#we have an entire day just chilling at the resort (except for breakfast where I will also be bringing my book)

[gods-favorite-autistic]

Actually I think 4 books is not overkill thank you very much I’m just being prepared

[ddaengyoonmin]

-Hotel For Demons- (Intro)

Pairing: eventual ot7 x reader; the first few chapters are very Yoongi x reader centric.

Warnings/tags:  Stripping, teasing, gambling, mentions of some dark/mob activity

( eventual )Smut-angst-fluff

Summary:  You work as a stripper at an extremely secretive casino resort that caters to people of a dark nature.  You are used to strange and ignoring your fears.  Yet one night a man, more scary and more intriguing than any other seems to grow fond of you while you dance.  You play a game with him that takes you away from everything you’ve known and into an even darker world than you’d ever known...and now he’s calling you his wife.

a/n: (this is very unedited sry for typos and things if they appear) taken some inspiration from the anime ‘Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits.’  It starts out a bit dark but it's going to be a lot more lighthearted in some chapters.  Once I get the initial set up to the story, this fic will just be a bunch of short episode like stories with y/n having different moments with each member or a few members, not always directly connected to future chapters or the chapter before, just set in the same world.  Let me know what you think!!

------

It felt to the men in the crowd like they were hypnotized watching you.

You were the one hypnotized though, by the music, and by the thudding of the bass in rap song you’d picked for your dance vibrating through the club.

You could feel it in your chest, each thump pushing your hips forward as you grinded against the pole, sticking your ass out as you jumped onto the pole and spun.  You swore you heard one man in the crowd gasp as you did.

The purple stage lights flashed to blue as the song hit a slower beat.  You slid down the pole slowly, your hands gently moving down to the floor with the rest of your body.

As you continued on with your floor work you could practically feel the eyes of one man in particular sitting on you with an almost unblinking stare.

You could only see his eyes, the lower half of his face was covered by a black mask with a pattern that made it look like blood was dripping all over it in a very cartoonish way.

It wasn’t uncommon for people to wear masks like that here, but his was quite an interesting choice.

You could see bits of black hair peeking through his black jacket’s hood, which was also strange.  He seemed so secretive with his appearance.  Maybe that's what was giving him the confidence to stare at you so obviously.  

Most men tended to get shy when you stared them down.

 No...maybe he really hadn’t blinked once…

You realized you’d been focusing on him a bit too long and quickly danced your way to facing away from him.

Though you couldn’t escape the powerful gaze that you felt on your backside the entire time.

You knew the ending of your song was coming up and you took to the pole again to finish the dance.

It might have been obvious to everyone in the club that whether it was intentional or subconscious, you had started dancing for him.  

When you ended your dance, the last step you took had you facing right at him, chest heaving from putting a bit of extra effort into your moves than usual.

You weren’t sure why, it didn’t make sense.  You never usually got this worked up over someone in the audience, but his attention was exciting.

Some men clapped, and a few threw some money on the stage.  You gave a twinkle wave to no one in general as you turned to walk back to the dressing rooms behind the stage.

The girl that would come out and collect your money off the stage for you squeezed your shoulder as you walked by and gave you a smile.

“I haven’t seen you perform like that in forever!” she praised loudly over the song that was playing while they set up for the next dancer.

You mouthed a thank you and from the corner of your eye you caught the mysterious man standing up from the table and leaving.

Your heart dropped a little bit.  You had a second song still later that a part of you had hoped he’d have stuck around for.  He hadn’t even paid you.  He paid the entry fee to enter the strip club area of the casino resort, bought one drink, watched just your song, and left.

It was strange.

You were used to odd people.  Sometimes even dangerous people.  The casino you worked at catered to a very particular crowd of very rich men.

They weren’t the type of rich men you’d see on the news or in magazines.  They were all a very secretive type.  You were told when you’d been hired two years ago that you weren’t ever to ask the men about what they did for a living.  

It always made you wonder, but it never bothered you.  The amount of money in their wallets was enough to make you not need to read too deeply into any of it.  Why mess up a good thing.

It's not that you only cared about money...but everyone has their amount.  Everyone has a number to where they’ll turn their eyes the other way.

At least that's what your boss had told you the first time he’d sat you down in his office and handed you a blank check with his name already signed on it.

The day that you’d seen something that you never want to think about again.

Now you don’t have to.  

Aside from the anomaly that was that man today, the diamonds on your wrists that would dance while you did were enough of a distraction from the things you’d seen.

With some of the things you’d witnessed go down in this casino you were glad that your number was as high as it was.

When it was well past 3 in the morning and your shift was done you put on your coat and began to walk towards the main entrance of the building to leave.  Almost everyone besides those who worked there had left for the night, either returning to their hotel rooms or getting up to some business you’d rather not think about.

Just before you’d walked past the last of the blackjack tables you heard a voice call out to you.

“y/n right?”

A chill ran down your spine.  You never used your real name at the club, it was a rule that you’d never tell customers your real name.

Your head whipped around to see that same man from earlier sat down alone at the table, shuffling through a deck of cards.

On closer look the cards were definitely not ones from your casino, almost as if he’d brought his own with him, another rule broken.

“No…” You lied. “You must be confused.”

You heard a chuckle from behind the mask. “I’m never confused.  Sit down.”

He spoke so sternly and with a low gravel that spiked some fear into your body.

But you sat anyway.  Maybe it was fear of what he’d do if you said no, but more likely it was that you were still wildly intrigued by this strange man.

“How do you know me?” You spoke as you sat down in the seat across from where he sat in the dealers chair.

“That's not important right now.” He muttered. “Want to play a game?” He spoke those words with such a smooth and beautiful compelling tone.  

“Why not.” You decided, shifting in your seat and trying to get a better eye on the cards he was still shuffling through.

You wished you could see behind his mask, but all you could see was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

He laid out three cards in front of you face down.  They were black with the images of blood dripping down them, the same as his mask.

“Pick one.” He demanded.

“Shouldn’t I know the rules first?” You cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Rules don’t really matter here do they. Surely you know that better than anyone.” He replied.

“There are some rules that matter.” You debated.  “Like you calling me by my real name.”

“Not to me.” He then tapped on the table in front of him with a closed fist. “Pick a card.”

You sighed and figured ‘What's the worst that could happen.’

You stared at the cards in front of you, not sure if it even made a difference which one you’d pick, but still, you studied them before finally pointing to the one in the middle.

He then reached out and flipped the card, revealing a very detailed drawing of two golden rings intertwined together.

He seemed to sigh a big exhale of relief.  

“Good.” he muttered.

“That's good? For me, or you? What game are we playing here!” You were starting to get frustrated.

He then flipped over the other two cards, revealing one that was a painting of a gravestone, and one that was a painting of flames.

“Good for both of us.” You could almost hear the smile in his voice, though you were only growing more confused.

“Pick up your card.  Don’t touch the other ones.” He ordered.  

With a small huff you listened to him, grabbing the card with the rings on it.

“In both hands.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.” he seemed to growl in an almost inhuman way.

Your fear now made your blood run cold, you didn’t want to anger him so you did as he said instantly.

As soon as you did, you felt a rush of wind hit you from behind.  It was so strong the other two cards flew off the table.  The man stood there with his arms crossed and started laughing a maniacal laugh.

The whole table then seemed to start to spin, you wanted to grip onto something but your hands seemed to be glued to the card you held.

Everything got faster and more blurry, everything except him.  Before you could comprehend how, it seemed that the whole place you’d been in was starting to fade away into a bright white light.

As the spinning movements quickened you squeezed your eyes shut tightly and let out a small scream.

It only lasted a few more seconds before you felt everything still.

“Open your eyes.” His voice spoke to you much softer.

Slowly you did, opening up to a sight you were not expecting to see.

You were now in a large room with wooden floors and a wooden ceiling.  Lots of art and architecture that seemed to be at least a thousand years before your own. It was very decorative and ornate, it seemed almost like a palace.

“Welcome to your home my wife.”

[lordofthebigtimesupernatural]

Heyo, are you still taking requests for your Single Dad Shiro Verse? Because I have a FEW prompts to submit! First one is: Keith has been having nightmares lately, and he's been trying his hardest to keep them from his dad, not wanting to pester him. However one night, the nightmare turns into a night terror, waking shiro. Angst, hurt/comfort, cuddles and love from daddy shiro. Keith would be about 9 years old in this. Thank you! I'll post the other prompts after a while. :)

I am always taking prompts, but I just take forever to get to them haha. I love a bunch of prompts but yikes guys, y’all are sending in all the angsty prompts now. Everyone loves either super fluff or getting right down to the angst, lol. No chill but I love it! Poor Keith. Thanks nonny for this prompt and I hope you enjoy!

x.V.x

                 Hecouldn’t run.

               Hecouldn’t scream.

               He wastrapped.

               Trappedwith dark, black claws reaching for him – inches away from his face. All aroundhim were eyes, starring unblinking and red like blood. His skin itched and histhroat scratched when he tried to scream, but he not a sound came out. Theclaws were closing in on him and his heart was hammering painfully in hisribcage.

               Hecouldn’t breathe.

               Hecouldn’t cry.

               “We got you. There’s no escape.”

               Heopened his mouth once more to try and scream, just as the claws closed inaround his neck.

x.V.x

               Keith’seyes snapped open and he shot up. Wordless, he looked around the room whilesucking in heavy, deep breaths. He could feel his body trembling and for a fewsplit seconds Keith was unsure of where he was. All he could see was a darknessaround his room and he could still feel those claws around his throat. Quickly,Keith touched his neck and was relieved to find that there were no clawswrapped around their neck.

               After afew minutes of trying to suck in as much air as possible and breathing deeply,Keith could feel his heart rate beginning to return to normal. Immediately, hereached out for his stuffed lion that had fallen off the bed. Despite the factthat he was nine and too old forthings like stuffed toys, Keith still kept his lion after all these years.Whenever he was extremely upset or nervous, the lion tended to help him calmdown better.

               Tonight,it took longer than normal for Keith to calm down.

               It was just a nightmare. None of it wasreal. Keith repeated these thoughts over and over. He continued taking deepbreaths and snuggling into his lion. You’resafe. None of it was real. Eventually, Keith could begin to feel himself calmdown.

               Heglanced over at his door, seeing it opened just a crack, as it was every nightso Shiro could easily come in if Keith needed him. Keith shivered, rememberinghow nimble the claws in his nightmares were and how they could easily crawlthrough the crack. For a moment he debated whether or not he wanted to get outof bed and go to his dad, because right now he was really scared.

               He knewthat his dad would be able to make him feel better again (maybe he’d even letKeith sleep in his room tonight), because his dad always mad everything better.But then Keith realized that the hallway was even darker than his bedroom and that wasn’t good.

               ThenKeith thought that his dad was tired. He had to work a lot at the shelter withthe Veterans and animals this week. Keith was aware that his dad was cominghome more tired than usual, when he fell asleep downstairs in front of the TV every night this week. Which meant thathis dad was probably exhausted.

               And hewas asleep.

               Keithfigured he shouldn’t bother his dad over a silly nightmare. Especially not whenKeith was nine-years-old. He was practically grown.

               “I’mfine. It was just a nightmare. There’s no need to wake daddy up.” Keithmumbled, burrowing under the covers even further. His eyes darted around theroom momentarily, before landing on something moving towards his bed. Keithfelt his heart leap into his throat, as raw terror filled his small body.However, Keith’s terrors quickly dispelled when he realized that it was Red onhis bed now, and curling up beside him.

               Breathinga sigh of relief, Keith rubbed her behind her ear. “Okay, we don’t need to wakedaddy up now that you’re here.” Keith nodded towards Red who huffed inagreement. Red would protect Keith. No monster would ever try to get them now.

               SlowlyKeith closed his eyes and fell asleep once more.

x.V.x

               Keith hopedthe nightmares would eventually stop after a couple of days. He was nostrangers to nightmares, but normally Keith had them every once in a while andthen they stopped. Then Keith could get over them in a few days and everythingwould go back to normal.

               Exceptthe nightmares weren’t stopping, and on top of that, Keith was havingnightmares every single night. Despite having Red’s comforting presence,despite clutching his stuffed lion and despite having found his old nightlight.

               Keithwould wake up, tangled in his sheets and sweating profusely. His heart wouldrace and his eyes were wide an unseeing. Sometimes Keith couldn’t even wake upand Red was forced to shake him awake.

               Meaning,Keith hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in several weeks now and it wasstarting to take a toll on the poor boy. Still he kept quiet. Luckily, Redcould always wake him up and she never was resorted to getting Shiro. TypicallyKeith took an hour or two to calm down entirely and would return back to bed.He kept quiet, in fear that if he went to his dad with this problem then hisdad would be even more tired than usual.

               He wasstill working the same long hours and coming home tired, but he always putKeith first. He listened when Keith talked about his dad at school, gave Keitha bath and read him a story. They still ate dinner and desert together butKeith knew his dad was tired. And his dad would only be even more tired if hewoke him up in the middle of the night for a stupid old nightmare. Keith wouldbe ashamed if he couldn’t even handle this nightmares without his dad’s help.

               So,Keith didn’t say anything about the nightmares. Instead he suffered everynight, always in fear and running. Admittedly, if Shiro wasn’t so tired fromwork he would have noticed Keith’s lack of focus and energy quicker. But evenhe was running on fumes on some days.

               Keith’snights often went the same as tonight.

               Hecouldn’t run. He couldn’t scream.

               He was desperatelytrying to get away and clawing at the darkness around him. Tall, loomingcreatures of a gangly stature with grotesque skin and twisted featuressurrounded Keith. Their mouths were full of pointed teeth like razor sharpblades and their eyes were huge, pupil-less, and staring at him. Always staringat him.

               Hecould feel their breaths on his neck, making the hairs on his body raise. Hecould feel the tips of their claws dragging along his arms and his back. Nomatter how hard he fought to get away, Keith never moved from the place he wastrapped in.

               Therewere no doors. No windows. No way out.

               Theirclaws were always wrapped around his throat. His arms. His legs.

               Hecouldn’t breathe or scream. Terror was instilled in the blood of his body andhe needed to wake up. Wake up. Wake up.

               AndKeith would eventually awaken. Whether by himself or Red. He would always lieawake afterwards, trying to calm himself down. Sometimes he could fall backinto a dreamless sleep and sometimes he would lie awake until Shiro “woke” himup for school.

               Keithwas so tired.

               He wasstarting to become sluggish in his work and movements. He was nearly fallingasleep at school or during practice. Yet every time he almost fell asleep, hewould snap awake, terrified of the monstrous creatures that invaded his mind.

               They were everywhere.

               EventuallyShiro began to notice. He saw the dark circles under Keith’s eyes and the waythat Keith was growing more and more tired throughout the weeks. For a while,Shiro had chalked it up to his own tired imagination. He hadn’t been sleepinglately with the long work hours.

               Butsoon enough, Shiro noticed that it wasn’t his imagination and Keith was exhausted. His son looked like hehadn’t slept in weeks. Which was a concern, because Shiro always watched himfall asleep after reading a story and he always had to wake him up for school.

               Themore that Shiro observed his son, the more worried he got. Keith was strugglingto stay awake during simple things like breakfast or watching a movie. He wasstarting to fall behind in class and more than once, Shiro caught Keith workingon one page of homework for hours.Shiro felt his heart ache at the idea that something might be terribly wrongand he only noticed now. Shiro felt ashamed that he didn’t pay closer attentionto his son when Keith was most likely hurting.

               Whichled Shiro to request less hours with work, despite being the boss. Thankfully, hisemployees and the veterans were very understanding. Work was finally startingto slow down, pace-wise, so Shiro didn’t feel quite as guilty leaving earlierthan anyone. Soon, enough Shiro spent more time at home and his own sleeppatterns were improving until they were back to normal.

               Shirowas hoping that by changing his schedule and improving his exhaustion, the samewould happen to Keith if he was home more. However, nothing changed. Keith continuedto look more and more tired every day that past. It made Shiro’s heart squeezeand his chest tightened.

               What could be wrong? Shiro worried thatKeith wouldn’t come to him about anything being wrong, since he wasn’tadmitting anything quite yet. With each day that went by, Keith became more andmore withdrawn and Shiro’s worry only increased.

               Slowly,he tried to observe Keith’s sleep patterns and keep an eye out at night. Hewould stay awake downstairs for a few hours after Keith fell asleep and waited.He waited to see if Keith got up or moved around at all, but he never heardanything and eventually was forced to go to bed.

               Itwouldn’t do Keith any good if he was still exhausted.

               Unfortunately,that was when Keith’s nightmares usually started.

x.V.x

               Thistime it was different.

               Keithwasn’t trapped in a room without windows or doors. In fact, Keith was in hisown house. A perfect replica, right down to the hole above the stair railing, curtesyof Red and Uncle Kuro. The house was dark. Too dark.

               It feltlike the shadows around Keith were moving but he couldn’t see anything.Instead, he nervously wandered around the house, hearing only the sound of hisbare feet on the ground. The house was devoid of any noise. No snoring from hisdad or huffing from Red. Keith couldn’t even hear the obnoxious hum of therefrigerator. It was too quiet.

               Keithslowly felt something drag across his back and he opened his mouth to scream.

               Onceagain he couldn’t.

               Keithjumped back and this time he was able to run away, as a gangling monsteremerged from the shadows behind him. Its white eyes were bulging out of itsdeformed skull, scanning useless around the room. Yet, Keith could feel whenits eyes were on him.

               Hebolted out of the kitchen and into the dining room, only to stop dead in histracks.

               The TVwas on, but no sound came out. There was nothing on the screen save for ablank, white image. It illuminated most of the room, giving Keith a perfectview of the floor.

               Whereseveral bodies were splayed.

               Keithjerked back, wishing he could scream upon realization that these were people heknew. They were his uncle Kuro andhis grandmother and grandfather. Keith’s heart felt as if it were going toburst out of his chest.

               Theireyes were blank and unseeing, pupils clouded over (looking so much like those monsters) and their skin was paperwhite. The positions that their bodies were splayed in look painful andabnormal to Keith.

               “You cannot escape. We are here. You cannotescape. We are here.”

               Keithscrambled away from the TV after hearing a soft voice speak. He could seemovement within the shadows along the room and Keith bolted for the stairs. Heneeded to find his daddy – he had to make sure his daddy was okay.

               Along theway, Keith stumbled, silently crying out as more and more bodies piled up alongthe stairs and hallways. Each as pale and with eyes unseeing as Kuro and hisgrandparents.

               Lance, Hunk and Pidge.

               Uncle ‘Tok, and Ulaz. Uncle Kolivan.

               Allura. Coran.

               Even Red.

               Keithnearly threw himself into the room that was always his dad’s. He scrambled awayfrom the door when the shadows looking in the hallway, engulfing the pronebodies of his family. Ever so slowly, Keith turned around to find his dad’sroom empty. He stifled a silent sob and rubbed at his eye.

               “You cannot escape. We are here.”

               Keithcould feel a breath ghosting on his neck and claws scratching along his back.His heart leapt in to his throat and his eyes widened. He could feel his bodytrembling as he willed himself to scream or run. To do something.

               Yetwhen the creature turned Keith back around, Keith was met with the grotesquesite of a monster wearing his dad’s face, leering down at him.

               “Keith?”

               FinallyKeith screamed.

x.V.x

               Shirojumped back as if burned when Keith screamed loudly. This night he had stayedup later than usual, determined to find out the truth. He’d even crept towardsKeith’s room and waited to see if anything would happen. He was then pleasantlysurprised when Keith started whimpering and whining. And Shiro nearly slappedhimself.

               Nightmares. Of course it was nightmares.Shiro was no stranger to terrifying nightmares due to his PTSD. He was morethan a little upset that he hadn’t figured it out earlier because he knew firsthandhow bad a nightmare could get.

               Shirowas quick to enter Keith’s room where he saw his son writhering under his sheetsand quietly crying out. Red was up and doing her best to try and awaken hermaster but Shiro could tell it was doing nothing.

               “OhKeith,” Shiro breathed before racing over towards Keith’s bed. He quickly attemptedto untangle Keith from the sheets, ignoring how his heart broken when Keithflinched upon contact. “Keith? Sweetheart? Can you hear me? It’s daddy.”

               StillKeith wouldn’t wake up and his nightmare looked to be getting worse.

               “Keith?Keith? You’re okay!” Shiro tried repeatedly and still Keith wouldn’t waken. “Keith?”That was when Keith screamed a blood curdling scream. A scream that chilledShiro down to the bones and one that he felt in his soul. It was a scream fullof pure terror.

               “Keith!”Shiro tried again when Keith continued to scream. Desperately, Shiro pulledKeith into his arms and did his best to calm Keith’s flailing arms and rockhim. His heart was pounding and he could feel tears beginning to pool in hiseyes. “Keith, honey, I need you to wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”

               Shirofelt like took more than a few minutes before Keith’s eyes to snap open.Silence followed while Shiro and Keith stared at one another, before Keithburst into horrified screams. Afraid, Shiro tried to hug Keith closer only forKeith’s sobs to increase.

               “Hey,hey, hey, sweetheart, you’re safe!” Shiro whispered soothing, patting downKeith’s hair. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Nothing’s going to hurt you here. Daddy’sgot you. Daddy’ll protect you.” Shiro continued to soothe his son, rocking themboth back and forth. Keith’s sobs went on for a little while longer before hehad exhausted himself to pitiful sniffles.

               Finally,Keith spoke,” D-Daddy?”

               “Yeah,baby, it’s me. I’m right here.” Shiro whispered softly, looking directly intoKeith’s eyes. Keith’s eyes were searching all over Shiro’s face, looking for something.

               “Y-You’renot a m-monster?” And Shiro felt his heart crack again.

               “No,no. I’m not a monster. I’m your daddy. Right here and forever, my little star.”Shiro replied. Keith sniffled but that seemed to do the trick. Keith slowlycalmed down and nodded to himself. “Did you have a nightmare?” Shiro finallyasked when he realized Keith wasn’t going to say anything. He felt Keithstiffen in his arms, before eventually nodding.

               “Alright,I’m sorry. It sounded very frightening. Do you wanna talk about?” Shiro askedhesitantly.

               Keithwas silent for a bit. “It was so scary. I was so scared.” Keith whispered.

               “Iknow, I know. I bet it was awful, baby.” Shiro cooed.

               “Everyonewas dead. Uncle Kuro, grandpa, Hunk, Allura. Everyone.” Keith continued andShiro felt his stomach drop. This wasbad.

               “Everyone’sokay. I promise you that everyone is alive and sleeping right now. If you wantwe can call every one of them tomorrow just to be sure.” Shiro said. Keith didn’tsay anything but he did timidly nod. “Okay sweetheart, we’ll sit down and calleveryone in the morning so you can talk to them.”

               “Okay,”Keith whispered. Shiro didn’t say anything more a while longer.

               Eventually,he had to ask, “Keith, have you been having nightmares for a while now?”

               Keithlooked away.

               “Keith?”

               “…Yes.A few weeks.”

               “Ohsweetheart,” Shiro’s heart was breaking yet again. How did I not notice? “Why didn’t you say anything, or come to me?”

               “Youwere so tired. I didn’t want to wake you up for a dumb nightmare.” Keithadmitted.

               “No!Keith, it’s not dumb. That is no reason to not wake me up. I want to help you,and I can’t do that if you leave me in the dark.” Shiro said softly. “If I washaving nightmares, you wouldn’t want me to keep it a secret from you, wouldyou?”

               “Nodaddy.” Keith said quickly.

               “Then,even if I do have to work a lot, it doesn’t matter how tired I am or what timeit is, you can always wake me up ifyou’re scared.” Shiro explained as he stroked back Keith’s hair. “Promise methat no matter what, you’ll come to me if you get scared again?” He slowly heldout his pinky. It took a few minutes before Keith eventually linked pinkies.

               “Ipromise daddy.”

               “Thankyou, my star, now how about you sleep in daddy’s room for a while?”

               “Canlion and Red come too?”

               “Ofcourse, I expected them to come too.”

               In themorning, Shiro down with Keith and called everyone they knew. Most were surprisedto hear Keith calling them so early but after hearing Keith’s teary greetingand Shiro’s brief explanation, everyone was reassuring and promising to hangout with Keith as soon as they could.

               Keith’snightmares didn’t instantly go away but now that Shiro was aware of them, he wasthere to help Keith as much as he could.

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Doing the Write Thing #48 after 10 years and 3 seasons of criminal minds + Foster’s birthday

It’s been so long... Dudes...

Many things have happened. Sort of.

My last DtWT update had me outlining how I was super stoked to see Precious Kid in Pennsylvania, and that happened... It was honestly so amazing, and Justine, Chuck, and Kassie are the sweetest human beings in the entire world + they gave us their setlists and had a loooooooong conversation with @sarahkelsiwrites​ and I. Amazing live also.

I also went to Mexico with my family last week! It was an interesting experience, and I do miss it looking back. I’m really bad at long vacations in general, and there wasn't much to do on the resort in terms of activities daily, so I had a lot of time to myself. It was a nice week to kinda chill and detox from my normal mega busy life, but OH BOY did I miss writing...

Like I mentioned before, I had a LOT of free time on the resort, so @sarahkelsiwrites​ made it our business to binge watch 2 full seasons of Criminal Minds in that week... (Started season two on Monday, finished it today lol).

Here’s my relationship with Criminal Minds in a nutshell:

I’ve been watching this show for ages. I can’t even pinpoint when I first started watching it because it’s been so long. I’m going to say I was even as young as 8 or 9 when I started watching this show (can’t quite remember though). So to put it simply: I've been watching Criminal Minds for most of my life.

When I was in early elementary school, my sister and I would come home from school and watch the show with our two older brothers if they happened to be watching it (which was often cuz yo oldest brother watched this thing a lot), or we’d watch the marathons, and the list goes on and on.

When driving up to MusikFest in Pennsylvania to catch Precious Kid, my oldest brother pulled the show up on his phone, and oh my did Rachel remember the good times she used to have as a kid watching this show. I seriously think I forgot about my love for this show, since this was my first time watching it probably since the start of the year. This was the start to a huge problem... (the best problem you could ever have)

I’ve watched a TON of Criminal Minds episodes over the years, but since I watched them YEARS ago, I’ve forgotten about them. So @sarahkelsiwrites​ and I decided to watch the show again and...

How does this relate to writing at all?

Oh, my friends... I’ve been so inspired by this show, I’ve written 4500 words of just IDEAS over the past two weeks. These aren't even fleshed out scenes.

(Also if you have no idea what Criminal Minds is, it’s the best crime show you will ever watch. Fetus me loved this show. Present me understands why.)

In my last DtWT post, I talked about sort of being bored by my scene. It was something I really wanted to write, but the words were churning out slow and painfully. Because of this show, I’ve sort of combatted this. Not perfectly, I’m still having issues (which I’ll get into later), but this has become my favourite form of procrastination and I have zero regrets because I hardcore fancasted the FOSTERED cast to the Criminal Minds cast and every time I watch an episode it’s like OH HELLO.

If you’re a Criminal Minds fan and want to get to know my characters, these are basically them:

Hotchner = Lonan

Hotch and Lonan are the same people. I kid you not. If you don't know what Lonan’s like, just Hotch.

Morgan = Harrison

Dunno what else I can say about this one but ermagherd.

JJ = Reeve

also another ermagherd (ESPECIALLY SEASON 10)

Reid = Foster

cuz have u seen morgan + reid’s relationship

also when I was like 10, my mall had an advertisement with matthew gray gubler in it (who plays reid) and I highkey loved going into this store because of this. reid made child me really proud to be geeky af thank you reid.

Prentiss = Glenne

SO MUCH.

So yes. Thank you Criminal Minds. *bows down to Criminal Minds*

I think that’s all I had to say about Criminal Minds so in other news, guess who’s incredibly sick?

ME!

I caught a really bad cold on Monday (like right as I got home from Mexico, I get sick at home smh), and haven't shaken it yet. Which means I’ve been getting really bad fevers etc and yeah... Not fun. SO I’ve been resting (and probably still should be instead of writing this but I missed you guys, so hello) and watching Criminal Minds. And not writing. Except for about an hour ago.

This is the cause for my temporary block at the moment since it’s really hard for me to concentrate when sick especially with a scene I've struggled with previously. Today’s writing session was just the bare minimum of fleshing out an idea I got in Mexico. Onto the update, shall we?

Daily word count goal: 250

Words written: 686

Total word count: 122 078

Total page count: 221

Songs played: Planning vacation days for next summer in no music land at this point

Things to know: Wrote this with a sore throat (TM) with very little sleep because I had the worst sleep ever (TM)

How I felt: Better than bored as f so yayyy! THANK YOU HOTCH FOR REPLENISHING MY SALTY LONAN VIBES.

Bad haiku to describe writing session: Criminal Minds is / The best way to cure no vibes / Because now I vibe

is this not art.

Rating of writing session out of 10 and why: Like a 7, it wasn't very long, and I wasn't thinking all that deeply, lol.

On a scale from 1-10 my level of stoked-ness is: Also a 7

Lyrics to describe writing session: But it’s hard when I don't know what to do / I'm angry and I'm tired and confused / I've got so many thoughts stuck in my head / And none of them make much sense

--Forever Dumb, Surf Curse (Sad Boys EP)

Cannot even explain how me this is but also cannot explain my excitement for next week cuz ya girl sees these two dudes live next week.

GIF to describe writing session:

Saw this while scrolling down my Tumblr dashboard and saved it just for this update since this is actual footage of me writing tonight.

ALSO: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIAN CASABLANCAS. JULIAN CATSNBLANKETS. JULIAN CASABLACKPEPPERANDSALT.

oh my.

Excerpt:

“What if I’m lying about all of this, because it’s some sort of game in my head? Like my own real life chess match?”

someone needs to wait and tell this boy LIFE AIN’T CHESSSSSSSSS.

that was the only reason I shared that excerpt. good day.

should that sentence end with a period or a question mark now I'm doubting myself oh myyyy.

I also have news!

TODAY IS NOT ONLY JULIAN CASABLANCAS’ BIRTHDAY.

It’s also Foster’s birthday! WEE!

I mentioned in a writing update I *believe* that every single year since I’ve written the FOSTERED books, me and @sarahkelsiwrites​ go out of our way to celebrate dear Foster’s birthday. The only reason being the 23rd of August is usually a mundane day where I’m bored and have nothing to do, since Foster’s a bit of a geeky dudeface I don’t talk about much on here even though I always poke fun at him even tho he’s actually a great person but cinnamon rolls gotta attack cinnamon rolls cuz cinnamon roll I want a cinnamon roll.

So this year since I was sick, @sarahkelsiwrites​ made me the most AMAZING cake for the dude, and holy moly is it so good. I’m particular about my cakes, but this thing is so amazing. It’s also gorgeous.

So cuuuuuute. I’m amazed by how great this chocolate cake is honestly, it’s a new favourite recipe.

Since it’s his special day, I thought I’d do a quick questionnaire so you guys can get to know him a little better.

So this is Foster:

This is Foster’s lame aesthetic:

So now that we know all of this...

Nicknames and from who: Auggie (from Harrison), Prince Charming (from everyone in the entire world), Wary Sidekick (from Reeve hhhhhaaaaahhaa), The Other One (from Lonan mostly but also from everyone) and there are probably more I’m forgetting, this boy gets a lot of nicknames, especially from Harrison. OH real life nicknames (as in what people I actually know call him) Fosty from @sarahkelsiwrites, and Foss from @imdisappointed and I die lol

Favourite restaurant: Probably something fancy like Milestones HA canada

Favourite candy: Probably jelly beans or original skittles

Favourite type of cake: He’s lame and likes pie, but probably red velvet

Also how old is the dude now: 20 (ermagherd when he was only 16 children grow fast)

Favourite hobby: Probably doing something lame like reading science textbooks with at @imdisappointed​

Favourite colour: Blue (as seen in aesthetic)

Favourite cereal: Frosted flakes

Favourite breakfast food in general: Dino eggs (boi)

If he had a job in real life, what would it be: Either the dude that works the counter at a vegan café (with lots of quinoa), or a #freelance photographer who focuses on #lifestyle photos + #nature photos

Favourite thing to do: Say the cheesiest of cheesiness to Reeve who is like oh ma lord the cheese

Does he like The Strokes or does he not like The Strokes: Boy is such a Whitney type of dude, but I don't think he’d have much of an opinion on The Strokes. Lonan would blast The Strokes in the car if they were driving together, and he would just be like ok.

The cheesiest thing he has ever said anyone around him probs exploded because of a cringe attack: You’re everything in the world maximized by a million. or You’re the sunshine that I see first thing in the morning, and the last thing I think of at night. or you know what just everything he says oh myyyyy gahhhhhhhhd

His actual aesthetic: Going on a long morning hike just to watch the sunrise + there is fog and evergreen trees

If he was a gum flavour name: Pretentious Mint

Trying to be a sly ass mofo in book one but no:

“You were awake that entire time!” I scream at him, smacking his head. He winces, but I don’t feel an ounce of guilt for my action. “You – I was so worried and I –” “And you need me and you love me...” He cuts me off, his stupid smirk still on his face. “I thought you were still unconscious you idiot!” 

(I was 13 y’all shhhh)

Would he write books: Yes. One in the spinoff called My Best Friend Is Almost 30 And Doesn’t Leave Me Alone: A Memoir

What I (Rachel) wished for in his POV when I blew out his birthday candles today: Protect Reeve and live a healthy, prosperous life

The most pathetic thing he’s done: “Well, I thought, er, I, I brought this for you.” He says, holding a perfect red rose out to me. 

well er I er well

If he were a donut flavour: Boston cream

If he were a beverage: Fiji water

the aesthetic

this is a bottle of water

Alright so that’s enough about Foster. Hopefully you learned something about him since I don't talk about him ever on here... He’s sincerely one of my favourite characters, even though I always make fun of him. It’s okay. Everyone does it. Especially Harrison.

Cool. Hope you enjoyed this update. See you later dudes.

--Rachel

[suitairbus3-blog]

Cassie.net

Based on numerous requests from you (my loyal followers!) I’ve put together a recap of my 2 weeks in Maui. This is basically a (super thorough!) review of everything: from where I stayed and what I did, to places I ate, what I liked, didn’t like...and more.

Before we head to the island:

This trip was unique and special to me for a few reasons. I booked this trip just 5 days before I left because I hit a wall. So, you’ll notice that this quickly-planned excursion runs the full gamut of Hawaiian experiences—for example, I stayed in both a hostel and a high-end resort while I was there. It’s all about balance, right?

Quick backstory on WHY I booked this trip: I was completely burned out, I’d never been to Hawaii and always wanted to go, and I had a decade’s worth of credit card points to use before they expired (that would cover this trip in its entirety).

Quick backstory on HOW I booked this trip: When I was in Utah the prior weekend, I made a new friend named Beth. She and her family were going to be in Maui, and my friend Jeff chimed into our conversation saying that he’d be there the weekend after. It made sense to bookend my trip with the plan to meet up with each of them, and fill in the time in between. That’s why I stayed in Lahaina (to coincide with Beth’s trip) and Wailea (at the same resort as Jeff). Also, the original plan was to do this trip solo, but to my (joyful!) surprise, my friend Maddy decided to join me for 4 nights, which was a blast, and we packed a lot of adventures into those 4 nights, which I’ll share with you.

The BEST resource throughout my trip was Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook. My friend Roger gifted me with this gem and it made all the difference! Highly recommend it.

Lastly, this is not a sponsored post. No one has paid me to mention or review any product or locations. I simply wanted to give my honest review to help you plan your amazing (and healthy!) trip to Maui, whenever the mood strikes YOU!

Okay, onto the fun stuff!

Where I stayed (The Lodging):

Over my 14-night vacation, I bounced around 5 different hotels, hostels, and resorts. Phew! That was a lot (too much) unpacking, repacking, and repeat. But the good news is that you get the inside scoop about multiple lodging options instead of just one!

1) Hakuna Matata Hostel: I realize the hostel life isn’t for everyone, but if it’s your thing, then I highly recommend this place! They have everything you need from free parking to excellent wifi to breakfast. I also love that they have a beautiful backyard with hammocks and free rentals of bikes and I think even surfboards.

I stayed here my first couple of nights in hopes of making some friends at the beginning of my solo trip. It’s a nice community feel... and only a block from the ocean!

I remember crashing at hostels the month I backpacked across Europe back in 2011. Even though I really enjoyed my stay here, I realized that I might just be “over” the hostel experience. I don’t know, maybe it’s just the fact that I’m older and highly value my personal space (2 bathrooms for 24 people is ...well, an experience), but I doubt I’d stay here again. If you’re in your twenties or just love rocking out the close community feel, then this is your joint!

2) Puunoa Beach Estates: From the hostel I landed here. Talk about a night and day comparison!  The condo is incredible. I even felt a little guilty about how much space I had! I stayed here 4 nights and had the entire place all to myself— with a full kitchen, outdoor patios, separate wing with extra bedroom and bathroom (which didn’t even get used). I think this place is perfect for families. This was at the beginning of my trip, so I was still taking work calls on the patio near the beach (however, the wifi was a bit spotty.) If you’re looking for more of a secluded experience, then you might consider this place. It has a beautiful beachfront property and a lovely hot tub that I almost always had to myself. Just be warned that there is a lot of coral at this beach. While I was jumping waves and swimming in the ocean here, I got into a battle with some coral reef, and hurt my leg. A week later I almost went into urgent care since it was still throbbing and didn’t look to be healing very well, but that same day I was introduced to 2 wound nurses staying at the same hotel. Love how life works!

3) Royal Lahaina Resort: I am a sucker for the ocean, and while I enjoyed Baby Beach at the Puunoa Beach estates (until the coral got me), I’m glad I stayed there first, because once going to Kaanapali, it’d be tough to go back! It’s crazy how this beach—located in technically the same city as the other 2 places I stayed—felt completely different and so much nicer.

By this time, my friend Maddy had joined me. The one night we stayed here we took advantage of everything, including a great dinner (food was good, service was better), yummy drinks, beach time, hot tub time, and a jog around the golf course on the path. The ocean was cleaner, bluer… I witnessed dolphins come out of nowhere and start swimming with people on the beach! I watched whales jumping from the comfort of the hot tub which overlooked the ocean. The only downfall is that the bungalow room was super tiny—the smallest room of all of the places I stayed, and the hot tub was small too. That said, the grounds were incredible, and I wish I’d had more than a night here!

4) Kohea Kai Resort Maui: I don’t really have too much to say about this hotel, other than it was very average. Perhaps I was spoiled after staying at the Royal Lahaina Resort, but I think even with an unbiased set of eyes, I wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t nearly as nice as I thought it’d be, and for the price (credit card points), it felt like a pretty big letdown. I did appreciate that they had a hot breakfast in the morning. I’d get scrambled eggs and also grab some hard boiled ones for snacks later, fruit, peanut butter and they even had gluten free bread. This resort is just across the street from the ocean, but the beach wasn’t nearly as nice as the previous and next resort. There also weren’t as many people around, but maybe for some people that would be a positive. The hot tub was small, but there was never anyone else around, so that was nice.

5) Fairmont Kea Lani, Maui: Hands down my favorite place to stay—by far. The service was exceptional, room was enormous (all rooms are suites), had a balcony (I think all rooms do), they have a nice hot tub and several pools. The grounds are gorgeous and the ocean views and sunsets are to-die for. I think a lot of people come to the island, check in and never leave the resort- which is totally cool if that’s your type of vacay. Part of me can see why that’s so appealing, because after checking in here, it was hard to leave. I had many activities planned over the time I was there, and would have loved to just chill and have a couple legit “beach days” there with the sole purpose of reading and relaxing. That’s my one regret: not being able to enjoy this resort more! But I’m so glad I ended my my Hawaiian vacation here. The perfect grand finale. I’d start my day with yoga near the beach, and end it watching the sunset from somewhere on the beautiful grounds —or one night I ended it with the (free) lavender body mud mask in their spa! While paradise is a word that could be used to describe the whole island, this resort fully embraced it in every way.

What I did (The Adventures):

Nearly every activity I did was based on a verbal recommendation, a suggestion from an Instagram follower (thanks for all those!), or something I read about in the Maui Revealed Guidebook.

Surfing: One of the main highlights of my trip! I’d never surfed, and honestly never really had a huge interest in it, but after the first minute or two, I pretty much considered myself hooked.

I love the ocean, I love being active and I love a challenge. This was an epic combo of all of these things. I especially love how present and mindful you need to be when surfing, and I learned a really important lesson that I shared in this short post.

I did a group lesson through Maui Surfer girls, which was a great experience. They ended up rescheduling my lesson twice (once because they didn’t have enough people signed up, and once due to windy conditions). But thankfully I was able to still make it work. There were 4 of us in my group lesson, and the instructor was great. They had a portrait package option with the lesson, which was totally worth it to get footage of my first time surfing.

After my lesson, I felt comfortable going out by myself, so I spent a couple more days surfing, and am seriously considering moving near the ocean to get to make this part of my lifestyle.

Whale Watching: My hairdresser in Minneapolis recommended I do this, and do it through the Pacific Whale Foundation. It’s a non-profit, so the proceeds go back to the whales. He said to make sure to do the raft—not the big boat. I’m so glad I followed his advice! This was INCREDIBLE. Like, WAY cooler than I’d ever imagined! Obviously your experience would be different if you didn’t see any whales, but I did! In 2 hours, we must have seen 40 whales, several which came almost too close to our raft for my comfort! The guides leading the excursion were super knowledgeable and passionate. I learned a lot. I highly recommend doing this.

The Grand Luau at Honua'ula: I was told that in Hawaii, the one thing I MUST do is attend a Luau! After chatting with both locals and visitors and doing my own research online, the consensus is that the top 2 luaus on the island are Old Lahaina Inn and The Grand Luau at Honua'ula. Both are booked quite far in advance due to high demand, but thankfully The Grand Luau at Honua'ula had tickets available, and happened to be within walking distance of the Fairmont. It was a great outing to do as a group—me, Maddy, my friend Jeff and our new friend Jason all went together. And while I’m glad we went, I don’t feel the need to do it again. It was entertaining and a neat experience, but $108 for so-so food and drinks, I’d probably pass and go for a nice dinner. Also, I’ve been asked on social media if it was family friendly: absolutely.

Nakalele Blowhole: This was recommended by a young couple I met, and I’m sooooo glad we took the time to do this. The Blowhole was spectacular, and the drive up to the north end of Maui to get there was crazy. I’ve never been standing in a windier place in my entire life. As I attempted to take photos and videos, my phone practically blew out of my hand! I’m glad I waited for Maddy to do this, because I wouldn’t have hiked down as far without someone else with me. It’s a bit of a sketchy hike to get very close to blowhole, but I recommend it if you can. Protip: be sure to not wear flip flops!

So, what is the blowhole? “A blowhole is a hole in the ground that connects to an underground, partially submerged ocean cave. The cave and opening are shaped in such a way that when the ocean rises or waves crash into it, a jet of water and air is violently forced out through the hole,” according to MauiGuidebook.com. The guys from Maui Revealed Guidebook said once they were there when it wasn’t blowing a thing, and four hours later they returned and found it viciously shooting 70 feet into the air every few seconds. There are signs all over saying that you are risking death if you get too close… and while we were the most adventurous out of anyone else that was there at the same time as us, we kept our distance. The wind was so crazy that it made it hard to communicate (and even hard to think)! After about a half hour of hiking down, hanging out, attempting to get some pics and videos, I was definitely ready to head out! So the other nice thing about this excursion is that this does not require a lot of time (just depends on how far you need to drive). We saw one couple get out of their car, take a peek, have her dress blown up to her neck, and leave...hehe.

Haleakala National Park Sunrise Tour + Cycle Downhill:

The sunrise was majestic... but it ended up being my least favorite excursion. Allow me to explain... 

The sunrise at Halekala, the 10,023 foot summit, is the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen… You’re watching the sun rise above the clouds from the rim of the crater, and you can feel the temperature warm up as the sun rises. Incredible. But you have to work for it. First of all, it’s VERY cold and windy up there. And even with my Minnesota blood, I didn’t bring enough warm clothes to make this comfortable—even with hats and gloves! We froze. Secondly, in order to get all the way up the mountain in time to see the sunset, you need to get up EARLY (or just don’t ever go to bed… like we did…). Commit to leaving extra early because we saw cars pull up just after the sun had risen. That would be such a bummer to have not been there in time!

The tour we booked drove us up there in a bus. On the way back, they dropped us off part way down the volcano, where there were bikes and motorcycle helmets (you read that right!) waiting for us on the side of the road. We then cycled 23 miles down the mountain. As cool as this sounds (you know I love to bike!!), I did not enjoy it. The road is one single lane and it wraps around the mountain, which is not the safest to begin with. Plus, you’re biking down as cars try to pass you. Unfortunately, if you’re looking for a workout in any way, this isn’t it; you have to pump your brakes the entire way down! My experience was staring at the biker in front of me and trying to gracefully brake without hitting them or braking too hard and flying off my bike… for 23 miles. I was going very cautiously at first, until the tour guide told us we had to speed up—it’s too dangerous to go too slow. I did not like trying to go down this mountain in the first place, and with speed—no thanks! The bikes were already old and rickety, and to me, it was more dangerous and tedious than it was worth… and that’s coming from someone who loves to skydive, cliff jump, rock climb and do plenty of other risky things. Plus, it was cold.

Overall, this excursion was talked up more than it was worth, and also waaaay longer than we anticipated: by the time all was said and done, we were dropped off at our hotel 10 ½ hours after we were picked up. This whole sunrise/bike tour lasted that long! There was waaaaay too much downtime and waiting before, after and between the activities. Okay, this Negative Nancy is done.

Crossfit: Exercise is a priority for me—even on vacation. I enjoy moving my body. I never feel like I “have to” workout. It makes me feel good. Beach runs along the shoreline were amazing. Also, one of my favorite parts of traveling is trying new gyms and meeting new people. During my time in Hawaii, the Crossfit open was happening. It’s an annual worldwide competition that practically everyone in the crossfit community participates in. There are 5 workouts to be done over the course of 5 weeks. You have to do them in a certain time frame and be scored by a qualified judge to submit your score. So, I attended 2 different gyms based on the location of where I was staying, and had awesome experiences at both! It was such a great way to connect with other active people with similar interests—many of which were local. And from my experience, Crossfit gyms always cultivate a warm, welcoming community (more on that in this post). I enjoyed visiting Lahaina Crossfit and Makena Crossfit in Kihei.

Photoshoots: I regularly do photoshoots for our brand, and the look and feel we aim to achieve with our photography is freedom, confidence and beauty...and what better place to accomplish this than the island of Hawaii!? The very first thing I did after booking my plane ticket was start researching photographers on the island (and there are a LOT). I also had to decide what type of photoshoot I wanted. An amazing thing about photography on the island is the endless range of scenery available. Sunrise shoot on the beach? Sunset photos in the rainforest? Lava rocks? Sea turtles? Waterfalls? Black sand? Red sand? How to decide!?

I narrowed it down to doing a sunrise shoot, and a jungle shoot, and I couldn’t decide between 2 different photographers, so I decided to book one shoot with each. I’m so glad I did because the experiences ended up being so different—in both style and scenery!

Both of these shoots were absolute highlights of my trip. Both photographers took me to places off the beaten path that I would have never known about or experienced on my own, and helped me see Hawaii through their unique lens (pun intended!)—as transplants who moved to the island and are now residents.

Love + Water Sunrise Shoot: Rated one of the top wedding photographers on the island, I knew I couldn't go wrong. They lived up to the hype! Adam made a 6:15am land + sea photoshoot not just tolerable, but actually super fun! He made me laugh, came up with really creative pose ideas, and we just had a great time. He also took me to a secluded location with lava rocks that I wouldn't have known about, had me splashing and swimming in the water, and the photos turned out gorgeous.

Amy Jayne Photography Jungle shoot: Amy was amazing—not only did she offer to drive to the location for this jungle shoot, but she even went out of her way to show me some other spots in the area after we were done with the shoot. This shoot was much more strenuous than the other one: I climbed rocks and trekked through mud, swam through streams, splashed through waterfalls and really got the full jungle experience. We hiked back so far through the mud into the jungle that there wasn’t another soul to be seen. It was a really spiritual experience. Amy was so patient with me as I changed my outfits behind bamboo stalks, and took my time carefully climbing to the boulders she wanted me to pose on. It was a hardcore workout, which got pretty intense, even on the edge of dangerous at times—between the slippery rocks, rain and mud—which is right up my alley, but I will warn you: this type of photoshoot is not for the light hearted. I love adventure so I was all for it!

Colie Lennox: For hair and makeup, I can’t recommend this sweet human more! I would hire her again and again. She did both my hair and makeup for both shoots, she came to ME where I was staying (in 2 different cities both times), both at the crack of dawn (4:30 & 5am!), and was much more reasonable than anyone else I’d contacted. Plus, she was such a joy to work with. Not only is her work great, but so is her personality. I’ve stayed in touch with her since leaving, and would seriously come back to the island even just to work with her again! (I can actually say that about not just Colie, but both photographers, too: I’d come back to Hawaii just to work with all of them again!)

Where I ate (The Food):

I love food, but I love food more when it’s with good company. So, the first leg of my trip (when I was by myself the most), I didn’t eat out much (I bought groceries since I had a full kitchen in the condo). I did experience some restaurants, so I’ll share my feedback on these with you. Despite what I’d heard and the expectations I had, I found it to be rather easy to eat healthy. There are so many options!

Choice Health Bar: This was a recommendation from someone on Instagram, and it was a great one! I had lunch here once—a delicious “plate meal”— I can’t even remember what all it contained, but it was all delicious, along with a really yummy iced coffee. Everything looked fresh and healthy, there were SO many options, and I only wish I’d found out about it sooner.

Kimo’s Maui: I met up with Beth for a delicious fish dinner at Kimo’s. We loved the food, and the environment (outdoor seating is always my fave!). Afterwards, we stopped at Dirty Monkey with the intention of having a drink and doing a little dancing, but we ended up not staying very long. The vibe felt a little… dark(?) for our liking, and we just weren’t feeling it.

Cool Cat Cafe: This rooftop cafe is on Front Street In Lahaina, and the atmosphere was fun! It had a diner vibe and was a little noisy, but it was a fun place to go after surfing, and my hunger was satisfied with some fish tacos.

Coconuts Kitchen: This place was recommended by Colie, who said the food was amazing and the owner, Brian, is super nice. Maddy and I both had the fish tacos, which were tasty, but after having a taste of Jason’s macadamia-nut crusted mahi mahi, I swore I’d be back. (I didn’t make it here a second time on this trip, but perhaps later this year. :)) We also had the pleasure of meeting Brian, who was just as friendly as expected, and I love supporting places run by good people!

Mama’s Fish House: “If you only eat at one restaurant, eat here” was the advice I was given by many! I called to make a reservation and in my entire two weeks on the island, they had one available for two people on a Friday for lunch, so that made the itinerary! It was an awesome experience—from walking the beautiful grounds to a few surprise tastings and special touches. Overall, the food was decent, but nothing I’d rave about… although I would go back for the experience.

Paia Fish Market: This place was on our to-do list because of the raving reviews, and it lived up to the hype. Fish tacos seemed to be my thing on the island, and they were as yummy as I’d hoped. It was also quick and reasonable. There are a couple locations, and the one I went to and liked is in Ono/Kihei.

MonkeyPod: This place was highly recommended, and it was only okay. I wouldn’t go back unless it was for Happy Hour (we weren’t there for this, but that may have been the main reason it was recommended), but I will say the outdoor seating is lovely.

Four Seasons Spago: My nicest dinner on the island was here, at Chef Wolfgang Puck's Hawaiian restaurant, with the company of my friend, Jeff (thanks, Jeff!). We ordered the Chef’s Tasting menu, a 1989 bottle of wine, all accompanied by sunset views. We got to try everything from sushi to risotto to 4 different kinds of desserts. It was an amazing experience, and I’d definitely go back.

Food trucks: There were a few food trucks that I had a bite at, and while I can’t remember which ones, they were all great. I’m still surprised at how some of the best food seemed to be from the food trucks, and was excited to enjoy a couple great meals from ones that popped up when I was hungry.

Coffee:

You know I love my cup o’joe, and just like my love for checking out new gyms when I travel, I love checking out new coffee shops—especially on foot! So, coffee gets its own section.

To my surprise, cute yummy coffee shops are something this island is absolutely lacking. Thankfully, I did find a couple awesome spots, but not until the end of my trip.

Now, full disclosure is that I’m a little picky when it comes to coffee: they need to have either heavy cream (first choice), coconut milk (second choice), or oat milk or hemp milk (or I won’t order).

I tried several different coffee spots, and instead of reviewing them all, I’ll just tell you my top three picks! My favorite coffee drink ended up being at the cafe at the Fairmont (which was convenient and unexpected)! The other place I found and visited a couple of times was Hawaiian Moons Natural food, a pretty awesome health foods store. This was also a great spot to pick up some groceries: they have an awesome salad bar, all sorts of fun snacks, and kombucha on tap (love!) And when I was in Lahaina, my favorite spot was Cafe Cafe Maui, which was the best place to hang out—either outside or inside, and use wi-fi and chat with the baristas. I ordered breakfast here a few times, too—options are limited, but it was nice that they had eggs, smoothies and a few other items.

On my list for next time (things I didn't get to do):

There’s so much I didn’t get to do that my next trip could be a completely different experience! From snorkeling to ziplining to the Road to Hana.. I can’t wait to go back!

Here are 3 things for sure making the list for my next Maui trip:

Snorkel at Seafire Charters-Molokini: I was told that this is like swimming in an aquarium, and that I’ll love snorkeling after this! (I am a bit afraid of the whole breathing while underwater thing)

Road to Hana (maybe): I know people say you HAVE to do this when you’re in Maui… and maybe I did miss out, but I feel like I got a good taste of the drive from my trip to the Blowhole, and the jungle from my photoshoot with Amy. And, while I loved the adventures I had and exploring I did on this trip, I was content with just one day of that road and the jungle, and spending the rest of my time near the beaches, in the ocean and under the sun.

Sunset Dinner Cruise: I really wanted to do one of these, but we just didn’t have enough evenings! You can find some really good deals on these, especially if you’re willing to listen to a little pitch—like you would a timeshare (I think).

A few Personal Takeaways:

1) I’ll be back! I will most definitely be back… perhaps even later this year. I knew Hawaii would be amazing, but it was even better than I’d imagined. From the scenery to the vibes to the good energy and friendly people.. I loved it all.

2) Length of this trip: Everyone said I needed at least 10 days in Hawaii, and they were spot-on right. Two weeks felt waaaaay too long to me at first, especially since I’m not used to taking vacations. But, I realized I needed a solid 5-7 days to get into “vacation mode.” I know it’s a luxury to be able to take a 2-week vacation, but a week wouldn’t have sufficed.

3) Next time: more relaxing. I wish I’d hunkered down a bit more… maybe had 1 or 2 actual beach days. Between all of the excursions we booked and the photo shoots (which took a lot of prep, and half to full days on the actual days), it didn’t leave a whole lot of downtime. I don’t regret doing anything, but next time I’d make sure to tack on a couple days to just chill.

4) I vow to love myself more. Like, *really* love myself to the point of booking a 2 week vacation on an island by myself or even with a friend (or both) to take some time to breathe and reconnect with my inner child and play and laugh and journal and pray and be grateful and learn something new and meet new people and relax and be inspired and refreshed and play some more and pray some more and fall in LOVE with myself.

Sometimes we need to hit the RESET button. I say this when we do our 10-Day Reset program every 4 months. But, it’s not just your body, nutrition and hormones that we need to reset! I’ve come to believe that we need to do this with our pace of life, too —> for our mental, emotional, spiritual, and even physical health. It’s all connected! I was practically 100% burned out in every possible way before arriving in Maui. And to tell the truth… I shouldn’t have let it get that far. I wish I’d allowed myself to hit the reset button earlier, and more often in my daily life. And now, after 2 weeks of hitting that reset button HARD, I’m rejuvenated, refreshed and back into creative mode!!!

I hope you were able to take something from my experience—whether it’s taking note of places you want to visit, getting the epic guidebook, or even just the inspiration to put some self-care on your calendar, whether that’s a 2-week adventure to Maui, a weekend staycation, or a 30-minute massage.

Let’s remember to take time for ourselves, and prioritize rest (and play!), even (*especially!) in the midst of our hectic, fast-paced world. Mahalo!

Source: https://www.cassie.net/feed/

[onewfantaesy]

lol what if it is all an elaborate reality to show or something with shinee as the stars but they aren't in on it and basically everyone's actors and shinee actually think it is doomsday

Like their manager sends them to an island to film something and the island is massive and rigged with cameras and after a few normal days everything goes to hell and they think the world has ended lol 

so the ending is kind of shit and it’s not as detailed as i would have liked, but here’s doomsday au!! i might add more little side-stories about what else happened on the island, but here’s the main story!

“Vacation, vacation,” Taemin sings to himself as he and the other members roll their suitcases into the hotel.

“I can’t believe we actually get an entire week here,” Jonghyun says, a grin on his face as he shuffles to walk next to Taemin. “It’s like a dream come true.”

“Okay, children,” Kibum says sarcastically as he moves to walk in front of them. “Let’s go check in, shall we?”

He walks past them, an annoyed huff leaving his mouth as Taemin and Jonghyun makes faces behind him. Jinki nudges Taemin in the side when he catches sight of the faces the other two are making, and Minho is practically skipping as he hurries to catch up with Kibum.

They all take in the scenery of the resort their manager sent them to. There’s a pool outside, just to the left of where the front desk is. It looks like there’s a restaurant off to the right, and Jinki’s shoulders start bouncing up and down at the thought of ordering room service.

When they get to the front desk, Kibum does most of the talking, and the hostess hands them all room keys.

“We have minimal staff so you can have as much privacy as possible,” the hostess says as they check in. “Please enjoy your stay.”

“Kickass,” Taemin hisses quietly as he and Minho hurry down the hallway to their rooms. Kibum rolls his eyes at them, and Jinki and Jonghyun pretend that they’re not just as excited as the two who are practically running around like a couple of kids.

The first two days are fine. They get breakfast delivered to their rooms, they have lunch brought to them by the pool, and then they have dinner on the beach. Everything is fine; they get plenty of drinks, Taemin’s a little more tipsy than usual because there doesn’t seem to be many other guests around, and on their second night there, he goes to bed a little earlier than the others so he can drink off all the alcohol he drank.

That’s why he’s alone when the moving room shakes him awake.

Taemin swears there’s a mega earthquake happening, and he gets out of bed and looks around, keeping his hands rooted in his bed so as not to fall down while the ground shakes underneath him. He lets out a weird-sounding, shaky groan when there’s one particularly massive shake, and he reaches to grab his phone and yank it off the charger. He tries texting one of the others, but it says he has no service, and he lets out a very undignified shriek when he topples over on top of his bed as the shaking stops with one final, aggressive quake.

Once it’s finally over, he sits up in his bed, shakes his head a bit, and lets out a shallow breath. That was not fun.

“Taemin?” Minho’s voice sounds out from behind the door, followed by a series of loud knocks. “Taemin, are okay?”

“I’m fine!” Taemin shouts back, and he gets out of bed to pull on a pair of pants and hurry to open the door. “The fuck was that?”

“Earthquake?” Minho responds, but he grabs Taemin and pulls him a couple doors down over to Jinki’s room where the others are all gathered.

“Excuse me?” Taemin asks once he’s pulled inside. “Was there some meeting I didn’t get the memo for?”

When he sees the toppled-over wine bottles, he narrows his eyes at the other boys in the room. These assholes drank without him. Some group-members they were. Dicks.

“You went to bed early,” Kibum says with a shrug. “Not our fault.”

Taemin huffs at him, but he sits down in the chair next to Jinki when the oldest member pats the seat and nods his head towards it. Jinki pours him a drink, and Taemin takes it gratefully. The five of them talk for a little bit, mainly about how crazy that earthquake was. There doesn’t seem to be too much damage, though, and it’s too dark to go outside and really look. Jonghyun says they can go check in the morning, and they spend the rest of the night in Jinki’s room drinking, talking, and laughing until they fall asleep.

When Minho wakes up with a hangover, he groans and gropes around the nightstand for the phone, hoping to call for some room service. When he finally gets the phone and holds it up to his ear, he’s met with no sound at all. He lets out a little groan, realizing something must be wrong with the phone lines because of the earthquake last night, and he slams it back down.

“Someone get up,” Minho croaks out. “Come get breakfast with me.”

“Shut up and go back to bed,” Jonghyun mumbles, throwing a pillow in Minho’s general direction.

Minho manages to drag Kibum out of bed to come get food with him, but as the two walk throughout the resort, they realize there’s a severe lack of other people. They don’t see anyone out cleaning, there’s no one by the pool, no one at the front desk. When they go over to where they thought there was a restaurant, there met with only a small kitchen, a couple refrigerators, and a pantry. This is not good.

This is very not good.

The two of them walk around for a little while longer, looking for any sign of anyone else, when a gust of wind blows open the front doors of the resort, along with the door that leads to the pool. The two of them startle at it, moving closer to each other for a moment until the wind dies down. They both look at each other for a moment, and Minho nods before the two of them hurry back to Jinki’s room.

When they’re walking down the hall where their rooms are, they can see through the windows that the wind is blowing fast outside. There’s a chill up Kibum’s spine, and when he opens the door to Jinki’s room, Minho announces that there’s no one here.

“What do you mean there’s no one here?” Jinki asks, sitting up in bed and pushing Taemin onto the floor.

Taemin, meanwhile, startles awake, pushing himself up from the floor and staring at the two standing in the door through barely-open eyes.

“Food?” Taemin asks, his voice barely working as he wakes up.

“No,” Kibum says in annoyed voice, slamming the door closed, “Taemin, there’s no one here!”

“I thought that was the point of this place,” Taemin says, scratching his head as he moves to sit down. “Privacy and all that.”

“Yeah,” Kibum says, sitting down in a chair, “except there is literally no one else here. At all. Just us.”

“Oh,” Taemin says, nodding his head sleepily, “that’s not good.”

Jonghyun is about three seconds from panicking when Taemin just smacks his lips and leans back against the wall, running his hands over his face and saying, “That’s okay, we’re getting picked up in a couple days anyway.”

“Oh just go back to sleep,” Kibum hisses at him.

Taemin smiles, his eyes still closed, and he mumbles an “Okay,” as he falls against the floor, pulling a blanket over his head.

The others don’t believe that there really isn’t anyone else on the entire island. By the afternoon, the five of them are all up and about, trying to find someone. They managed to make their own breakfast in the little kitchen, but it consisted mainly of cereal and other foods that didn’t need to be cooked because none of the burners on the stove would work.

They try not to think about it too much at first, just going about their day as they would if they were on vacation. Minho and Taemin run about on the sand, kicking a ball between them and laughing. Jinki lounges on a chair near them, napping on and off as he listens to them laughing and shouting at each other. Jonghyun and Kibum are closer by the water, but they’re not too far away from the other three. Minho says that maybe they went to go get someone to fix all the electrical stuff that isn’t working, and the others agree. The earthquake must have just broken some things, and the staff needed to get people to fix it. That’s it.

Jonghyun and Jinki go off some time in the afternoon to go get food and to see if anyone is back at the front desk. They come back with food, and with no sightings of anyone else. Taemin says they all worry too much through a mouthful of food, and he just laughs at them when they tell him he’s gross and goes running towards the water.

“We may as well enjoy this vacation!” Taemin shouts as he splashes around. “You’re all way too up tight! We only have a few days here, may as well make it fun!”

The others grumble about for a few minutes, listening to Taemin laugh as he splashes and dives around in the waves. Minho agrees with him, and he pulls off his shirt to go join the youngest in the water. Jonghyun joins them after watching them splash water at each other, but Jinki and Kibum remain on the beach. Kibum keeps trying to find service on his phone, but he has no luck, and Jinki tries to figure out what they’re going to do if they can’t get off the island.

“You know,” Taemin says hours later, when the sun is setting, “if we wanted, we go totally Disney right now and start singing about life on an island.”

“Go away,” Kibum groans, shoving Taemin’s face away from him. Taemin only laughs, little cackles leaving his throat as he rolls over on the sand.

The next morning, the phones still won’t work, and there’s still no one else in sight. All five of them are visibly more worried, and even Taemin looks a little nervous as they all gather around one of the fire pits on the beach.

“There’s no running water,” Kibum says, “how am I supposed to take a shower?”

“Or a shit?” Jonghyun says. Taemin snorts, but Kibum slaps Jonghyun’s arm and tells him not to be so gross. Jonghyun narrows his eyes and asks, “What? It’s a serious concern!”

“You know there’s an ocean right there,” Taemin says, pointing behind them to where the waves are crashing against the beach.

They end up digging a hole somewhere over in the foresty-looking part of the island. Jinki says they can go to the bathroom there, because, “I saw it on TV once,” and that way they won’t get sick from anyone’s shit germs.

“I’ll go christen our new shit-hole,” Jonghyun announces once it’s made, taking a roll of toilet paper with him from one of the bathrooms, and Taemin and Minho hide their laughs when Kibum looks at them with an annoyed expression.

“Jinki,” Taemin starts, “you lived in the jungle for that show or whatever, so you know what you’re doing, don’t you?”

“I mean I guess,” Jinki says with a shrug. “Let’s just try and figure out what’s going on.”

“You don’t think this island is cursed, do you?” Minho asks.

Taemin snorts, “If anything, it’s probably just some stupid TV show that no one told us we were on.”

“No way our managers would let us go on something like this without telling us,” Kibum says. “Isn’t that, like, against the law?”

Taemin shrugs, and Minho and Jinki admit that they don’t know if that’s legal or not. When Jonghyun comes back, he says that it’s probably not legal, but that wouldn’t stop their managers from doing something like that.

When they get rained off the beach and forced inside the resort, they doubt if their managers would actually do something like that to them. They especially doubt it when the electricity actually goes out, and they have to huddle under blankets to stay warm while the wind blows outside and rain falls hard against the roof of the resort.

“If they did this to us,” Taemin says to no one in particular, “I quit.”

“Same,” the others all mumble, because while they’ve done some pretty shitty shows in the past, they’ve never been completely abandoned in the middle of nowhere, left to their own devices for God knows how long.

The next morning, they’re starting to doubt if anyone’s ever going to come back. The food they have from the kitchen is running low, along with the water bottles that they found behind the front counter and in the kitchen. That afternoon, Minho starts talking about how they need to go into survival mode, rationing their food and water and everything. Taemin goes off on his own after a while, mumbling quietly to himself. Meanwhile, Jonghyun starts pacing back and forth when it finally hits him that they’ve been left on this island with seemingly no way to get home.

That’s when Kibum snaps, telling them that they all need to stop acting like a bunch of idiots.

“Ki - Kibum, just calm down a for a minute,” Jinki begs, holding his hands up as Kibum runs around. Kibum stops, turns around, and stares at Jinki with the most annoyed face anyone’s ever seen.

“I am calm!” Kibum screams at Jinki. “But in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re stuck on an island with barely any food, no way to get fresh water, and no way to get home! We’ve got Jonghyun running around like a chicken without a head, Minho’s going all caveman on us, and Taemin’s in the corner trying to pray the problem away! How the fuck am I supposed to stay calm?”

“We need to build a shelter,” Minho calls out from where he is across the beach.

“You fucking moron!” Kibum screeches. “We have a goddamn resort to live in! We don’t need to build a shelter of our own!”

“Can you not use the Lord’s name in vain,” Taemin mumbles, walking towards them from his previous place under a palm tree. “And I found some coconuts and stuff. I just can’t open them.”

“This is some Cast Away level bullshit,” Jonghyun mumbles in a terrified sounding voice. “Gonna be living off of coconuts and sand for the rest of our lives.”

“Look, look,” Jinki says, trying to gather them all together, “we all just need to work together, okay? We can go to bed tonight, and tomorrow we’ll get everything figured out. There’s still food at the resort, and water-”

“Just because you were our leader in SHINee doesn’t mean you our leader when the world is ending,” Kibum says. He sniffles miserably, grabs his jacket from where it was hanging off the side of a chair, and goes stomping off to the room he had been staying in.

“Kibum?” Taemin calls, and he goes running off after him after Jinki nods his head at him. “Kibum, wait!”

Taemin follows him all the way to the room, and he manages to squeeze in despite the fact that Kibum tries closing the door in his face.

“What do you want?” Kibum groans out, flopping on his bed.

“It’s just,” Taemin lets out a shaky breath, and he plops down on the bed next to Kibum, “you don’t really think the world is ending, do you? We’re just gonna be stuck here for a couple days, and then the plane will come pick us up like it was supposed to and bring us back home, right?”

“Taemin,” Kibum says slowly, sitting up and putting his hands on Taemin’s shoulders, “there was a massive earthquake and some weird wind shit. Then, the people we were supposed to be on the island with fucking vanished, and none of the TVs work or the internet. Either this is some massive conspiracy theory bullshit, or the time has come that we’re living through some doomsday crap, and I don’t know about, but I don’t really feel like dying right now.”

Taemin’s breath hitches for a moment, and Kibum turns away for a couple minutes to fluff his pillows and scoot higher up on his bed. When he turns back to the other, he sees Taemin’s shoulders just barely shaking. Kibum’s eyes go wide, and he scoots back closer to Taemin.

“Oh my God, Taemin?” Kibum asks as he leans over to look at Taemin’s face. “Hey, hey, I know this is kinda scary, but we can’t freak out, okay?”

“What if it’s not just here, though?” Taemin squeaks out. “What if it’s bad at home, too? Shit, Kibum, what about my parents? Or my brother? Or my dogs? What if they’re not okay?”

“Taemin,” Kibum says, and he pulls Taemin close to him in a hug. “Taemin, don’t cry. You’re not the one who cries, you can’t start now.”

“That’s different,” Taemin says miserably. “That’s when we win stuff; when we’re happy. Kibum, if my family is dead-”

He can’t even finish his sentence, and he lets out a sob as he buries his face in Kibum’s shoulder. Kibum only squeezes him tighter, rubs his back, and whispers in his ear.

“You can’t think like that,” Kibum says softly. “It’s like you said. Maybe a plane will come in a couple days and pick us up.”

“You just said that was bullshit,” Taemin huffs.

Kibum is about to argue back at him, saying he was just the one who said to be optimistic, but there’s a knock on the door, and Jonghyun comes in with a worried look on his face.

“We got a TV to work. You should come see this,” Jonghyun says quietly, and Kibum pulls Taemin off the bed so the three of them can go to where the other two are watching the television.

“Ocean currents?” Minho asks as the three of them get to where the TV is. “You’re telling me all this bullshit is caused by some screwed up ocean currents?”

“What bullshit?” Taemin asks, kneeling in front of the television.

“Earthquakes, hurricanes,” Jinki mumbles. “Happened all over this half of the world, apparently.”

“This is the only channel it will get?” Kibum asks, and he goes over to the television to punch the side of it. “This is crazy! I don’t fucking believe it!”

“It’s on KBS,” Jinki says quietly. “How can you not believe it?”

Taemin is still kneeling in front of the television, his eyes wide as he watches the single newsreel play over and over again. The others start fighting in the background, someone saying that they need to find food, another saying they need water, and the other two both trying to stop the other two from fighting, only to end up right in the middle of the fight themselves. His eyes glaze over after a couple minutes, but his breathing quickens and his hands start shaking as he brings them together.

“Oh great, he’s praying again!” someone shouts.

“What’s your problem with him praying, huh? At least he’s trying to do something!” another one argues.

“Praying isn’t going to get us off this damn island!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Just let him do it, it’s comforting for him!”

“Shut up!” Taemin screams, turning around and staring at the four of them. “Holy crap, we’re all gonna die on this stupid island if you all keep fighting!”

He stands up, stumbling a bit at first, but he ends up stomping off in a different direction as the sun starts setting. The others start shouting for him to come back, but he hurries all the way back to his room and shuts the door, leaning his back against it as he breathes heavily. He brings a hand up to his chest, and he stumbles over to his bed and kneels on the floor, leaning against the edge of his bed. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, scrolling through his contacts until he finds his mom’s number, and he tries desperately to call it again.

“Mom, mom,” he mumbles, tears welling up in his eyes as the call keeps not going through. “Please, please just let me call her, please.”

He tries in vain to call his family, but his phone can’t dial any of the numbers because there’s no signal.

“It’s not going to work,” Jinki’s voice says quietly as comes in through the door. He crosses the room quickly, falling next to Taemin and pulling him into a hug. “There’s no signal, Taemin, it’s not worth getting upset about.”

When Taemin can’t find any words to say back, he just hides his face in Jinki’s shoulder as the older man hugs him tightly.

“We’re gonna be fine,” Jinki whispers to him. “It’s gonna be fine.”

The five of them spend that night in Taemin’s room, reassuring each other that everything’s going to be fine, and that they just need to all get their shit together so they can actually get through the next however-many-days on this island until they can get off.

The next day, everyone is on edge as they try to figure out what they have and what they need to actually survive.

“I hope you all know that if we ever get off this Gilligan’s Island bullshit,” Jonghyun says slowly, “I’m gonna go home, I’m gonna hug my dog, and I’m not doing any of this idol shit for a year. Like a full year, okay? I’m sick of this crap.”

“What does being stuck on an island during the apocalypse have to do with being an idol?” Minho asks him, slamming a rock into a coconut to try and open it.

“Why are we here?” Jonghyun shouts back at him. “Because we’re on vacation from being idols! Being an idol is what causes every horrible thing in the world!”

“You’re just grumpy because you’re tired,” Taemin snorts. “Why don’t you go take a nap or something?”

“Taemin, I’ve been your number one fan for years, can you just have my back on this please?” Jonghyun screeches, tugging at his hair as he stumbles around in the sand.

“What makes you think idols are even gonna be a thing if we get home?” Taemin screeches back at him. “The world’s ending, dumbass! Half the world’s probably dead and you’re crying over being an idol? Just go take a nap!”

Jonghyun lets out a long, squeaky sounding groan, and he goes stomping off to where their bedrooms are. Kibum comes back a few minutes later with an annoyed look on his face, mumbling about short people having short tempers and loud voices.

The next day, Minho starts complaining about how he wants to eat meat, and there’s fish right in the ocean that they could go catch. Kibum doesn’t think it’s safe, but Taemin agrees that they should go have a try at fishing. Taemin and Minho start sharpening the ends of sticks, and they go change so they can wade around in the ocean in their swim trunks.

They spend hours out there, until the skin on the bottom of their feet is wrinkly, but they don’t catch a single thing. Taemin, however, does manage to scrape his foot on a rock, and that sends Kibum over the edge.

“He got hurt!” Kibum screams. “You had to go catch fish and be some caveman, and it got him hurt!”

“It’s just a scrape, he’ll be fine!” Minho screams back, and the two of them press up against each other as they fight.

“This is how it starts! It’s just a scrape now, and in a couple days, his foot falls off!” Kibum shouts in Minho’s face, and after a couple minutes, the two of are wrestling each other down to the ground.

“Stop! Stop it!” Taemin shouts at them both, he and Jinki trying to pull them apart as Jonghyun comes running over to them.

“What the hell is going on?” Jonghyun asks. “Did you catch any fish?”

“No, they didn’t, because Minho is a reckless asshole!” Kibum screams as Jonghyun holds him back.

“What happened?” Jonghyun asks, looking over at Taemin and taking in his soaked appearance, a faint red patch on his right foot.

“I scratched my foot, that’s all,” Taemin says, “it’s not a big deal, it’s fine.”

“You know what, fine,” Kibum says, pulling out of Jonghyun’s grasp. “You can go and get hurt and be dumb, reckless idiots, and you’re gonna get yourselves killed! Have fun dying!”

“You got hurt?” Jonghyun asks, going over to Taemin as Kibum stalks away. He looks over at Minho and asks, “Why’d you let him get hurt?”

“I didn’t let him get hurt,” Minho says through clenched teeth, “it just happened.”

Then Jonghyun starts arguing with Minho, telling him how irresponsible he is for letting this happen. Taemin joins in after that, telling Jonghyun that he’s not some child that needs protection from everything. It takes Jinki a good seven minutes to break up the fight, but in the end, Jonghyun goes to join Kibum back at the resort.

The three of them stay out on the beach for a while, sitting in the sand as they wait for Jonghyun and Kibum to crack first and come out and apologize for being rash.

No one apologizes to anyone, and Jonghyun and Kibum stay in the resort.

“It’s cold,” Taemin mumbles, standing up to go back inside.

“Go put on some clothes,” Jinki says to the two of them. “We’ll start a fire or something tonight.”

“Wow, fascinating,” Minho says with a sigh. “We gonna have roasted coconut for dinner? Or maybe a burnt banana?”

“Don’t be a smartass,” Jinki warns him.

There’s a visible divide between the group that night. Jonghyun and Kibum stay huddled by the fire, whispering to each other while Jinki pokes the fire every so often. Taemin sits in-between Jinki and Minho, the look on his face making it seem like he’s contemplating the meaning of life as they eat some of the food that’s been left at the resort.

“We should build a boat,” Taemin says after a while. Minho quickly agrees with him, Jinki looks thoughtful, but Jonghyun and Kibum are fast to disagree.

“And just where would we go on this boat, Taemin?” Kibum asks. “Are we gonna sail away back home? We don’t even know which direction home is.”

“I’m just saying,” Taemin says through clenched teeth, “that it might be a good idea. I saw Moana, dammit, we can’t just stay on this island forever!”

Kibum huffs, sits back in his chair, and crosses his arms.

“I’d like to see you even try to build a boat. You can barely keep your cell phone in-tact, how are you gonna build a boat without fucking it up?” Kibum challenges.

“That’s really fucking rude of you,” Taemin snaps. He gets up, kicking sand over half the fire and going back inside to sulk in his room.

The next day has Taemin sitting on the beach, tying slabs of wood together with ropes he and Minho made out palm leaves. He slumps over the pieces of wood, letting out a huff of a breath to blow his hair out of his eyes. He gets up after tying a few more pieces together, and he drags his makeshift raft over to the water, jumping around and shouting when it actually floats.

“Guys! It floats!” he shouts back towards the resort. “It floats!”

Taemin keeps laughing, and he pulls his raft back to the beach so he can try and make some sort of sail for it. He’s in the midst of trying to figure out how to make a sail when something in the distance catches his eye, and he turns to see a giant cruise ship sailing by off in the horizon.

“Boat,” Taemin whispers to himself. “Boat! There’s a boat!”

“We get it, Taemin, your stupid boat can float!” Jonghyun shouts at him.

“No, there’s a boat! Hey! Hey, come here! We’re stuck here!” Taemin screams. “Someone start a fire, there’s a boat!”

The others come running towards the beach when they hear him screaming, but by then, Taemin is already pushing his raft back onto the ocean. He’s trying to paddle with his hands, splashing around to try and get to the cruise ship in the distance, screaming the whole way there. The others start shouting for him to come back, that it’s not safe, but he won’t listen.

A big wave comes and crashes into Taemin’s little raft, pushing him off and into the water. Minho ends up catching up with him, but Taemin’s spitting out water and still trying to scream for the ship to come get them at the same time. Jinki catches up to them and helps Minho pull Taemin back to the beach. When they get him back to the sand, Taemin holds himself up on all fours and coughs up water, Jinki patting his back to try and help. Kibum hurries over, putting a towel around Taemin’s shoulders and helping him stand up.

“It’s leaving,” Taemin cries, still looking out at the horizon and watching the ship disappear. “It’s leaving, oh God, we’re gonna be stuck here forever.”

Taemin buries his head in his arms, letting out a strangled scream as he keeps mumbling about the boat being right there, and being stuck on the island. Jinki and Jonghyun sit with him, try to coax him out of this little breakdown he’s having while Kibum and Minho try to start a fire. They add palm leaves to it, trying to make as much smoke as possible, but no one comes.

Taemin spends that night curled up against Jinki, mumbling about how they’re going to die on this stupid island while the others barely keep themselves from falling into the same dark mental space Taemin managed to fall into.

In the middle of the next day, after a morning spent huddled around a fire, trying to keep the smoke dark and rising high, a helicopter lands in the middle of the island. The five of them can’t believe their eyes when a couple cameramen and a well-known variety show host get out, laughing and trying to say it was all a prank, a hidden-camera show.

“There were cameras hidden throughout the island,” the host explains, still laughing.

“The - The news, though,” Taemin stutters out, stumbling to get up. “Ocean currents, tsunamis, the earthquake!”

“It was all fake!” he laughs. One of the cameramen comes and points the camera directly in Taemin’s sunburned face.

“It was all fake?” Taemin asks.

“No one’s dead?” Jinki clarifies.

“No one is dead,” the man tells them. “We’ve got a helicopter here to take you guys back to the local airport, and you can all go home.”

He keeps talking for a little bit, explaining the show and everything, and that’s when Taemin snaps.

“Get that thing out of my face!” Taemin shouts, shoving the camera away from him. “What kind of show does this to people? This isn’t funny!”

Taemin starts fighting with the cameraman, but Jinki easily holds him back and tries to calm him down. That’s when they stop filming, because all the members start freaking out about being made to think that the world was ending all for some reality show.

They all need a couple weeks off before they can go back to their lives as idols.

[charllieeldridge]

Gili Trawangan – Our Experience On Indonesia’s Backpacker Island

Exactly a decade later, we returned to Gili Trawangan, one of the three little Gili islands located off the coast of Lombok in Indonesia.

With white-sand beaches, calm turquoise water, numerous accommodation options, and excellent nightlife and diving, Gili T attracts a wide range of travellers.

Even though many things had changed over the past decade, one thing remained the same:

It’s a busy, party island.

Read on to learn about our personal experience on the largest of the Gili islands, the things to see and do there, where to stay, and more.

Love this positive sign on Gili T

Why Gili Trawangan?

According to stats on Statista.com, from January to October 2018 Bali received over 5.1 million arrivals at its international airport. Since there’s an easy, direct fast ferry boat from Bali to Gili Trawangan, it’s no surprise that this island receives a lot of those visitors. 

There are no motorized vehicles or dogs on the island, meaning you won’t choke on vehicle pollution or have to deal with dogs barking through the night. If you’re looking to chill out on the beach with a good book, there are lots of sandy spaces to do just that. And, for those who are keen to do some scuba diving, there are loads of dive shops here as well.

If you’re a budget backpacker, a solo traveller looking to have a good time, a beach bum, or a scuba diver, then Gili Trawangan is the place for you. 

Where to Stay on Gili Trawangan

When thinking about where to stay on Gili Trawangan, you’ll want to consider what sort of holiday experience you’re looking for. If you want to be in the thick of it, party at night, scuba dive during the day and have easy access to restaurants and bars, then you’ll want to be on the east coast.

The western part of the island has some luxury hotels and resorts, and not a lot else (it’s much less developed on this side). The south and north ends of the island are fairly quiet as well. The center of the island, down the small roads, is where you’ll find residential homes and some Airbnbs. 

In 2009 when we visited Gili T, we arrived during the high season and the island was full of (mostly) Australian travellers who were all on vacation. Finding a room in our budget was difficult and we ended up in a very small, very dark room for around $10/night — which was over our budget at the time!

Fast-forward 10 years and we found ourselves staying in a lovely villa in a nice part of the island. While we were invited to stay here by Lotus Hotels, this is exactly the type of place that we would’ve booked for ourselves anyways, especially considering their basic rooms are still very bright, large and quite affordable at around $57 / night. 

We were greeted by the receptionist at Villa Almarik and together, we walked behind the property and down a flower-lined pathway to our room. As we opened the door, we were pleasantly surprised at the height of the ceiling, the king-sized bed and the large bathroom with outdoor area.

This room was much better than the one we stayed in (endured) in 2009!

The room also had a reading nook, two closets, and tile flooring. The private verandah had a couple of chairs and a table and was a nice spot to have a drink — although, with the beach just steps away, we were more tempted to head seaside for our sundowners.

Villa Almarik is located on the east coast, at the northern end of the party zone, directly across the road from the sea. Since it was tucked away from the main drag, we weren’t disturbed by any music or other noise and had a peaceful sleep each night (something that can’t be said for many other hotels in this part of the island). 

A large breakfast buffet was served in the upstairs dining area, with custom-made omelets, fruits, bacon, pastries and more all included in the room rate.

The property offered an onsite spa and saltwater swimming pool, both of which were great places to relax when it was low tide at the beach.

The pool at Villa Almarik in the evening

Across the road, right on the water, was the attached restaurant. With a hilarious slogan plastered on the road reading “Probably the best pizza on the island”, how could we not eat here?!

With our toes in the sand, we ate lunch and dinner here frequently. We looked around for other restaurants that we might want to dine at, but always came back to the tasty and consistently delicious Indonesian and Western meals served here by the talented chef. And yes, the pizza was probably the best on the island.

To learn more about Villa Almarik and the room rates, click here. 

(I also have to give a shoutout to Coffee and Thyme which serves amazing iced and hot coffee! We popped into this little place near the port every morning to start our day.) 

One of the many tasty meals we ate at Villa Almarik’s beach restaurant – BBQ seafood!

Things To Do in Gili Trawangan

For such a small island (3 kilometers long, 2 kilometers wide), surprisingly, there are quite a few things to do here — with most activities being centered around the sand and sea.

Water Sports

Since the sea is typically calm, many people rent SUPs or kayaks in the late afternoon or early morning and enjoy a bit of paddling around.

With an offshore reef, snorkelling is a popular beach activity as well. Mask and fin rentals are available all around the island for just a couple of dollars, but many people bring their own gear if they plan to do a lot of snorkelling.

Snorkel day trips are available, but as with everything, always check reviews of the tour company and the quality of their equipment before setting off on a boat day trip. 

Scuba Diving 

Known for its shark and turtle sightings, crystal-clear water, and a WWII shipwreck, Gili T is a popular place for scuba divers — of all levels. Some of the most popular places for diving on Gili T are Shark Point, Meno Wall, Halik and Deep Turbo. Expect to spot hawksbill and green turtles, numerous fish, healthy coral and larger pelagic as well. 

Some of the dive sites around the island have a strong current. Based on your abilities and certification, your divemaster will choose a site that you’ll be comfortable with.  

If you’re not yet certified, this is a popular place to obtain your PADI Open Water. Just ensure you do your research and be mindful of which company you choose. As I said above, this is a laidback, party island and the safety scene can be little lax. Click here to learn more about scuba diving on Gili T.

A green turtle just hanging out during Nick’s dive

*Note: When Nick went diving will Villa Almarik, he was amazed by the clarity of the water, health of the coral and the abundance of sea life (including lots of turtle sightings). Unfortunately, the other two divers he was with had been up late partying the previous night and were completely irresponsible divers. Even though they supposedly had the proper certifications, they were panicking above and below the surface, and going from 22 meters to 2 meters in a matter of seconds which could easily lead to the bends. This made for a stressed-out dive for both Nick and the divemaster, and in fact, Nick decided to opt-out of the second dive. He was disappointed with the fact that the divemaster allowed the inexperienced divers to go on the second dive. If possible, find out who you’ll be diving with and do your research about the best dive shops on the island.  

Watching Sunset

There’s nothing better than relaxing with a cocktail in hand while watching the sun dip into the sea.

There are a few places to enjoy the sunset on Gili T (of course, anywhere on the west coast would be great), but I recommend Paradise Sunset which has swings in the water. Other options include sitting on a vacant bit of sand with your own Bintang beer from the shop, or hiking up to the viewpoint for epic sunset views.

Hiking to the Viewpoint

Gili T is basically flat, except for one hill in the southern part of the island. Since most travellers are here for a beach vacation, they often overlook this hike.

The whole walk is only about a 20 minutes, yet the terrain and sights are quite varied!

Walk up cement steps, through a nutmeg forest, and past a small Hindu shrine until you reach ruins from the Japanese WWII machinegun bunker.

After you’ve taken a few pics of the ruins, continue on to where the landscape opens up and you’ll be rewarded with a view across the Gilis. If you’ve hiked up in the morning, you can enjoy the sunrise over Lombok Island.

When we walked up for sunset, there were only a handful of other travellers here — making it a peaceful spot to end the day.

Rent a Bicycle

You could walk around the island in around 1.5 hours, but since temperatures can soar at mid-day, I recommend renting a bicycle. The entire island isn’t paved, and you’ll need to push your bike over the sand in a couple of spots, but it’s still a lot of fun. 

Cycle for a bit, stop off to snorkel, cycle some more, grab a drink, and repeat! Bike rentals are found all around the island, and usually, hotels and hostels have them for rent. We got ours at the place right beside Villa Almarik and they were 50,000 IDR each ($3.50) for 24 hours.

Renting a bicycle is a must on Gili T

Getting To and From Gili T

Basically, you have two options for getting to Gili Trawangan. 

Take a boat from Bali to Gili T

Fly from Bali to Lombok, then take a boat from Lombok to Gili T

As a person who doesn’t love the thought of being out in the open sea, in rough sea conditions, in a country where safety standards aren’t always up to par, I was a little bit nervous about our journey aboard the Eka Jaya from Padang Bai harbour on Bali island to Gili Trawangan.

The journey on a fast boat from Padang Bai to Gili T can take anywhere from 1.5 hours to 2.5 depending on the sea conditions. January – March, and July – September are the months when the Lombok Strait can be rough (in some cases, boats are cancelled due to bad weather).

Luckily, during our trip in October, even though the sea had some decent sized swells, I didn’t feel unsafe on the journey there — uncomfortable in a seat with no legroom, but not unsafe.

The journey back to Bali, on the other hand, was a different story. We endured an overfilled boat, delayed departure, and transferring of passengers (and luggage) from one boat to another in the middle of the sea! 

There are no airports on the Gili Islands, but you can fly direct from Bali to Lombok with Lion Air or Garuda (around 25 minutes), and then take a boat from Lombok to Gili T. I recommend exploring the Island of Lombok as well and then head over to Gili Trawangan. 

You can take a speed boat from Lombok Island to Gili T (10 minutes), a public boat (no set duration, but expect a long ride), or public ferry (45 minutes).

Stay hydrated after being in the sun, and boozing all night!

Things To Keep in Mind

A few things you should know and be aware of when visiting Gili Trawangan:

There weren’t any police on the island when we visited 10 years ago, but this time around we saw a small police station. Regardless of their presence, this party island has many illegal substances on offer. Drugs are readily available and you’ll be constantly offered them (mostly marijuana and mushrooms, but everything can be found). Keep in mind that possession and trafficking of drugs are punishable by death in Indonesia (a warning you’ll receive on the flight into the country). 

As with everywhere, plastic is an issue. We saw a couple of great initiatives here, including a large fish-shaped container on the beach where you deposit plastic bottles. Rather than dumping bottles into the sea, put them into the fish structure instead, share the photo using the hashtag on social media, and receive free water refills during your stay on the island. Tapaz Gili restaurant across the street from the fish had an eco wall that was filled with over 500 plastic bottles and hundreds of bottle caps. It was a beautiful design, and a great way to use plastic waste. 

While putting your plastic bottles in here is a great idea, better yet, bring your own reusable bottle

 While scuba diving, lazing on a beach and partying are all fun, why not help out during your stay on Gili T? Beach clean-ups, animal clinics, and reef protection projects are all in place here on the island. Have a look at Gili Eco Trust and Invest Islands Foundation on Instagram and see how you can participate and give back. 

Unlike Bali which is a Hindu Island, the locals of Gili Trawangan are predominantly Muslim. There are a few mosques on the island, with the main one juxtaposed across the street from the beach on the eastern, busy side of the island. The Call to Prayer rings out several times a day, residents wear traditional clothing, and there are no dogs on the island (Muslims believe dogs to be impure). In the midst of all this there are half-naked, drunk tourists. You are a guest on this island, so it’s important to be respectful of religion and culture here — even if it doesn’t seem like anyone else is. The main thing you can do is to cover up and wear appropriate clothing when you’re not on the beach. During Ramadan, restaurant and bar hours are shortened, and locals won’t have eaten or drunk anything from sun up to sun down — even though they are working hard. Patience and understanding on your part during those fasting hours will go a long way. Also, if you’ve befriended someone on Gili T who is a Muslim, giving a small gift during Eid (the celebration after Ramadan) would be a nice touch. 

Final Thoughts

We were looking forward to returning to Gili Trawangan to see how it had changed over the past decade. Apart from there being more restaurants and hotels, which equals more foot and boat traffic, it was still a party place, with (basically) no rules and an emphasis on chillin’ out.

As a 35-year-old couple who weren’t interested in doing drugs, binge drinking or staying up to see the sunrise, this wasn’t exactly our favourite place to visit in Indonesia. Of course, it’s not as though those are the only things you can do here, and more mature travellers still love the island for its beaches, restaurants and amazing diving and snorkelling. We were grateful for Villa Almarik, which was like a little oasis from the madness of the island’s east coast.

In the end, we prefer the offtrack island of Gangga, the epic scuba diving and nature of Raja Ampat, and the quieter areas of Candidasa and Sanur in Bali.

If you’re looking for a younger vibe with lots of great bars, beaches, nightlife and don’t mind crowds, then Gili T is an amazing place. If we were still in our 20’s now, I’m sure we’d be singing a different tune. The island has a lot to offer and it’s easy to see why it’s so popular.

We will definitely come back to the Gili Islands one day, but I think it’s time that we head to the quieter Gili Meno or Gili Air. The two islands that we would’ve considered boring as young backpackers are probably right up our alley now.

What do you think? Does Gili Trawangan sound like your kind of island?

Check out our video of our time spent on Gili Trawangan here:

A special thank-you to Lotus Hotels for hosting our stay at Villa Almarik. As with all promotional campaigns on Goats On The Road, all thoughts and opinions remain our own, regardless of any complimentary services received.

The post Gili Trawangan – Our Experience On Indonesia’s Backpacker Island appeared first on Goats On The Road.

Gili Trawangan – Our Experience On Indonesia’s Backpacker Island published first on https://travelaspire.weebly.com/

[chucksandjeans]

Hawaeeeee

October 16

We started the trip and early on the Monday and Ubered to the airport. Our Uber guy, Jermaine, was super nice and chatty which started our trip off right. It was pretty early at the airport but for some reason the border control line was super long and I had to line up by myself for 45 minutes or so. I think something must have happened because everyone was on high alert. It was a safe flight so that is all that matters. We had a short layover in Chicago where we stuffed ourselves with food and stole some cup noodles for the next 9 hour flight to Honolulu. This was a smart move because United did not give us food as it was considered a domestic flight (we’re going to try avoiding United from now on…). We watched Pacific Rim which ended up being amazing!

We finally landed in Oahu at around 2 in the afternoon and waited in line for our rental car. They didn’t have our compact car so gave us a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV and it was huge! But overall a fun ride. We quickly found the R&B / hip hop station, found some party jams (Bank Account – 21 Savage; Rake It Up – 21 Yo Gotti; Bodak Yellow – Cardi B; Young Dumb & Broke – Khalid) that stayed on repeat the entire trip. The freeway to our first resort, Aulani Disney, was on the west side of the island. We arrived around 4, got lei’d up properly, and found ourselves in a beautiful room overlooking the pool. Changing quickly into our swim gear, we walked around the beach / infinity pool / lazy river, ate some food, and made a reservation to eat at the restaurant downstairs. At 6 or so, we took a nap and set an alarm for 1 hour, just, as a power nap before dinner. However, the alarm didn’t ring and we woke up at 11 and missed dinner entirely. LOL! We kept sleeping.

October 17

The morning started off nice and early with some good, ol’ Mickey D’s (thanks jet lag). They served spam with the classic Big Breakfast and the most unexpected taro pie (they didn’t have the haupia pie). It was flaky, crispy and gooey inside – yum. We stopped by Pearl Harbour “just because” but it was a bit underwhelming despite its historic influence. The morning was still young so we quickly hopped on the highway and drove to the north shore. The Dole Plantation was our next stop and we got there just as it was opening. No lineups! We took a train ride around the plantation and ate some Dole Whip – it was delicious! So sweet that the pineapple stick on the side seemed sour in comparison, but perfectly cold for the hot day. The crowds and tour buses poured in after so we quickly drove to our next stop, the famous Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck. Celine had the original flavour (a garlic version) but I decided to try the spicy, which came with a warning that you couldn’t get any refunds for it. Big mistake because it was so HOT, I drank the entire bottle of Powerade. We then visited some nearby shops and continued driving along the north shore until we reached the Banzai Pipeline. This is where people surf Hawaii’s biggest waves! It was intense. In our sweaty clothes, we walked around the outlet shops and at night, drove back into Honolulu to eat at this amazing Japanese restaurant called Sushi Murayama. The 10-course omakase dinner was $75 per person and it was amazing and totally worth it! We left full and happy. There was plenty of food, super fresh ingredients, and an entertaining sushi chef. Vince can’t stop thinking about the king clam sushi we had. It was probably one of my best experiences eating. See our food video for highlights. Oh yea the car was parked in one of those automated stacked parking lots which was very cool! Very SF.

October 18

The agenda for this day was optimistic and we accomplished it all! Kick-starting it all was a drive through the rain across the island, through Honolulu and to the east end of the island to hike up the Koko Crater Railway Tracks. We thought starting early would allow us to finish before the sun hit its peak but unfortunately for us the sun started beating down on us as the thousands of steps slowed our pace. The tracks quickly turned from a comfortable walk to almost climbing vertically and at some points, it was dangerous to cross between rails. It was so hot, Celine felt a little lightheaded – definitely different from hiking in Scandinavia! Regardless, we made it to the top and the view was breathtaking from all sides. We saw the entire coastline and enjoyed the fresh air and celebrated our triumphant ascent to the top. Going down was another struggle LOL. By the time we got down it was lunchtime so we ate at a local sushi restaurant.

The next stop was Hanauma Bay to snorkel but the parking lot was full. We ended up driving the cost to the Lanai Lookout and made it all the way to Alan Davis Beach / Pele’s Chair. This tiny beach was certainly off the beaten path and was known for mini cliff diving. It was essentially an edge where you could jump into the ocean, and the rocks off the shore were big enough to block all oncoming waves. It was super fun and we got some great Go Pro shots! Afterwards, we chilled out at Sandy Beach, apparently the beach with the most number of injuries per year due to its dangerous waves. We sat on the beach and watched surfers get battered. Before dinner, we stopped across the resort to buy some magnets and then ate at the Makahiki Buffet inside Aulani. All-you-can-eat oysters! Poke! What a great spread. We tucked in for our last night in Oahu.

October 19

Our flight to Maui was in the early afternoon so we had some time to grab a bite in Honolulu after grabbing breakfast to go from the Ulu Café. We ate at Marukame Udon, one of Celine’s favourites, before taking a short flight to the next island. Our rental car here was a sedan so driving was easier. We got some shave ice, which had peach, strawberry and other citrus flavours, from Ululani's, dropped our stuff off at our hotel – the Maui Beach Hotel (ghetto AF) – and drove up Haleakala National Park to see the sunset. The rode up was very windy and took over an hour. By the time we got to the top, we had to fully gear up and wear every piece of clothing available. The parking was horrendous and most people just parked randomly in the lot or on the winding mountain road. The sunset was beautiful and I would have enjoyed it way more if I was freezing, literally. Vince even put up his hood. I was exhausted on the drive down the mountain and since we arrived at Mama’s Fish House (widely known as the best restaurant on the entire island) an hour before our booking, we took a nap. It was glorious. Much needed before our meal! The cocktail and plates were exceptional, and service was entertaining. I would definitely go back.

October 20

We found this amazing bakery / diner called Stillwell’s in Kahului and had breakfast there. We ordered spam and stuff and a baked good to celebrate Celine’s 28th birthday! Yay! Then we drove around aimlessly to look for the Lahaina Pali Trail but did not find it so ended up getting to Wailea Beach Resort earlier. We dropped down our stuff and went to the beach beside Turtle Town and relaxed a bit. The water was so nice but unfortunately we saw no turtles. Then we went back to the resort and got our room. It was so nice! Architecture and design was minimalist and contemporary and we loved it. We spent the next little while on the private Wailea Beach (which interestingly enough had no little rocks anywhere and had the most perfect sand bottom so you could wade out) and then changed to film our Save the Date video. The sound was prerecorded so we just had to do the video portion – a trade secret. It was a race against time because the sun was setting and every second counted! We finally found a great spot down near the water where the waves were crashing gently against the rocks. It turned out amazing, as predicted. Next we made our way to dinner at the Morimoto at the Andaz Hotel to celebrate Celine’s birthday! We had a fabulous meal of tuna, foie gras and duck, and it was great, but not as surprising and delightful as Murayama.

October 21

Breakfast was memorable this morning. We ate at Nalu’s South Shore Grill where I had an acai berry coconut flake granola bowl. SO AMAZING! Celine chickened out and got an ahi tuna benedict. Then we made our way up the north-west shore of Maui and passed by some really neat little towns. We stopped by the Lahaina Front Street and did some outlet / street shopping. Then we grabbed some poke from a highly-rated alcohol store on Yelp (Tamura’s Fine Wine), dropped off our stuff off at the Aston Maui Kaanapli Villas, and went to our pre-booked Old Lahaina Luau. The weather was perfect and we walked in as VIPs to the luau. It was a premium buffet that featured a roasted pig with a long show showcasing traditional dancing and chanting. It was really beautiful, watching the sun set in the background and having unlimited drinks…except for the men thrusting their junk everywhere during their solo dance and us sometimes getting cramps in our legs because we were sitting in the traditional style on the floor instead of at the tables and chairs. We drove quickly back to Kaanapali and settled in for the night.

October 22

We woke up a bit early to hit the beach first thing before the crowds. The water was a bit chilly but still fantastic. Packing up quickly, we grabbed food at Mickey D’s again before visiting the Dragon’s Teeth attraction beside the fancy, Ritz-Carlton Resort in north Maui. The rocks were jagged and impressive but the most impressive were the waves that devoured the rocks below. I did not want to fall in. Next, we drove up to see the Nakalele Blowhole and heart rock. The sun was brutal but we made it. Sweaty and stuff, we ate back at Lahaina at Longhi’s, and then found a public beach shower to clean ourselves before the flight home with the toiletries from the resort. We found a nice shower that was away from the crowds but still on the edge of the highway. The water was cold but all in all it felt great. Worth it! First time showering in public! Before the flight, we had to eat but Kahului was literally foodless. There was a highly rated sushi restaurant in a nearby town but we drove by and it looked sketchy AF. We ended up eating at Whole Foods: ramen, mochi and a delicious smoothie. Then we flew home.

Hawaii is awesome. We think it was our best trip to date, and thank goodness we both got a tan!

[theglossier]

Stay: Ace Hotel & Swim Club, Palm Springs

STAY: ACE HOTEL & SWIM CLUB, PALM SPRINGS

Ready for some much-needed R+R in Palm Springs? Check in to the Ace Hotel & Swim Club, the coolest hotel in the hot, hot desert.

Photography by Tasha James & Christopher Cain

GREETINGS FROM PALM SPRINGS

For my first time in Palm Springs, and California, in general, I was so stoked to stay at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club.

Why?

Well, I'm actually infatuated with the Ace Hotel chain, I love that each one is completely different, and each embodies the city that they are in. The Ace in Palm Springs has the quintessential 60s motel vibe, while still having the creature comforts of a traditional hotel, and with personality to spare.

I only ever experience their cool-ass hotels via their social media, so when the time came to visit a city with an Ace, I knew it was where I would want to stay, and experience IRL.

Our stay was a little bumpy at first, but the staff and management were super helpful, and friendly, and went above and beyond to make sure the rest of our time went as smoothly as possible, and it did. I'm definitely happy with our overall experience—and even with the hiccups we had at the beginning, this was one of my favorite hotel stays, ever.

trompe l'oeil

First, let's talk about the views—if you've never been to Palm Springs, prepare yourself for your mind to get bent. No pictures I'd seen truly equipped me for the surreal landscape that I would find myself in. 

We drove into Palm Springs from LAX with our friends, so by the time we made it into town, it was dark outside—but the first thing I noticed when we arrived was this large, dark, ominous shape going across the sky, barely lit by the full moon (it was very dramatic), you could tell it was a mountain, but it was also too dark to make out the detail, so my brain had a full-on melt down—I couldn't look at it without feeling anxious.

The next morning, I got up fairly early, went to the courtyard, and literally gasped. I've never felt smaller, in my life, then when I looked up and was greeted by the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. Sprinkled in my view were also these gigantic palm trees, and I just felt like I was in a concept drawing for a sci-fi movie.

The scale of the mountains, was so intense, not to mention, they look 2-dimensional depending on how the sun hits them, so it really was like being on a movie set. Very surreal, and completely unforgettable. It was so beautiful, and terrifying all at once—but, honestly, it was the highlight for me, I couldn't take enough photos of the scenery.

WARM RECEPTION

One of my favorite areas in the hotel, is the lobby-area. It has an eclectic selection of furniture, textiles, and even a beautiful rope art installation. There are other quirky details, and beautiful cacti, and desert plants all over—my inner bohemian was in glorious heaven. I was, and still am obsessing over the beautiful color palette, and attention-to-details in this area.

Other things to note: there is a photo booth in the hallway behind the reception desk that I loved—it takes pictures really quickly, though, so definitely have your poses already worked out, or you'll have three shots where you'll look like a deer in headlights, and one where you're laughing at how incapable you are of using a photo booth—not that I would know from personal experience or anything.

My favorite experience here was heading into the lobby to request something around 1:00 AM to find George, the Night-Manager covered in glitter (from their Full Moon party that I missed—ugh)—when I asked him what other fun things he had up his sleeves, he pulled out two black folded fans from under the desk, and popped them open. I immediatley forgot what I even wanted in the first place.

It was wonderful.

KING'S HIGHWAY DINER

I wish I had more to say about the diner, but I actually didn't eat here, except for breakfast on the last day of our stay.

In general, I usually avoid hotel restaurants, since I like to go out and try local places first. So, food-wise, all I can recommend from here is the iced coffee, and smoked salmon bagel, which was really fucking delicious, by the way (I still have intense cravings for the dill pickle slices it was served with).

I do regret not trying more food here, even if just for the chance to sit and bask in the retro dining room for a bit longer. 

POOL PARTY

It wouldn't be a desert resort without the pool, right? I'm not sure it's even legal to have a hotel in Palm Springs without a pool— I could be wrong though, I'm not a legal expert.

It's easily 100+ degrees in the daytime, and nighttime temps can hover around 90 degrees as well—which means, you're either staying in your room with the AC cranked up, or you're taking a dip in the pool.

The pool area here is pretty nice, there's tons of seating and areas to lounge around in between laps. The pool is a decent size too, lots of people could fit inside. We did come in the off-season for Palm Springs, so, it was relatively empty, and guests had way more room to swim and chill with their friends. You can also take advantage of their hot tub, like I absolutely did.

I actually preferred the pool/hot tub situation at night, which is open until 2AM, by the way. It was so chill, and had the best vibe, in my opinion.

The nights we stayed, the moon was full, so imagine: a slightly breezy, moonlit dip in the hot tub, followed by floating on a giant watermelon pool toy, while the moon is sparkling on the surface of the water, and no one else was in the pool. It was wonderful—and for the record, yes, I am anti-social, and I love having things to myself.

   THE GREAT OUTDOORS

If you can upgrade your Standard King to a room with a terrace, do it—in addition to all the extra room you'll have inside, you'll also get a private patio space decked out with lots of seating, a fireplace. You could easily fit 10 or more people in this space, if you wanted to.

Even though it was still pretty hot at night, it didn't stop me from turning the fireplace on for a bit—something about an open flame (no matter the external temperature) is just very magical, and soothing. 

I would imagine, if you wanted to warm up after a swim in the pool, or make s'mores late at night, this would be the perfect place to do that.

It's also just nice having access to fresh air, without having to talk to anyone else, if you don't want to. The morning is the perfect time to step out here, and just stare in complete awe at the sun rising over the mountains just in the distance. It's incredible.

FINISHING TOUCHES

As a detail-oriented person, the smallest, most minute thing can alter my entire perception of a space. At the Ace in Palm Springs, I looked everywhere and couldn't find one thing I didn't love.

The rooms themselves are tidy, and minimal, but are still full of charm and character. My favorite thing might be the curtains, which make you feel like you're sleeping in a tent—if tents had working plumbing, and electricity. They're just a really cool touch, and make you feel less like you're in a hotel, and more like you're on some cool outdoorsy adventure.

I also really loved that there was a record player, and a stack of randomly selected vinyls that we could listen to. There were artsy magazines sprawled around, and art on the walls that was for purchase, if you want to take a souvenir home with you. There's also a walking stick on the wall, that's available to take for your hikes, if that's your thing.

I was absolutely obsessed with the robes provided in the rooms too—one of them was the traditional-style robe, and the other one was a pull-over tunic, and I wore it for like two days straight, because it was so comfortable—especially at night by the fire pit! 

   SOME LIKE IT HOT.

Besides a very comfortable bed (check), the only other requirement that I have for my perfect hotel stay is a super hot shower. Everything else is a cherry on top.

If I'm not sweating half-way through my shower, keep it. If there isn't thick steam engulfing everything in the bathroom, keep it. If there isn't steam coming off of my skin after I'm done, keep it. There's nothing I hate more than showering in lukewarm water, maybe except for terrible water pressure (the pressure here is A1, btw)—how do you even get clean when the water isn't nearly scalding? HOW SWAY?

This may not be important for everyone, but for those of us that have been saved, who enjoy an above-average shower experience: I feel very inclined to tell you that this one passes my Khaleesi-walking-through-fire test.

The rest of you? Those who prefer tepid water? I say thank you, actually.

More hot water for me. 

  The Ace Hotel & Swim Club located in Palm Springs is a great retreat from the typical hotel experience—everything here feels so laid-back and understated that it almost feels like you're just chilling at a friend's house for the weekend, or an adult away-camp, instead of a desert resort. 

I wish we had stayed maybe a day longer so that I could experience more of what the hotel had to offer, like the spa, and the fun activities that they coordinate for the guests to meet and mingle (I am still bummed I missed their Full Moon party on the night we drove in). I also would have liked to have taken one of the bikes that they provide as part of your room amenities for a tour of the town, but we had a rental car, and it was blazing hot.

Overall, we had a great time here. The hotel was great, the staff went above and beyond to make sure we had a good time, which meant a lot to us. I definitely hope the next time we're in Palm Springs we can stay again.

xx,

Tasha

[wayneooverton]

A dreamy winter holiday in Whistler

Sometimes even when you’re a travel blogger, you need a holiday. A holiday from endless holidays. Yes, yes I know, and the award for most self-indulgent whiny intro to a blog goes to…yours truly.

Moving on.

This year I went home for the holidays, which was really nice. I was mostly offline (except for my absurd Instagram Stories – seriously, follow me on there. I have no filter at all), and spending time with old friends and family back on the East Coast of the US. It was mellow and wonderful, and just what I needed to reset the old internal clock, and also weirdly make me appreciative of my life in New Zealand.

But come January after a few weeks at home, I was getting itchy feet and needed to get out of small town Virginia again. And ever since I got hooked on snowboarding at my home mountain of Treble Cone in New Zealand, I knew I had to squeeze in a cheeky trip at some point while at home.

Also, sidenote, I brought my snowboarding gear home with me because I got sent a ski bag, wait for it, called the Douchebag. Yes, it exists. Finally a bag for me!

Ok, I just have to gush about flying for a second; if you are not a travel nerd, skip this section.

Living in New Zealand, when I fly home to the US, I always try and fly Air New Zealand. Apart from being pretty much the dopest airline out there (so trendy, so funny, so quirky), two years ago I finally started collecting my miles with them to get status. Yes, I did in fact travel for almost a decade and never collected miles with any airline. CRINGE.

But, now that I have tasted the beautiful glorious benefits that come with airline loyalty, in addition to no longer being completely broke, I book pretty much with only airlines I have loyalty on. Last year I hit Silver status with Air New Zealand Airpoints, which means that I get one recognition upgrade per year. I managed to nab a great deal on a Premium Economy (the middle class) flight to San Francisco and then put in a free upgrade request to Business. And boom, got it the night before. Yay.

Once you’ve flown business class on long-haul international flights, your world will be rocked. Disclosure, I did this all on my own, nothing sponsored.

The Air New Zelaand Economy Skycouch

Air New Zealand’s main North American hubs are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and Vancouver. Knowing that I wanted to squeeze in a ski holiday, I booked my flights back to New Zealand via Vancouver, BC in Canada. And by happy chance I also managed to get upgraded to the secret Skycouch from Vancouver to Auckland. On Air New Zealand, you can get a whole row to yourself in Economy where the bottom of the seat pops up and converts the row into a flat bed with special bedding and everything. Holy crap.

And as luck would have it, North America was having the winter of a lifetime. And as a novice snowboarder passing through BC in January, there is one place you go – Whistler.

Whistler is pretty much the Mecca of winter destinations, and I had been hearing about it for years from all my friends in New Zealand who have done winter seasons there. It’s big. It’s epic. It’s famous. I had to see what all the fuss was about.

I wanted a solid week somewhere with great snow, easily accessible lifts and long, varied runs of all levels, where I could really focus on improving AND feel comfortable. Whistler ticks all of that. Also there is an entire cafe/shack on the mountain that sells different grilled cheeses called Ollies. SOLD.

As a general rule, I don’t like hyped-up destinations. Setting the bar impossibly high will often leave you disappointed. Maybe that’s the pessimist in me speaking, but it’s true. Aim low and you’ll always be happy, I say!

Let’s not delve into my attitude around that any further though, shivers.

Anywho, I was nervous Whistler would be too commercial or too touristy, but holy crap I loved it. Like, I-looked-into-changing-my-flights-to-stay-longer loved it. It was just what I needed at just the right time. Yes, yes there is a reason it’s consistently ranked North America’s #1 resort.

So without further ado, here is the vaguely chronological journey of my week vacation in Whistler. Tag along. Pull up a chair and a cup of tea, get cozy and stay for a while.

It’s no secret; most of the trips I do nowadays are for work. They are amazing and I love them, but they aren’t exactly a holiday. My trip to Whistler was a much-needed holiday, where I didn’t need to work 20 hour days and fry my brain.

I had only three things on my mind in Canada that week: snowboard, sleep a lot, and eat poutine. Repeat.

I also booked my whole trip the week before I left around Christmas for the beginning of January, which I advise you NOT to do as it is busy and peak season. All the good pickings for condos and apartment rentals were snatched up and I spent a small fortune on accommodation. However, I could literally ski to my door at Blackcomb which made it worth it. And there was nowhere else civilized and reasonable, also making it worth it.

Which also leads me to my second point, for those (like me) who are unaware, the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort is actually two mountains – Whistler and Blackcomb, makes sense right? There are dozens of chairlifts and gondolas that go up both, and there is an incredible freestanding gondola linking the two mountains with the village sprawling below along both mountains.

Breakfast poutine in town at Stonesedge is a must, the coziest spot ever

Maple bacon donuts are a MUST – The Portobello Bakery in the Fairmont

When I arrived in Vancouver, everyone was freaking out because it was snowy and icy. Um, hello Canada, that’s kind of your thing. But the locals ended up telling me that it actually doesn’t often do that in Vancouver. Sure.

Whistler is less than a two hour drive from the Vancouver Airport, so it’s easy to get there, though it was dumping snow the day I arrived, and yours truly was too cheap to rent a 4WD car. Luckily, most of the rentals have snow tires on them, which ended up being obligatory, and I did a slow cruise down to Whistler behind the snow plows on the scenic Sea to Sky Highway. No rush, I was on holiday.

With so much snow, I was fizzing. I knew the riding was going to be great, and oh my was the village of Whistler so cute. It was a real-life winter wonderland.

So. Much. Snow. Yes, yes YES!!

My first day back I was rusty. I am such a cautious snowboarder, but I am determined to get better, which is why I book so many snowboarding trips.

If you want to work on improving in a comfortable resort, Whistler is the place to be. The runs are long are there are so many different ones of all levels, I didn’t really have to repeat any of them. I mean hell, they have a run that’s 11 kilometers long. They had runs that progressed exactly with my ability which was perfect for me.

My days were pretty similar. I would wake up, go get coffee and walk over to Whistler mountain, catch the gondola up and spend most of the day riding on the mountain before catching the Peak 2 Peak Gondola and crossing over to Blackcomb and riding down. I ate a lot, I spent a lot of time in my onesie, and I read. It was so chill and great. Each day I felt like I was riding better and better.

I was also lucky enough to be there for the Deep Winter Photo Challenge, and managed to nab an invite. Six professional photographers are invited to Whistler to come and shoot for 72 hours in bounds at the resort and put together a slideshow with music of their story and shots and share them with a live audience on the Saturday.

Honestly, it sounds like one hell of a challenge, but amazing to watch. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was sure surprised when I showed up and pretty much all of Whistler turned out for it! It’s a huge event, and one of the biggest and most respected winter photography competitions in the world. Pay attention Liz.

It was such a fun night, meeting everyone at the event, watching the different shows and hearing their stories. For me, this whole ski/snow world is new, and I love getting these tastes for it with bright eyes.

The vibe was so amazing, and it reminded me so much of Wanaka. In fact, I kept feeling like I knew everyone, when in reality I didn’t know anyone. But they all could have blended right in in Wanaka! I got lots of feels and felt super inspired, and had a great time afterwards too and getting my first real taste of the Whistler nightlife. Oh my.

You can watch the winner’s show here, and follow him, Guy Fattal on Instagram. His shots are so inspiring and make me miss Whistler everyday.

Finally I had my absolute best day ever snowboarding while I was in Whistler. I am not exaggerating. Every time I remember it I get the biggest, dumbest grin on my face. It was the best.

Halfway through my trip we had an epic powder day, around 30 centimeters, so epic for me. One of the amazing Whistler girls invited me along to try out Fresh Tracks, where you head up the Whistler Gondola at 7:15am, have breakfast at the the Roundhouse Lodge, and then you get to ride the mountain before it opens to the public. Oh, and it’s only $21.

We had planned to go and it happened to be a powder day, so we got there early to queue up – only the first 650 are allowed up – the tickets are not day specific.

Sidenote – it’s not usually -17 degrees, that was just a major cold snap

So after that morning, I truly understand what all the fuss is all about on powder days. I’ve had powder days before here and there, but nothing like this, and not where I was first on the mountain.

We basically had whole runs to ourselves, I was the first to make the tracks on them. It’s basically flying, guys.

Looking down my board was covered in snow and powder was flying all over me and in my face. I became fearless, falling couldn’t hurt me; it was like landing on a cloud. It was a huge step forward for me with my riding, and a day I’ll never forget.

If you were in Whistler on that day, I was the crazy loon in a yellow jacket screaming and hollering all morning as I carved out tracks. What a memory! Pure euphoria and joy.

Guys, I really get it now.

I rode until I couldn’t ride no more.

Unsurprisingly, the next day I couldn’t get out of bed. My body was so sore and it felt like I had been hit by a bus, so I did the only sensible thing you can do when faced with that situation; I went straight to the spa. This was my holiday!

After an amazing massage and a few hours spent soaking in the hot pools at the iconic Scandinave Spa, I felt like a new me, and was ready for the next round.

I went snowboarding until the day I left Whistler, and each day I felt better and more confident, and I was gutted when it was time to head home. But be warned. A week isn’t enough, and Whistler is one of those places that gets under your skin. I know I’ll be back.

Have you been to Whistler? Do you ski or snowboard? Are you a fan of winter wonderlands? What’s your dream holiday?

The post A dreamy winter holiday in Whistler appeared first on Young Adventuress.

from Young Adventuress http://ift.tt/2oBfyiy