I could not quite believe it when I actually boarded my flight for Hawaii. My flight from Heathrow to Los Angeles had been long but I had a two day stopover at my brother’s home to help combat jet-lag. Now I was on my way to fulfil a dream: a holiday that had been in the planning for eight months since my sister and her husband had invited me to join them for a week on holiday on Mauii. The six hour flight seemed soon over – so much shorter than the long eleven hour haul from London two days previously. As the plane descended we had a clear view of the Hawaiian islands emerging through the blankets of white fluffy clouds that enveloped their peaks. Then we were on the ground and taxiing to the terminal. What joy to walk off an aircraft, collect bags from the carousel and just drift out onto the street through the wide open doors of the terminal. No hassle with Customs or immigration since Hawaii is part of the United States. After collecting our rental car and going grocery shopping we arrived at our apartment in good time to watch the sunset from the balcony. Every night the Hawaiian sunset is different, depending on the amount of cloud. That first evening we were able to watch the whales blowing as they swam by. I even spotted the huge curved back as a whale breached.

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