Waikoloa Beach Resort (Marriott), Big Island, Hawai'i

We were invited to Hawai'i by K's parents and so we accepted. It's really tough to turn down free airfare (she has frequent flier miles) and a free hotel room at the Marriott (she has hotel points) and a shared rental car (she has rental car points). Never mind that my paycheck is docked for personal leave each and every day I missed, five days, to pay for my substitute and never mind that I spent days (and all day the Saturday prior and until 9:00 p.m. the Monday prior) preparing lesson plans, I'm not one to turn down a trip to the islands. It was actually quite punishing preparing for a long absence from teaching and now I'm being punished with the extra work waiting for me now that I've returned (took me five weeks to catch up from missing a week for Grandpa's funeral, so I'm assuming this will take me about five weeks to recover as well), but in the end, it was worth it! I know this probably makes me sound ungrateful, but let me tell you, my husband did NOTHING for his job in order to go to Hawai'i except say, "I won't be here these five days." No prep in order to be excused and no punishment upon his return. He did not get paid for the days he missed, but his paycheck wasn't docked to pay someone to fill in for him. Stress free, he just walked off and got on a plane. Stress free, he just went back to work and resumed his duties. What would that be like?!?

The resort was very nice and it's a shame we only swam once. They have three pools and a private beach, but we only made it to one pool the night before we left. The bed was comfortable and all that, but we were never really at the resort much because we were out driving around on the island doing lots of fun activities. Some guests never leave the resort. They spend their whole vacation there. I think there must be some happy medium. We used valet parking every single day and boy, that was nice! I think this resort is about twenty miles north of the Kona airport. It's easy to find and all that. I'd be happy to stay there again. No idea what it would really cost if we didn't have my MIL's lovely points.

Our flight from SLC to San Francisco was great. Our flight from San Francisco to Kona was great. We arrived at 8:35 p.m. so it was dark. The runway is a bit short so the pilot put the brakes on immediately. I believe it was the first time I was lifted out of my seat on touchdown...like my body moved forward and my butt rose up out of the seat even though I had my seat belt securely fastened low across my hips. And I love the feeling of stepping off the plane in Hawai'i--warm and humid. You just know right away you're in a wonderful tropical place with adventures to be had! We are so blessed!