In my family, we believe in celebrating milestone birthdays with travel. So a few years ago, we told my son, “For your 10th Birthday you get to pick a trip to celebrate. Anywhere in the world”. Over the years he was all over the place. A few places he considered were: The Philippines, Paris, London, and Orlando Florida to name a few. But after our trip to Bali, where he loved the time in the ocean and the pools, he wanted tropical and water sports oriented. So he selected Hawaii.

We had one small, little kink in our plan. My son’s birthday is in December. But my nephew was born the same year, and we wanted to spend Christmas in New Jersey to meet him. So we asked him if we could push the celebratory trip off to February, when his school had break, and we could go for a week. He agreed, so we found a great condo in Kauai and booked our flights.

Now, this was my son’s trip, not mine. So I played travel agent for my son. I researched a few activities, set out a budget, and had him pick where he really wanted to spend his time. We really went back and forth here because there were a lot of choices, and we didn’t have the time and money to do them all. But after going over each one, he picked the excursions he really wanted to do:

1. Tubing in the Irrigation Canals with Kauai Backcountry Adventures
2. Snorkeling and Sailing with Liko Kauai Cruises
3. Luau at the Smith Family Garden Luau

We added in some beach time, some hiking, and a bonus river cruise to the Fern Grotto to round out the trip. We planned a perfect vacation filled with adventure and down time. We didn’t know it at the time, that was to be our last trip before the world turned upside down and COVID-19 put the stop to all travels for everyone for a while. I’m incredibly glad we were able to make these lasting memories, and it’s something we cling to as we sit in our home, adjusting to the new normal. One day we will all be able to travel again. Until this, we can dream and plan.

Follow along on our Kauai adventure