.

As we begin to knock off the items on the above list, we’ll be assured as always that we’ll have peace of mind.  Failure to procrastinate is imminent.

Happy Friday! Happy weekend!

                                               Photo from one year ago today, May 2, 2014:

These nuts and dried fruits sat in the sun day after day. For details from that date when Tom was sick, and I was being bitten by no-see-ums at night, and we couldn’t find insect repellent anywhere, please click here.