Hitch-Hiking; A World of Kindness

Hitch-hiking is a world within itself. Using this as our only way of exploring the big island of Hawaii was an experience I won’t soon forget. These days in our society, working full time and seeing the world pass us by from our office and commuter car windows, we quickly wonder about the hitch-hikers on the side of the road, as we pass by them, not giving them another thought as we continue on our way to work, or home from work. At least that was my outlook. It was rare that I would even think about picking them up, in fact I have only ever picked up one hitch-hiker in my life, a girl standing outside the Whistler hostel trying to get toward Squamish. I was on my way home from work, and I saw a girl that looked like me from afar, with a backpack. My mind instantly judged her as a traveller, trying to make her way around a new world. My assumption was wrong, she was trying to get to work on time, she had missed the bus.  Not all hitch-hikers are what they seem. They aren’t all broke travellers or people that are down on their luck, what I have learned lately is that most of them are very smart people who choose not to have a vehicle of their own, for whatever ethical, environmental or money related reason, and they seem to know that in this world we can get by on the kindness of each other, if our hearts are open to it.

Getting by on the kindness of others, such a concept I have avoided for so long, trying to make my way on my own terms and in my own way, accepting as little help as I could. Where I got this mindset I am not sure, but I am proud of myself for doing it as long as I did, as it is not easy to do so many things on your own, with the help of as few people as possible. Thanks to my parents, for mostly being the only ones I would accept help from, and they are still offering.

Opening my mind to hitch-hiking our way around the big island of Hawaii was quite the feat for me, I had a lot of reservations about allowing myself to do this, not only about not having full independence and control that having my own vehicle gives me, but also about being judged, as I (sadly) used to judge hitch-hikers as I drove past them. As hard as I try to not allow other people’s judgements to affect me, I think we all secretly want to be somewhat accepted by the societal masses, and I am definitely not excluded from this. Luckily I was able to open a small enough part of my mind to accept hitch-hiking around the island as “an option if we can’t catch the bus”. I’m glad now, looking back, that I was able to open that small corner of space to the idea, because getting by on the kindness of others, became more to me than bumming rides, it became a true awakening to how kind our world is. While making our way around, From the city of Kona-Kailua and back around, we were not only given rides, we were given food, advice, hugs, ideas, friends, and drinks. Other than our bag of rice, bean and spices, $90 and our cozy tent, we did literally survive on the kindness of others. 

One man we met camping, Peter, drove us from camp to the farmers market, a coffee shop and a grocery store, and back to camp, all because the night before, over a Moosehead that Peter wanted to share because we are Canadian, we decided that the three of us just wanted to go. Another group of ladies that we met, picked us up from the campground, brought us to a Talk-Story, a type of Luau in Hawaii, shared their food with us, and drove us back to the campground, an hour commute each way. This was at the beginning of our way around, and it just continued from there. So many people that we met at campgrounds offered us rides to our next destinations, offered us a place to stay or a nice meal. Some people offered us future rides, like one couple who drove us to the summit of Mauna Kea offered us a ride back down after sunset, and another group offered us a ride all the way from the summit back to Kona-Kailua in the dark after stargazing, when they barely had enough room for one of us, let alone both of us and our huge packs. There are so many more examples, but I could write a novel on the kindness of others we experienced from others during those 11 days. 

That is the point I guess I am trying to make by writing this. There are so many people out there, way more than I ever could have dreamed of, who are willing to help, just for the sake of helping, not expecting anything in return, except maybe a touch of kindness and a thank you.  I find myself wanting to help people now more so than I have before starting this trip. Not just with offering rides, but coffee in the morning after offering a drink the night before, to fix something that may be broken, or offering food if we have extra. Since having a vehicle, either our rental car or our new New Zealand van, we have picked up most hitch-hikers we see. Still not all, I still feel the need to judge based on my safety, but I have way more emotional attachment to the guy or girl on the side of the road, giving me a thumbs-up and a big smile, hoping to get by on the kindness of others, just like I did.

Aloha and Mahalo

Hawaii, wow, it really is the paradise that you hear about from everyone that comes home with a great tan and a perma-smile. 


Waikiki was incredible. Having our own tiny condo with two amazing friends and a view of the ocean was a dream come true, and a very luxurious way to start off a backpacking trip. We did the whole tourist thing, rented surfboards, went on a booze cruise, shopped at a fruit stand, drove around the island in a rental car, but the highlight of the week was definitely watching our two very good friends get married. What an amazing, perfect day on the beach, and so happy. There was no stress, no huge expense, no tears (well, almost no tears) and their own, beautiful, and eerily similar vows. You could feel the love vibrating through the air. We had sparkling wine on the beach, and a total of 1569 pictures for the day. It was beautiful, a day that was truly all about them, who can ask for anything more on your wedding day.


We spent two nights in a hostel in Waikiki when our friends left, and met some awesome people who love to drink, luckily we had a private room to retreat to. We booked a last minute flight to Kona, and are in the process of hitch-hiking around the island, (sorry Mom and Dad, its so much easier that taking the bus). It is amazing the generosity of the people that live and vacation here, we have had so much given to us, food, ice, rides, a luau, beer, and best of all, hugs. we have picked our own wild fruit, like banana's, guava's, avocados and macadamia nuts, what a gift! Everything here is so fresh and flavourful! We found an island gem, called Ho'okena beach, where the sunset is perfect over the ocean every night, and the dolphins play in the bay every morning. We planned on staying for only a night or two, but after the first night, we were sucked into paradise, we stayed for 5 nights. It was so layed back there, we layed in the hammock, swam with the sea turtles, played with the dolphins, and had a potluck almost every meal. The sand was a mixture of crushed lavarock and crushed coral, which gave it a shimmery grey colour, and the campsites were lined with coconut trees. We left Ho'okena to enjoy the rest of the island, but we left a piece of ourselves there, as well as a message in a bottle, a beer bottle chandelier and hung origami cranes in the tree above for the next people to enjoy our site.

Traveling around Hawaii is amazing so far, and as long as we don't get sucked into the tourist traps, we are saving more money than we thought we would, which is always a nice surprise. When we tell people we meet that we are embarking on a two year journey around the world, everyone is at first surprised, and then super supportive and excited for us. It's an amazing feeling to feel support and love from complete strangers. We were told, from multiple people in fact, that we have so much light in our eyes. What an amazing thing to hear!

 As much fun as we are having, we miss our family and friends a lot. We talk to our parents as often as we can, and try to keep updated on facebook, but it isn't the same as just picking up the cell phone and calling whoever we think of at that moment. It is tough not having our two dogs, Koda and Scooter, with us, we took them everywhere with us when we lived in Canada. We get pictures of Koda every week or so, which we appreciate so much, and we know that they are both so happy and so well taken care of. Even though we are getting them back at the end of this journey, it is still hard to curl up at night without our little footwarmers, or go on a hike without little panting furballs.

All in all, the beginning of our journey is better than we could have imagined, very little hardships and a ton of good luck and good Karma. We re off to explore the east and north sides of this island, before making our way to New Zealand on the 25th of September.

Mahalo for reading this, and for all your love and support. Aloha!

I have learned...

I asked myself today, what have I learned from this place? I realized that this is an amazing way to not only know when you are or aren’t ready to move on, but a way to “count your blessings” so to speak, to find out what you are truly grateful for, to list the positive occurrences of late, and to thank the universe for the lessons it has taught you, taught me, taught us.

So what have I learned? Constant life lessons have continued, like patience, kindness, love, and trust... The ongoing lessons we all try to perfect throughout our lives, but can never quite get there, after all, we are human.

 I have learned that things are never as they originally seem, first impressions cannot be used for judgement, no matter how bad. This place is not what it seemed, although the stereotype still grasps me once in a while and makes me a believer, temporarily.

I have learned that there are friends, true friends, anywhere you are willing to look, but it takes patience for these friendships to show themselves, and then BOOM there they are, all around. I’ve learned that things aren’t always as they seem. There will always be “backstabbers”, “gossipers” and “frienemies” around, in places you can’t get away from, but the choice is clear, do what you need to do, and get away from this type of people as soon as you’re done.

I’ve learned that, with all the interests in the world in common, two people can still argue over what they do and don’t want to do, the intensity, the length, and any other detail of the activity.  Through this, the lesson I have learned is that arguing leads to discussions, which lead to understanding, which leads to compromise. So this is why it is considered “healthy” to argue.... I get it. As a young woman I used to wonder why people gave me a look when I said “We don’t fight.” Now I know, it is unhealthy, and can... will lead to a big blowout nasty fight.

I’ve learned that sometimes people are your friends, for a while, while they need you. Some may say while they use you. I agree in some ways and in some instances, not in others. People come in and out of your life for a reason, what that reason is could be unknown. I feel fortunate to have spent the time I did with those people, I learned from them, and I think they learned from me. There were hardships this past summer, there were ups and downs, there was yelling and silence, but above all else, there was love. Many different kinds of love, some I didn’t even know existed. I felt and feel love for a man that provides for me physically, mentally and spiritually. I felt love and compassion for an old dog giving birth in my living room, and a motherly love for her helpless puppies while I helped her nurse and care for them. I felt a longing love for best friends, family, and everything in between that we left to embark on this journey. I felt a sister-like love for a young woman trying to find herself in this giant world. I felt love and generosity for friends travelling through, for a day, a week, a month, and sometimes more, and I felt love, sympathy and empathy for someone going through a hard time and needing someone to lean on. I have been told many times that I have “too much love to give” who decides what is too much, I simply have enough for any one that wants it, as long as they don’t take advantage. Another lesson I’m sorry to say I have learned.

So why am I thinking this now, reflecting at this moment? Is it because it is coming up on a year since we came here? Or is it something different? Maybe my self conscious is showing me that it’s time for the next part of my journey, that it’s time to reflect on the next steps, on the next place. Or maybe I just need to sit back and reflect, for the sake of reflecting, and be thankful that I have the ability to see the positive outcome of these life experiences.

Beginning of a new journey

This has sat in my drafts folder since September, I think its about time it makes it on here.


When something life changing happens, like a bad break-up, the way it is handled is what determines if it is a positive or a negative. We are in charge of our own destiny. We can dwell on it forever, or we can turn it into a positive life changing event. This is not to say that we should forget, it is healthy to remember feelings and occurrences, but there is a big difference between remembering and dwelling. 

When I was going through this, these positive and negative feelings, thoughts of how much my life changed in an instant and how to deal with it, the thought of travelling, of immersing myself in another culture always took away the sadness and the insecurities. Who knows where these feelings and thoughts came from. I know that the introduction to these thoughts came from a close friend who lives this type of lifestyle. All I knew at the time was that these thoughts made me happy, and at that time in my life, I held onto any ounce of happiness so tight. When Christmas was fast approaching, and I began feeling sad again, I spontaneously booked a flight to see a good friend across the country. This was the best decision I could have made at the time (although I may have made some bad decisions while I was there). It confirmed all of these thoughts of travel that I had. It confirmed that travelling is a permanent desire, not just a fleeting thought. I realized why I had these thoughts, that it may be what I am meant to do for this portion of my life, young enough to be open minded, old enough to be responsible. Age is just a number, you’re only as old as you feel, and I feel just old enough. Since this small, spontaneous trip across this amazing country, I have seen many other places in North America, many different cultures if you will, (you’d be surprised at the culture shock a Canadian girl feels in Slade, Kentucky) Each time I travel I feel the need for more, like it’s the most satisfying addiction.