A Little Update

Hello everyone!! I wanted to write this update to explain why i havent had a new post in a while.

I landed Sunday in Brisbane, AU safely and my friends were waiting at the airport to pick me up. Then we drove about an hour down south to the Gold Coast where my friend has a house. Thanks to their incredible generosity theyre letting me stay here for free for as long as i need to get a job and get settled since ill be living in AU for the next year. The only downside is there is no internet at the house! I got an Aussie phone and am using it to write this post. As soon as i can i will find internet to continue filling yall in on the wonders of Indonesia!!

Youll hear from me soon...

Little Blonde Traveler

Monkeys in Indonesia...They Own the Place!

So, aside from the occasional zoo, I have never seen monkeys in a "real-life" atmosphere. I.e. I've never seen monkeys not in a cage before. You always see on movies set in Asian countries monkeys running all around, but I hadn't seen a single monkey in Bali until I went down to the very tip of the island to the Uluwatu Temple.

I went alone, and all around the entrance to the temple are signs warning you about the monkeys. And people offer to walk around the temple with you to guard you from the monkeys...for a fee, of course. I figured, hey, the monkeys can't be that bad! I stashed my sunglasses and necklaces in my backpack. Checked to make sure all my zippers were secure and hidden, and then headed into the temple with my camera in hand. And this is what I found...

I had a monkey come very close to attacking me at the very beginning. He was being groomed by some other monkeys and didn't like how close I was getting with my camera I guess. He ran at me, barring his teeth, and started yanking at my sarong (which you're required to wear to enter the temples). I held tight onto it and stared him straight in the eye, keeping my face and voice as calm as possible as I said, "No." After a few seconds of tense stand off, he lost interest and went back to the other monkeys. I ran like hell out of that area only to stumble across an annoying group of French 20-something-year-olds who were messing with a large family of monkeys. Then, in the middle of all of it, the alpha male reached into the pockets of one of the guys and stole his wallet!!

Smart monkey!! The French group, panicking, kept trying to entice the monkey to let go of the wallet by throwing food at him, but the monkey just ate the food with one hand and kept the wallet in the other. Then, as the French people started to get angry, the alpha male walked over to one of the other monkeys...AND STARTED HUMPING HER WITH THE WALLET IN HAND!! Oh my gosh, it was probably the greatest thing I saw all day! The French people were freaking out, but the rest of the group of people that had watched were laughing their heads off. Serves those dumb French people right.


Main Lesson: DON'T MESS WITH THE MONKEYS...or they'll sure as hell mess with you.


After I left them to keep perusing around the temple, I stumbled across the most adorable thing of all time. A group of juvenile monkeys were playing in a small pool of water...and it was so hilarious that I had to take a video of it!

A few days later I headed up to the middle of Bali to a town called Ubud. In Ubud is the very famous Monkey Forest where hundreds (if not thousands) of monkeys run free. It's obviously become quite a big tourist attraction and I was hesitant to go in at first...but I'm glad I did. Because I was able to snag these amazing photographs and memories...

So what I learned through all of these monkey encounters...they're not as cute as they look behind the cages. They are seriously intelligent, cunning, devious, and slightly-dangerous animals and should be treated as such. My word of advice if you ever find yourself around wild ones: Enjoy them, but never EVER underestimate what they're capable of. 

Afterall, they are our distant relatives, right? 

~Little Blonde Traveler

How to Party...Bali Style

As a solo female traveler, I have a certain amount of rules that I've created for myself to adhere to while in foreign countries. One of those rules happens to be not to party...but when I'm with a group of people that I trust, I give in a little bit. I never get anywhere near as drunk as I would with my best friends back home, but still...sometimes it's good to let loose a little bit. And luckily, my first full day in Bali I stumbled across some of the most amazing people I've ever met...

The Boys:

Ben (Switzerland), Dan (Australia), Pat (Canada), Chris (Canada), Alex (U.S.A.), and Nik (U.S.A.)

And The Ladies:

Judith (Netherlands), Stacey (U.S.A.), Alicia (Singapore), and me!

After a full day on the beach we all went back to the hostel and met up with even more people before all heading out to a bar sports bar down the street to watch the Olympics. And let me tell you what...going to a bar in a foreign country like Indonesia, to sit there and drink with 9 other people, all from totally different countries, and all cheer on each other's teams for the 2012 Summer Olympics...absolutely incredible. I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to get those feelings and memories out of my head. I haven't been as happy as I was then in a long, long time. :]

After an hour or two watching the Olympics we all decided to head to a better bar and after some LONG walking, we stumbled across an amazing little bar with bean bags to sit on...on the beach.

We all smoked some Hasish (don't know if I'm spelling that right), which we call Hookah back home. Had a few drinks and just talked and goofed off like we had all known each other for at least a few months, not just a few hours!!

After the beach Judith headed back to the hostel but all the others were ready to go to a club. I was still sleepy (even though I had slept like 15 hours the night before) and wasn't really in the "SHOTS!" kind of mood, but everyone kept bitching at me to stay so I did...peer pressure!

Now, for those of you who aren't aware...Bali has had a tumultuous history with the night life nearly a decade ago. On October 12, 2002, the main club street in Kuta, Bali was targeted by radical Islamist group. A man with a bomb in his backpack walked into a crowded club and detonated the bomb, instantly killing dozens while the rest fled outside...which is where an even more powerful car bomb in a van on the other side of the road from the initial bomb was detonated, killing hundreds. In total, 202 people died that night and because of this horrible piece of history, the nightclubs have very extreme security measures now.

With the past in the back of our minds, we headed into a popular club, determined to have an absolute blast...and by god we did!!

Needless to say, we all had a blast that night and (even with a little bit of drama thrown into the mix) we all left as even closer friends than when we began. 

This was only my first real day in Bali and I was already having the time of my life...how could it possibly get even better than this? But, somehow...it did :]

~Little Blonde Traveler

Surfing the Indian Ocean For My Daddy

I woke up before 7 a.m. on my first full day in Bali feeling like a new woman. I had grown accustom to waking up when the sun rose during my two weeks of camping in Kauai and even here I found that my body was still wired that way. Breakfast at the hostel is from 7:15 until 12 (perfect time for the travelers that like to party) and so I grabbed my laptop and headphones and silently crept out of the sleeping dorm to go get my breakfast and Skype with my parents.

After a yummy breakfast of freshly blended watermelon and pineapple juice, toast with mango jam and honey, and a big cup of coffee, I was able to have a few hours of alone time to catch up on things with my blog and Facebook and Skype the family back home before the rest of the hostel woke up and came into the restaurant area too.

A few hours later I was walking down to the beach with Ben (from Switzerland), Pat (from Canada), Stacey (from New York), and Dan (from Australia)...all of us who met the night before in our dorm room. The beach was only about a 6 minute walk from our hostel, but Pat and Ben had been renting their surfboards from the same guy about 20 minutes down the beach who would give us all a good deal.

My dad has been a life-long surfer and taught my sister and I how to surf at a young age, so I was excited to surf in the Indian Ocean...but the moment I saw those waves I panicked. They were NOTHING like waves in the Gulf of Mexico back home and I quickly chickened out. The guys each rented their own boards and all of us got our own beach chairs. Stacey and I relaxed on the chairs while we watched the boys go out and get absolutely pummeled by the waves.

But after a few hours the boys came back in, exhausted, and had their surfboards available. Now, I was still shaking in my boots from those waves out there, but I knew that if my daddy were here...I'd be out there attempting to surf those waves with him in a heartbeat. And like I've had to remind myself nearly a dozen times now...I came all this way to experience new things and do things I'd never get a chance to do back home. So, damnit, I better suck it up and do it for my daddy!!

And so I did. And by god it was scary. I lasted out there only about 20 minutes, but was able to get one good ride in. And Ben saw it as proof! haha. But afterwards I was so stoked I didn't care that I had scratches on my stomach from the wax, or that I had lost one of my earrings. I just couldn't wait to get online and tell my dad what I did.

But more than anything, I wish he had been there to see it.

Love you and misses you bunches, daddy!

~Little Blonde Traveler

Why HOSTELS Are the Key to Successful Travelling

I have said it time and time again to friends and family since my first travels through Asia and Oceania, and I will adamantly repeat it on here a million more times if necessary...HOSTELS ARE THE MOST INTEGRAL PART TO SUCCESSFUL SOLO TRAVELLING.

Now, I know what you Americans are thinking. "Hostels?? Like that horror movie where everyone gets tortured to death?"...or..."Hostels?? Aren't they disgusting and full of sex and drugs?"

Now, Americans, stop it. Right now, wipe all of those preconceived notions out of your head. Hostels are the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to travelling, especially with solo travelling. These are all my own personal opinions, of course, and you don't have to agree with me...but at least hear me out and give me a chance to explain myself.

I landed in Bali, Indonesia around 10 in the morning absolutely exhausted from barely sleeping during my 30+ hours of travelling to get there. I made my way to my hostel that I had found and booked online (at hostelworld.com) and quickly checked in. But I couldn't actually have my bed until after one o'clock which meant that I had a lot of exploring to do to keep me preoccupied. But seriously, check this place out...

Not bad for around $25.00 a night, aye? Now here's the general set-up with most hostels:

-They offer dorm room-type sleeping for the cheapest prices (Between $15 and $30 usually. Mine was a tad bit expensive). Sometimes female only dorms are offered but cost more than mixed dorms.
-They also have private rooms that sometimes have their own bathrooms, but they cost way more.
-Bathrooms are always communal and only sometimes split up by sex. That's showers, sinks, and toilets. This one in Bali was for both boys and girls.
-Some hostels offer free breakfast and some don't, and the free breakfast at this place was the best I've ever had by far.

So there are extreme differences between hostels and hotels, but the reason hostels are so amazing, in my opinion, is the fact that they are abundant with other solo travelers. Especially when you stay in the dorms.

These dorms at The Island Hotel in Bali were beyond fantastic, with 12 beds per mixed dorm, but each with their own reading light and slightly-private dividers. Definitely my favorite hostel (in terms of privacy and cleanliness) as of yet.

And low and behold, as I was unpacking the remnants of my backpack into my drawers beneath my bed, the wonder of hostels quickly showed itself when two girls walked into the room and instantly struck up a conversation with me.

Judith, a beautiful woman from the Netherlands, and Stacey, a lively woman from New York (but living and working in China during the summers) instantly befriended me. Within a few minutes of talking, they invited me down to the beach with them to hopefully meet up with some of the other guys from the dorm who had gone surfing for the day.

I was beyond physically and mentally exhausted from all the traveling, but I knew that I couldn't pass up on an opportunity like this. Especially an opportunity to meet new people. Not to bash my amazing hosts in Hawaii, but meeting new people from other countries is the reason I travel, and I couldn't pass up meeting and hanging out with two amazing girls like this! (Plus, you so rarely encounter other female travelers that you  can't really take the opportunity for granted. Hostels and world solo traveling are definitely more of a guy thing on average.)

As we walked to the beach I realized that the two of them had just met in the dorm the day before...and this is the magic of hostels. Those who travel alone are never truly alone when they go out of their way to stay in hostel dorms like this. It's like an instant sort of bond between people...but I'll explain more of that later.

I'm glad I went to the beach with the girls that afternoon because I quickly learned the art of negotiation with the locals in Bali. If I wanted a beach chair and umbrella, I could get one very cheap, but it's always best to haggle down the price. We ended up getting a lounge chair each for around $2.50. Crazy, right? Back home if they offer it it's for like 20 or 30 dollars! So I enjoyed my time and we all talked and napped before heading back to the hostel a few hours later.

When I went back to the dorm to finally snuggle in bed to call it a super early night, I met the two other guys from the room we were supposed to meet up with on the beach but never did: Pat from Canada and Ben from Switzerland, both 25 and both solo travelers until they met in the dorms a few days earlier.

The four of them were going out later that night, but I knew my physical limit and had to graciously decline. Tomorrow night, I told them. And they told me they'd take my word on it.

Now this is just a slight example of the wonder of hostels, but it's a good introduction for what is to come in my next few blogs. Because the people I met in this hostel...we all became tighter than a family within just a few days. But you'll hear more about that soon...

~Little Blonde Traveler

Saying Goodbye to Hawaii and Hello to Two Days of Travel

One of the hardest things about travelling is having to say goodbye. Whether it be goodbye to new people you met, old friends you visited, or the place itself...saying farewell is always a challenge. And Kauai was no different.

After the four of us had made it up to the top of Koke'e we only spent one night in the freezing cold before we realized that we all wanted to cut the trip a day short. So, we packed our things and set off to hitchhike back down the mountain. Two hours later, low and behold, the same weird Canadian couple that had camped with us in Polihale ended up picking us up and taking us back down the mountain. What luck! From there we caught a two hour long bus ride across the island to Phil's farm.

The next few days back in civilization went by quickly, and a new friend I had made while in Kalalau ended up being a gracious host and providing me with my first real, hot shower in almost two weeks! It was beyond glorious. And then, I practically glued myself to a bar to watch the Olympics I had missed the first opening days of. I freaking LOVE the Olympics and was a little upset to miss so much of them.

But before too long I had to say my goodbyes and catch my LONG flights to Bali, Indonesia. A few hours before my flight out Phil, Maisha, and I all sat at an amazing little coffee shop to say goodbye.

But the goodbyes weren't sad, because Phil and Maisha were about to head off on their own epic journey in a week and we had plans to all meet back up again somewhere in South East Asia at the beginning of 2013. So it won't be a very long goodbye.

I made it to the airport to catch my short flight back to Honolulu where I spent one last night with my old friend Grant, where we sat up watching the Olympics with his roommates before bed. Then, in the morning I treated him to a big breakfast as thanks for his hospitality before saying goodbye (yet again) and catching my 11 and a half hour flight to Manilla, Philippines.

On the plane I sat next to one of the kindest, most genuine woman I have ever met named Emily. Emily was born in the Philippines but is now a U.S. citizen and lives with her husband in Honolulu. We talked nearly the entire trip about her family, and my family, and my travelling plans. She was absolutely blown away by all of my travel plans and only had encouraging things to say. By the time the flight was over I felt like she was a new mother to me and in fact, after she and her brother had walked with me out to the main terminal, she pressed twenty five dollars in my hand against my protest. "Use this to get something to eat," she told me. "And take care of yourself, girl". Seriously, my heart almost burst from her kindness.

And then I prepared myself for the ten hour layover in Manilla. Normally, a ten hour layover isn't too bad because it's always in a huge international airport with plenty to do and see...but this airport was HORRIBLE.

I had to go through security all over again to catch my connecting flight, but ended up bonding with a backpacker couple from America on my way through. They were headed to Jakarta while I was headed to Bali. On our way back through security I encountered a first ever experience...the line was split in half...men through one scanner, and females through another. SO WEIRD! I guess it makes sense since the security is really old so they have to do actual pat downs and females need to pat females, but still...strange.

The terminal we had to wait in was super small and only had three little food stands. But they had "laptop stations" all over. Big desks with chairs and international outlets for you to use the power and wifi for free. That was really nice. And that's actually how I began updating my blog after two weeks in Kauai!

I ate some food and caught up on the Olympics, meeting another man from America on his way to Jakarta for business and had a really nice chat with him before we all boarded our three or four hour flight to Jakarta. The flight was alright, but freezing cold and very turbulent, and we landed in Jakarta just after midnight...and my flight to Bali wasn't until 6:30 in the morning. Which means I had to spend the whole night in the Jakarta airport.

For those of you who don't know anything about Indonesia, it has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world. And all I've ever heard in America is horror stories about it. But as I made my way through customs and immigration to collect my luggage, I had no problem or bad looks at all (and I was wearing shorts). In fact, after I went through immigration the guy who checked my passport ended up asking me to dinner/breakfast. And we turned out to have a blast talking together!

Yeah, this is what it looks like after you travel for over 30 hours!

But after saying goodbye I boarded my quick flight to Bali and landed in the craziest, dirtiest, loudest, most amazing city I've ever been in...just wait till you hear more!!!

~Little Blonde Traveler

How I Learned to Hitchhike

We left our campsite with all of our camping supplies and food on our backs before 10 in the morning. The original plan was for a friend to come pick us up from our campsite to drive us up to Koke'e and go camping and hiking with us for the next few days. But late the night before we got a voicemail from him...he wasn't going to be able to make it anymore.

He was very apologetic, but we were kind of screwed. It was the night before we were scheduled to leave and Matt and Kelsea had taken the truck back to the farm earlier in the day. The farm is on the exact opposite side of the island. There's no way any of Phil or Maisha's friends could come pick us up, and Mike didn't have a car. So there was only one option left...

Hitchhike.

Now, back home in Tennessee NO ONE hitchhikes. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's illegal throughout most of the mainland, if not all of it. It's just too dangerous. All of the horror stories you hear and the freaky stuff that happens...especially if you're a female. It's just out of the question.

But here, in Kauai, apparently everyone hitchhikes. As we started our walk out of the beach campsites Maisha was telling me about how she, her mom, and her three brothers used to have to hitchhike all the time when she was younger. Sometimes they just didn't have a car. And people would always pick them up. Phil didn't have a car for his first few months on the island and also had to hitchhike everywhere. There are so very few people on the island, and everyone trusts each other...you'll always have a local pick you up at some point.

So I grew a pair and agreed to attempt hitchhiking. Plus, I was with three other people, so I'd be safe. But that was the problem they were all worried about. Hitchhiking with two people is generally hard, but four...it had them all nervous.

But I kept my hopes and spirits high and we were only on the main road for about 20 minutes before a woman in an old jeep pulled over to pick us up. She was a yoga instructor from Florida who was in Kauai for some yoga instruction type thing. She was so nice and happy and before long all four of us were dropped off safely back in town at a shrimp shack for lunch.

The road up to Koke'e was right across the street, so after lunch we put on all of our gear again before heading up the road, our thumbs out for every car that passed. A lot of empty trucks kept passing and as the minutes continued and the road grew steeper and steeper we started to get anxious. But finally, a small SUV pulled over and we all hoped in. It was a dad and son who had just flown in from Australia. They had their two suitcases in the back and because we had so much gear, I had to sit in the trunk with everything while the other three squished into the backseat.

It wasn't comfortable, but the company was fantastic. The dad and son were initially from Boston, but had been living in Sydney for the last two years and stopped in Kauai for a few days on their way back to the States. I was able to talk to the dad a lot about Australia and the differences and he gave me some good advice about Sydney. The son did not seem happy at all that his dad had picked up a bunch of hitchhikers his age, and didn't utter a word. You could tell the father was aching just for some conversation.

And as we drove up to Koke'e I became unbelievably happy that they stopped to pick us up because the road got really narrow, windy, and it would have been nearly 5 or 6 miles of hiking uphill before we got to the big Waimea Canyon Lookout Point where we were dropped off at.

Waimea Canyon has been called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific by some, and I had heard a lot of great things about it before getting there. But let me tell you what...laying your eyes on it is an entirely different experience.

We realized (too late) that we still had another four miles to go before we got to the campsite at the top of the mountain next to all the trails. The four of us started walking but because the road is so narrow we had to stop at a lookout point and wait there. But an hour rolled by and no one had stopped. So we decided to split up and Mike and I started walking.

Thirty minutes later we saw Phil and Maisha waving to us as they passed in a car. They had gotten picked up, that was good, but we were still walking. And the chacos I was wearing had dug some nasty holes into my feet that were starting to bleed and Mike's bad ankle was starting to cause him to limp. So we had to stop and wait.

Another hour passed, and just as I was about to give up on the kindness of humans, the most amazing older couple from Texas stopped to pick us up. And boy were they happy to chat with us! They had two daughters our age who had just left after a week in Kauai with them. They kept chatting all the way until they dropped us off at the campsite where we saw Phil and Maisha sprawled out on the grass waiting for us.

Then the couple wanted a picture with us so they could send it back to their kids. And then they told us the most small-island story of the trip...four days earlier when they had taken their daughters to the airport, they stopped to pick up a hitchhiker who was also on their way to catch a flight. And the reason they stopped to pick her up was because of her short, beautiful, curly blonde hair...and her name was Roquel. The same Roquel we partied and camped with for the entire time in Kalalau!! Hahaha. Incredible, right?

Hitchhiking is quite an incredible experience, and I would recommend it to anyone in a heart beat...as long as it's in an area where it's common to do. And the man from Boston/Australia had told us that his older son backpacked through Europe for a few months, and he picked us up because he would want his son to be picked up by safe people all the same. And if I'm ever in the situation where I can pick up a bunch of travelling hitchhikers...I'm doing the exact same.


~Little Blonde Traveler

Not the Best Experience at Polihale

I apologize for taking nearly a week to write my new post. Just as a reminder, I'm writing all of my blog posts between one and two weeks AFTER these events have already taken place. That way it's easier for me to keep experiencing things so I have more to write about! Currently, I'm sitting in my hotel room in Jakarta, Indonesia listening to the Muslim prayers blaring in the street outside and watching fireworks out of my window. I got a VERY bad stomach bug in Bali a few days ago and I'm desperately trying to recover. But that means I get to update y'all! So here we go...

I wish I had more super positive things to write when it comes to Polihale Beach...but after three days there Phil, Maisha, and I were more than ready to get out.

I was told by everyone that Polihale Beach is one of the hottest places on all of Kauai (especially in the summer) but our second day there it rained for nearly five hours straight. And apparently it never rains for more than an hour anywhere on the island during the summer. So that day was spent either huddled in Phil's tent, in Phil's truck (that Matt had brought the day before) or under the tarp we rigged up above the picnic table in our camping area. Not the best way to spend a full day camping on the beach. I think at that moment we were all wishing to be back in our cave at Kalalau.

The next day most of our friends had to leave us for the real world leaving just Phil, Maisha, Mike (the local we met in Kalalau) and I behind to adventure alone. We just lounged around on the beach and hung out, taking some more Hawaiian medicine because we were bored. We were all just ready to leave the beach the next morning and drive up to Koke'e to camp and hike the mountains for the last few days of our trip.

Late on our last night at Polihale we had a couple from Canada drive up to our campsite and ask to camp next to us. We had no problem with it, but they were...a little strange. And not just in a French/Canadian way (no offense!) but in a just born strange kind of way. But we continued enjoying ourselves regardless and headed to bed really late in the night.

I was the first person to wake up the next morning (because the Canadian couple had been so loud packing their things back into their car before they left). I wandered over to our picnic table to snack on some fruit for breakfast before making the fire for our oatmeal...when I realized that two of my personal items were missing from the table.

Phil's portable, phone-charging, solar panel was still on the table, along with our food and other items...but my underwater video camera, and Costa sunglasses my father had bought for me were gone. I had left them on the table since the first day there, so that they could be within easy reach whenever I needed them. My camera I had used for our first week was very low on battery so I had pulled out this cheap, underwater camera my father had bought for me a few months ago to take pictures and video with instead. And I have never owned a pair of expensive sunglasses in my life, but the day before I left my daddy had taken me out to buy them for me. The only large item I let my parents get for me. And now they were gone.

I think it was a combination of the exhaustion of almost two weeks of camping, change in my diet, the heat, the weather, the no-showering, and the homesickness that wore me down...but it was having those two items stolen that made me break down. I've never had anything stolen in my life. And those glasses were from my daddy...man, I lost it.

Phil and Maisha woke up and tried to help find the things, but they were gone. We didn't know if it was the Canadians that took them on accident with the rest of their stuff, or the guy that came around in the morning taking out the trash. But no matter what, they were gone.

But after a good cry, and Mike coming over to cheer me up with a good pep-talk and then pancakes and sausages for breakfast, I was feeling better.

I had to suck it up.

They were gone now and no amount of anger or tears was going to bring those things back. My only choice was to brush it off and move on.

And that, my friends, is why I don't have any pictures of Polihale to show you. Bummer, I know. But there are plenty of pictures in posts to come...I promise.

~Little Blonde Traveler

Our First Night at Polihale Beach

This time when the six of us beached our three kayaks onto Polihale, NO ONE CRASHED! But just to be sure, Mike let me bail out of mine a few feet from the beach while he beached it, and I swam in like a little pansy. But after the fiasco I encountered trying to beach at Kalalau I was not about to go through it all again. Thank goodness I had Mike and Kelsea had Eric (she also swam to shore with me). Phil and Maisha beached theirs like pros (of course).

When we landed I learned more about Polihale Beach. It was absolutely packed that day, full of cars (A site I hadn’t seen in over a week!) and tents and literally close to hundreds of people. Apparently there was a big celebration going on. And mostly only locals go to Polihale because you can only drive to the beach if you have a 4 Wheel Drive. It’s an absolute monster of a road to get in, and then to drive a car on the sand takes some horsepower as well.

As we were gathering up the kayaks and hunting down a spot for us to camp for the next few days, every single person in the group told me to keep my shoes on as I walk around. There are vicious thorn trees all over the entire beach and when people drag firewood across the sand, the little thorns fall everywhere. I couldn’t possibly imagine why such nasty trees were near the beach, let alone on Hawaii (all the plant and animal life is so beautiful and peaceful here and these trees were so scary looking). That’s when Phil explained that when the first Christian missionaries had come to Hawaii, they planted thousands of these trees in front of the beach in order to keep the Ancient Hawaiians away from the place. The Hawaiians used to party there a lot (they still do) because it was a sacred beach to them, but their celebrations were part of their religion and culture. And the Christian missionaries didn’t like that one bit. So they planted these foreign thorn trees in order to keep them away.

How messed up is that? Like, I could see building a big fence or guarding the beach or something, but these people planted trees. Trees don’t grow overnight. These freaking missionaries wanted to keep the Hawaiians away from there for GENERATIONS. That, to me, is beyond messed up…something as permanent and continuous as planting trees. But I’ll tell you what, I think all of us got serious satisfaction from hacking those things down for firewood…and they burn better than any other wood I’ve encountered to date. So…SUCK ON THAT, MISSIONARIES!

Anywho, we managed to find a little campsite with a picnic table next to bathrooms and a shower and away from the massive crowds on the beach. We were all beyond excited to have running water and showers…until we realized that the reason no one is camping around there is because the showers don’t work. At least the sinks and the toilets did!

We all set up camp. I had my hammock, Phil and Maisha had their tent, Eric had his tent, and Mike and Kelsea had their own separate sleeping arrangements on the ground. Then we had to wait…because Matt was driving in Phil’s truck laden with our box of new supplies for the next week of camping AND hopefully some nice little goodies.

Eric and Phil went fishing with some spear guns down near the reef a mile or so off shore while the rest of us just relaxed and hung around. It was freaking HOT at this beach and apparently that’s exactly what Polihale is known for…the unbearable heat. 

Then, our other angel came straight from heaven...with Phil's truck full of ice-cold beer, hot dogs, and all the making for smores. Matt pulled up to our campsite and we all went crazy haha. It was great to have him back in the group. 

Shortly after Phil and Eric came back to the camp with 8 fish they had speared out of the water...tonight we were going to feast! Beer, quinoa, fresh vegetables, and fresh grilled fish. Then smores afterward for desert. God it was a great day!

~Little Blonde Traveler

The Ultimate Sea Kayak Adventure

After 8 days of camping in Kalalau, we were ready to embark on the next leg of our journey...kayak nearly 26 miles around the Nepali Coast.

Since Sean, the Aussie that had paddled into Kalalau with me, had bailed on us earlier in the week, we found ourselves one man short. But thank goodness, Kelsea volunteered to hike the 11 miles back in on Friday night so that we could all kayak to Polihale Beach on the other side of the state park around the north shore of Kauai.

When Kelsea had left us the weekend before she joked that she would bring us a big box of pizza (since we knew that we'd be dying for some "real" food after more than a week of camping food). I had also begged her for a cheeseburger (because apparently that's all I could think about while camping). So Friday afternoon, all three of us were intensely anticipating Kelsea's return...because we knew she'd bring us something, we just had no idea what that something would be.

Just a few minutes before sunset, Kelsea arrives at our camp...carrying a literal pizza box in her hands!!! That amazing woman had hiked 11 miles with a bag of 8 giant slices of pizza for us...and a cheeseburger for me! I think I nearly fainted on the spot. (She hadn't actually carried the pizza box the whole way, but had folded it up into her backpack so that she could pull it out before camp and freak us out like she actually hiked the whole thing with a pizza in her hands.)

After a night of feasting, and super full bellies, we all packed up the majority of our stuff before heading to bed. We were going to get up at 5 so we could get on the water by no later than 6. The swells get pretty gnarly at Kalalau so we wanted to be able to get out there with no problems. And I definitely didn't want another disaster beaching it like I had with Sean.

The next morning I took down my hammock and packed my little bag and all my belongings in my dry bag before helping pack all the food and cooking supplies. Once we had everything strapped and situated onto the two kayaks, we all took a deep breath, and took the plunge.

Maisha and Phil helped push Kelsea and I out to sea...and it was a success! Then we floated close to shore waiting for the two of them to get out there and join us. After that it was pretty smooth sailing from there. We were paddling with the current and since it was still so early in the morning, there were hardly any swells to fight. And the scenery...my god the scenery from the kayak was absolutely incredible.

After about an hour and a half of kayaking we stopped at another beach to meet back up with Eric and Mike. And luckily, they were more than happy to split up so that Kelsea could paddle the front of their boat with Eric in the back, while Mike hoped into the back of mine. It was just going to be a lot easier to have all three guys at the back of all three kayaks.

It was around 9:30 in the morning when (after some serious meditation with Mother Earth) we finally saw our first pod of wild dolphins...and they just kept coming. We were literally only a few miles from our destination at Polihale when nearly 50 dolphins were swimming and jumping and flipping all around us. A few little babies too! So then we all decided to jump out of our kayaks and get into the water with them...

And the day quickly turned into the most amazing/special/magical day of my life.

~Little Blonde Traveler

How to Fall Down a Waterfall

So after four days in our cave/campsite, Phil, Maisha, and I packed up all of our gear and hiked a mile back down the beach towards the Kalalau Valley in order to get a new campsite closer to the waterfall and closer to fire wood. We had been having to lug jugs of water back to the cave everyday in order to purify it to drink or cook with it, and the same with firewood. Needless to say it became a little monotonous. So we decided to take over the campsite that Mike and Eric had been using. (They left in the morning to kayak a few miles down the Nepali Coast to a new beach for the next four nights.) Check out our new view…

The next day we all decided to hike a few miles up into the Valley to take me to a place called Big Pool and show me around the Community Garden and other little places in the valley. We were all excited to go hiking surrounded by trees and a river instead of sand and rock for a change of pace.

The hike up was around 2 miles and not at all very tiring, but by the time we made it up to Big Pool we were ready to jump in the freezing cold mountain water…and the view was absolutely gorgeous from up there as well!

The actual Big Pool is separated from the other pools above it by a 15 foot waterfall. Maisha and Phil found a little path down to a less violent part of it in the middle that you can sit in and take some cool pictures. So naturally, we climbed down and took some damn cool pictures. However, I am nowhere near as skilled in waterfall climbing as  I had originally thought. 

As I pick up my left foot to set it on the dry part of the rocks, the water pressure takes my right leg out from underneath me...and I instantly go tumbling, side first down the rest of the 10 feet of the waterfall and land into the Big Pool with a huge splash. 

When I broke the surface of the water all of the old people around the pool were staring at me, open-mouthed, and poor Maisha was gaping at me from the top of the waterfall. No one could believe I actually just fell down the waterfall...and didn't hurt myself!! I was so embarrassed and full of adrenaline that all I could do was laugh. Everyone asked if I was okay and I reassured them that I totally was. They didn't believe me. Then Phil came running over next to Maisha from the top of the waterfall and saw that I had fell down it. I reassured everyone that I had somehow managed to fall down the only slippery, waterslide part of the waterfall. And bless them both...Phil and Maisha immediately jumped down after me, laughing and screaming the whole way down. 

I have the bestest friends ever :]

After they took a few more slides down (I was still too strung up to go down again) we made our way to the Community Garden in the valley. All of the people that live in the valley take care of a big Community Garden full of vegetables, fruits, and spices. We picked some spices and little tomatoes before pulling out a few taro roots from the riverside. I had never heard of taro before, but apparently it's been a delicacy with the Hawaiians for hundreds of years. 

On the way back down to the beach we stopped at a place called the labyrinth.

Someone had taken the time and energy to build it next to the river and it's absolutely gorgeous. And very magical.We had taro root in our vegetarian chili and that's when I learned just how potent taro really is. You absolutely HAVE to boil it for about 30 minutes before you can actually cook with it, because it is covered in a very nasty acid. If you try and eat it without boiling it apparently it tastes exactly like eating fiberglass and will burn your mouth and throat. And probably really screw you up. 

But the meal was delicious and taro tastes A LOT like potato. So naturally, I loved it. But we ended the evening with a special little treat...a bar of chocolate Phil and Maisha had packed away to break out on a special occasion. And me surviving falling down a waterfall definitely qualifies!

~Little Blonde Traveler

Homesickness

On my last trip I did not experience a single day of homesickness for two months. And suddenly, not even two full weeks into my trip I was missing home like crazy. Maybe it's because I was camping and there's not much to do but think. But I also think a lot of it has to do with the fact that last time I left the States with a lot of hate, confusion, anger, and determination flowing through my blood. But now, the only thing I'm full of is determination. I left a place full of people I love. And it finally started to get to me.

After the experiences in the sweat lodge, and in combination with the energy of Kalalau...I started having the most horrendous nightmares I've ever had in my life. Every night I would wake up near the point of tears. And all I wanted to do after the first few days was get to the next beach so I could get some phone service and call home. I just needed to hear my parents' voice.

During the day I was fine, staying busy exploring or reading and writing, but it's the night time...the night time was killing me.

~Little Blonde Traveler

A Native American Sweat Lodge in Hawaii

Sorry for the wait ladies and gentlemen! Did my little cliff hanger on the last post totally leave you wanting more? :] GOOD!

...While we were washing dishes in the darkness, three people came walking down the beach towards our very isolated little cave camp. Our friend Maisha is a local girl born and raised in Kauai and she knew of a few other locals who were going to be camping Kalalau the same time as us. Mike, a very sweet and relaxed 22 year old, and Eric an 18 year old boy with the kindest heart imaginable. Along the way to our cave they met a vibrant girl named Roquel, who's from the Big Island originally. The three of them  came into our cave with a big water drum Eric and Mike had just made, and Roquel's incredible voice. We all sat around the campfire, pulled out the ukulele and the drum, took some Hawaiian medicine and proceeded to dance and sing the night away.

Sitting around the campfire, seeing all these people that never knew each other before this point, sing and dance and enjoy life to the fullest under the most beautiful sky and on the beach...truly incredible. We all ventured out to the beach in the middle of the night and started running around and screaming and laughing when we realized that photoplankton were all in the sand and giant green trails of light lit up whenever you shuffled your feet. It was so beautiful! Then we all went to one of the wet caves near by and floated in the freezing cold water, singing into the cave and using our headlamps to have little shadow dance parties.

Just before the sun came up we all went to bed, and the night of magic and wonder ended. I wish I could better describe that night, but you truly had to have been there to understand it. There's a whole different energy in Kalalau, and the people I was with only amplified it all the more.

Perfection.

The next few days were a blur of activity and lounging around and just living life. On Monday morning Matt, Kelsea, Andrew, Nicole, and Sean packed up to hike back out and back into civilization, leaving just Phil, Maisha, Mike, Eric, Roquel and I on Kalalau for the next week. Sean had kayaked in with me, but had been honest with us that he wasn't interested in camping for another week and then kayaking an even longer distance to the next beach. So he hiked out with the group, but we were gonna be one person short for the kayaks! But Kelsea volunteered to hike back in the 11 miles on Friday night and then kayak the 20+ miles to the next beach with me. What an angel!

After everyone left it was a much different experience camping, but the three of us (Phil, Maisha, and I) quickly became a solid, little team.

A few days later Mike and Eric and Roquel invited us up into the valley for an authentic Native American Sweat Lodge that Mike and Eric had been building for the past few days. Now I don't know about you, but I've never heard of a Sweat Lodge before, so Maisha and Phil had to explain it to me.. The basic concept is to use the sweat lodge for religious purposes, but also for physical and spiritual cleansing as well. You apparently sit in a small hut with a bunch of burning hot rocks from a fire in the middle of the ground and they pour water on it, increasing the intensity with each round. And each round lasts anywhere from 5 to 40 minutes.

I'm not going to lie, I was beyond freaked out about it. I'm not good with saunas so I wasn't all that confident about an even more intense version of it. But I quickly set aside my fears and trepidation and put my traveling face on. This is why I'm traveling, dang it! TO EXPERIENCE NEW THINGS I WOULD HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE. I need to keep telling myself that.

So just before sunset we hiked up about a mile into the valley and walked straight into heaven. This beautiful river flows directly into the ocean and as you follow it up suddenly you're in the most lush and dense forest! Mike and Eric built the skeleton of the lodge right next to the Ginger Pools and when we got there there was already the biggest fire I've ever seen burning away in the middle of the clearing. Roquel was there, along with a new guy Quinn, who's been living in the valley for the last two or three decades. He wears a loincloth almost everywhere and has participated in a lot of sweat lodges back in the states. So Mike and Eric (who are members of the Native American church in Kauai) invited him to the ceremony to help them out as they lead it.

So we all stripped down to our bathing suits, took some more medicine, and then piled into the very very small hut that we had draped with a dozen or so large blankets to try and keep the air from escaping. They had dug a big hole in the middle of the hut and we all sat around it. Mike sat near the front of the tent with his drum next to him, and two deer antlers in his hands. Eric had a hand-made shovel that he used to bring the rocks from the fire towards the tent, which Mike then picked up with the antlers and placed in the hole in the ground in front of us. Quinn had a bag of cedar and a bundle of sage that he sprinkled on the burning white rocks, which caused them to light up like the sky. It was beautiful! And already getting a little hot in there...

So 9 rocks are placed into the hut for every round. There are four rounds and the length for ours were only between 5 and 10 minutes...not bad for a first-timer like me and Phil! Everyone else has done something like it before so they were all a bit more prepared than me.

But once all the rocks were in, Eric filled a very large metal bowl full of water from the river right next to us before climbing in and closing the flap...and suddenly it got HOT.

That's when Mike explained to us that the point of the sweat is to better communicate with our ancestors as they rise as steam from the rocks. To thank them and/or ask them for forgiveness or guidance or protection. And also to use this as a way to open your mind and body to Mother Earth as we sing and pray to her. I was really excited for it to begin!

Mike began to beat on the water drum he had made and as he began to chant a Native American song, Eric singing along as he started throwing handfuls of water onto the rocks...AND OH MY GOD IT GOT HOT. The air quickly turned heavy and thick and the steam was already burning my face and the front of my legs. As the rounds continued, 9 rocks being added on for each round, I saw so much water sweat out of me that I had no idea my body could even hold! And everyone in there was the exact same, mud caked on our arms and legs and our bodies covered with sweat, our eyes wide, but our bodies and mind totally open to the experience we were all going through.

In between each round Mike asked us to speak whatever came to our minds. To thank or to pray or to just talk. And by the end of the third round I was finally ready to speak from my heart. And I let it all out. All my thanks, all my fears, all my amazement...and I felt so cleansed. But the last round was beyond painful. The air I was breathing felt like it was burning my lungs and the steam was burning my face so I had to cover it. But I sang along with the chants, and relished in the heat and the experience.

As soon as it was over all of us poured out of the tent and straight into the freezing cold river, just as the sun was setting in the sky. It was simply magical. When we all went back towards the fire, two nude people (a boy and a girl) walked out of the forest and sat down with us by the fire. They had heard the drum and the chanting and had come to investigate. They also live in the valley and just wander around naked all day and night. Welcome to Kalalau!

A few hours later, the medicine fully kicked in and our spirits were so fresh and bodies so rejuvenated. We packed up our things and all 7 of us began our trek in the darkness back to the beach, letting the moon guide our way.

By the time Phil, Maisha, and I made it back to our cave at the end of the beach we were exhausted. But I've never felt so open to the world around me as I did that night.

Definitely an experience of a lifetime.


~Little Blonde Traveler

So Much to See and Do in Kalalau!

It was only our first full day camping at Kalalau when I realized just how freaking much there is to see and do there. The cave we were staying in was surrounded on each side by two wet caves that four of us instantly demanded to explore. Like the kind of caves where you wear your headlamp and slip into dark, freezing water to swim in just to see what’s at the very end? Yeah, I was screaming like a little bitch the whole time (excuse the French, but it’s true. Ask Phil, Kelsea, and Matt. I was pathetic AND the only one with a headlamp.) But we explored the crap out of those caves that are usually completely underwater during the winter time. And I got a refreshing dip in some ice cold, semi-salt water. 

After the cave exploration and a little lunch me, Phil, Maisha, Matt, Andrew, and Nicole all headed around the end of the Kalalau Beach to a sacred beach called Honopu. But because it’s so sacred to the Hawaiians you aren’t allowed to beach any sort of vessel on the shore…which means you gotta swim. Which was no problem for me, but the current was a little tough to fight and there were some gnarly rocks at the tip of it. But it was 100% worth it. Watch this video to see first-hand how incredible this place is!

At the end of the first stretch of the Honopu beach is a huge arch/cave that leads into another secluded, sacred beach with a stunning waterfall nestled in the very back. Maybe it was a combination of hearing about all the supposed magical powers and energy about Kalalau, but the moment I slipped underneath that waterfall, I felt like I was being purified by Mother Earth herself.

Now, I know that sounds crazy hippy, but I’m serious! I felt something there that I haven’t felt before and after just a little dip under it I felt beyond refreshed.

The 6 of us spent the next few hours playing around in the waves and mooning the dozens of giant tourist boats and helicopters that zoom by every ten minutes. Yeah that’s right, we mooned them! Well, I didn’t that time. Not yet at least!

But after a full day of exploration we were all pretty tired and ready for a big dinner. After we cooked a huge pot of pasta and tofurkey dogs for dinner, Phil, Andrew and I were laughing as the waves pounded us while we tried to clean the dishes when three new people approached us from the darkness…And the night quickly turned into one for the record books…

Stay tuned to find out why ;]

~Little Blonde Traveler

How I Discovered the Moodswings of Poseidon and His Ocean

Our 14 day kayaking/camping trip officially began the night of Thursday, July 19^th, 2012. All day Thursday the three of us (me, Phil, and Maisha) drove around the island picking up the kayaks, more food, more gear, and dry bags to get ready for the big trip. Later in the evening we picked up three very special people from the bus stop: Sean, the guy from Australia that I had met the day before/my kayaking buddy, and Matt and Kelsea, a couple from northeast on the mainland who were also living and doing work trade on the farm with Phil.

We waited until the lifeguards had left Ke'e beach before dragging all of our gear (and the kayaks) a ways down the beach where we could camp without having to worry about getting in trouble for it. We lit a fire, made some yummy dinner and enjoyed each other’s company, singing and talking about literally anything and everything under the sun before all heading to bed since all 6 of us were going to be waking up pretty dang early. But check out this view at Ke’e…that's the very beginning of the famous Nepali coastline.

So on the morning of Friday the 20^th at 6 am exactly Phil, Maisha, Sean, and I headed out in our kayaks for Kalalau Beach (which is only about 6 miles away by water). Matt and Kelsea started the grueling 11 mile hike in at the same time as us but won’t get there until much later in the day since it will take between 5 and 6 hours for them. So our plan was for the four of us to kayak in and set up camp before meeting back up with Matt and Kelsea in Kalalau. Sounds simple, right?

From the get-go Sean and I were obviously the weaker kayak team. It was my first time ever kayaking on the ocean and only my second time kayaking in general. Sean said he had kayaked a bunch before but we didn’t have a rudder in the back which made steering in the waves an absolute chore for Sean. Luckily, it was still really early so the waves weren’t too bad and we were going with current the whole way down the first chunk of the Nepali coast towards Kalalau. But Sean and I weren’t keeping rhythm near as well as Phil and Maisha were and after two hours we were super excited to finally spot the beach.

But then I realized we’d have to beach our kayaks on shore…and I’ve never beached a kayak before in my life, let alone with big swells crashing all over the place. But Sean told me to relax and we’ll just ride the little waves in and all will be fine.

Phil and Maisha were really far ahead of us so we watched them beach first without a hiccup. So I thought to myself, oh we totally got this…

NOT.

It was like a scene straight out of a damn movie as Sean and I approached the shore line. 

Phil and Maisha were trying to signal for us to stop but we were paddling full speed right as the wrong wave crested in the wrong place…and sent us both tumbling out into the water as the kayak rolled over us, spilling our dry bags and huge tubs of food and supplies for the next two weeks everywhere. 

I immediately got to the surface and started running after all of the stray items with Phil, grabbing the box of food and a flipper and water bottle. But as Sean and I stumbled onto shore, I realized that the mask and snorkel I had gotten in Australia last year was long gone and in Poseidon’s grasp now. I immediately jumped back in to try and find them, but to no avail. We were all tired and exhausted, and pissed at losing things from the kayak flip, not to mention the embarrassment of flipping a kayak in front of an entire beach. (Sean lost sunglasses and Phil lost a flipper and a cooking pan, but everything else we managed to salvage).

Then Phil and Maisha spotted a huge empty cave at the end of the beach that they wanted to set up camp in…nearly a mile down the beach.

After we walked all of our dry bags, pots and pans, and boxes of food down to the cave, we had the horribly daunting task of dragging the kayaks down to the cave as well. All four of us were too spooked from the crash to try and brave the increasingly growing surf to just paddle them down so we did the next logical thing: pull them down the entire freaking beach.

There have been only a handful of times in my life that I’ve been that exhausted from something, and that lugging those waterlogged things for a mile down a beach just catapulted to the head of the list. I was so exhausted in fact, that all I could do was nap and tan for the next few hours until Matt and Kelsea arrived from the trail to see our new home. But I quickly realized that all our labors were definitely worth it.

Absolutely breathtaking, right?

So it was just the 6 of us before we met an amazing brother and sister team from San Diego and New York (Andrew and Nicole) and we instantly adopted them into our group which meant that 8 of us were now staying in the cave…and we still had plenty of room.

But here’s the new dilemma: getting fresh water from the waterfall to drink and cook with is a mile hike back down the beach. And to get firewood to cook with is also a mile down the beach around the waterfall. Yeah, we were in store for some serious exercising.

But all of this was just the start of the most incredible journey in Kalalau.And at least after the fiasco of this morning, I now better understand just how moody Poseidon can be. 

~Little Blonde Traveler 

My First Impression of Kauai, Hawaii

So, first off I want to apologize for taking so long with updating my blog!

After my first week in Oahu I headed up to the mystical island of Kauai, Hawaii and ended up camping for 12 days straight. Needless to say I wasn’t around “real-world” amenities until just the other day. But don’t worry, because boy do I have some sweet blogs in store for you!

At the moment I’m sitting in Manilla, Philippines at the airport watching it pour down rain outside, munching on some banana chips and a big ole can of Coke. I’ve got a few more hours to kill until my flight to Jakarta, Indonesia so I wanted to take the opportunity to put up a few posts for y’all to drool over. Here we go…

I was pretty excited to leave Oahu for Kauai, seeing as I had been wanting and expecting a much more traditional “Hawaiian” experience than Oahu is capable of giving. Unless you like the super cheesy, touristy crap. Then that’s definitely the place for you!

I landed in Lihue, Kauai on Wednesday, July 18^th completely ready to embark on the new leg of my journey. The person driving an old ’92 pickup truck to come pick me up from the airport is an old friend that I had not seen in almost two years.

I've known Phil since I was in high school, but we really didn't become better friends until we attended the same University outside of Nashville, Tennessee. But as most friendships go, we ended up falling out of touch for a bit until earlier this year when we both realized how similar, yet different our new life paths had taken us in the past two years. While I graduated and packed my bags to backpack the coast of Asia and Oceania last year, Phil packed everything he owned and moved to live and work on a farm in Kauai. 1) I was shocked that Phil would ever do such a thing and 2) I was shocked that such a thing was even possible! Needless to say we ended up getting in touch again and began rekindling our old friendship into new levels we never would have been capable of before. In fact, he’s the reason I decided to stop over in Hawaii in the first place!

He greeted me in the back of his pickup truck with a beautiful Hawaiian lei (but please ignore my horrible hair in the photo. It was raining pretty hard that day.) His two friends Maisha, a beautiful local island girl and Sean, a traveler from Australia stayed in the cab of the truck while Phil rode in the back with me and all my stuff. And we immediately went to work going on errands to pick up food and supplies we were going to need for our 14 day camping trip we were beginning the next day. It was going to be the four of us kayaking and camping along the famous Nepali Coast: Phil and Maisha in one kayak, and Sean and I in the other.

After a few hours of running errands Phil swung me by the local farmers market that happens every Wednesday in order to show me the stuff he’s been doing for the past year and a half. I was able to meet the owner of the farm Phil works on and another girl and got to sample a bunch of delicious, locally grown fruit and veggies from all over the island. After that he took me up on a quick hike to Sleeping Giant which gives you an incredible 360 view of the eastern part of the island.

And I was in for a big treat that night because all the people living on the farm were having a big pot luck. Phil and Maisha are moving to California the second week of August to work and travel over there for a few months so it was also kind of like a going away party for them as well.

When I arrived at the place Phil has been living for the past two years I was instantly shocked. He literally lives in a tent on the middle of the farm. No electricity, no bathroom, no hot water (but at least there was running water). I was instantly blown away. This did not seem like the Phil I remembered from school!

But the more he explained about his lifestyle, and in fact this whole concept of the lifestyle in general, the more I began to embrace it. That’s what I’m traveling for in the first place, right? To learn about all new kinds of things, and especially new ways of living life. I just had no idea I would find such radical changes still in the United States!

So here’s a little list I gathered of the major differences I noticed from my way of life back in Tennessee:

-No electricity. Phil and Maisha have a portable solar panel/charger/outlet they use instead. They also have a super portable solar panel to charge phones and cameras on the go while camping or traveling. REALLY handy. This also means no radio, no tv, no microwave, and no fridge.

-No hot water. Which means they're just lacking the comfort of a hot shower. Not bad when it’s a hot day on the farm. But I’m too much of a pansy for cold showers most of the time.

-No bathroom. The shower is totally out in the open. You pee in bushes and poop in a bucket that you layer with dirt before and after you do your business. But the bucket has a little toilet seat on top and by doing it in a bucket, it turns into its own kind of compost/fertilizer.

-They have their own private gardens around each little tent or yurt in addition to the main garden everyone works on for the farm. Being able to have your own plot of land to do whatever you want with in exchange for some manual labor during the week is a pretty cool little concept.

-Picking food straight out of the ground (or tree) and putting it directly into my mouth was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced and I am for sure now going to have my own garden whenever I decide to settle down.

-The idea of composting is a little foreign to me. Not a lot of people I know do it, but I don’t see why not. It’s so simple and good for the environment and your yard! Another thing I plan on adopting in my lifestyle.

The potluck was an absolute hit and getting to meet the other people on the farm (and some people from other neighboring farms) was incredibly cool as well. Some of these people have lived like this their entire lives, never owning a microwave or a TV. And others used to be corporate hot-shots in big cities that absolutely hated their lives and now want to do life as simple as possible. And then there are the people who are just doing it for the experience and the freedom.

It was a lot to comprehend for my first day, and a lot for me to force y’all to read about on my first post back after two weeks.

But wait until you hear the rest of this stuff…

Until then,

~Little Blonde Traveler