home sweet...well, just home.

after 10,000+ kilometers, 2 flights, 11 hours of flying, 4 hours of airport sitting and 2 cab rides within 24 hours...i'm finally home. so far the time change is killing me a little bit (hawaii is five hours behind toronto), but at least my lack of sleep last night allowed me to get all of my pictures posted. :) you can check out my entire hawaiian flickr set here. if you flip through them in order, i think i did a pretty good job of explaining things there.

the picture above is from one of my favourite places in all of oahu. we rented a car and drove to this secluded beauty one morning. it wasn't easy to find, given the one way streets, the lack of public parking and the fact that this beach is only found at the end of a tiny public pathway running in between some houses! now, i've been on a lot of beaches in different parts of the world, but i was truly awestuck here. it is gorgeous. the water was a stunning turquoise, the sand was powdery and white...and you get to swim while looking at two islands sitting perfectly in the distance. i don't think many of the conversations we had here strayed very far from commenting on how utopic it was.

the other highlight of the trip for me was our submarine tour. we boarded a sub and headed to the ocean floor! so very cool. we saw shipwrecks, an old plane crash, sea turtles and of course, many, many fish. i think i posted too many pics from the sub tour on flickr, but if you're interested in that kind of thing, be sure to check the set out.

i know most people say at the end of their vacation that they were ready to come home, but i've got to say, i really, really wasn't. it is beyond beautiful there, and i had such an amazing time. i really couldn't imagine a better vacation...or life for that matter. remind me why we live in a four-season world again! :)

thank god i have today off before heading back to the real world tomorrow. hope you all had a fantastic week. xo