Day 55: Dance Parties and Bucket Lists

Today marks my 55th day living and working at Huelo Lookout. Where the heck has all the time gone? Seriously, I am convinced I got here last week. Last night we had a party celebrating the 15th year of this property being operational, and I felt the same sentiments from everyone who has been around significantly longer than me.

Why yes that is me hula hooping on the dance floor mid party.

I cannot believe that in 31 days I will be getting on a plane, headed through Vancouver, and then settling back in Winnipeg for the remainder of April, then running off to Victoria, BC for at least 2 months, but quite possibly the rest of summer. Life has been such a glorious whirlwind lately, I'm feeling so peaceful and spiritually found while running around with pretty limited direction other than keep moving and make sure there's wifi.

This is for the 8 billion tourists every day that ask me where to find a waterfall.

I have yet to make it all the way to Hana, but depending on weather that may just been an attempt for tomorrow. I still need to hike the Bamboo Forest and explore Twin Falls more.

What's on your free Maui hotspot list? Any activity suggestions? Let me know in the comments!

Cheers,

1 month in Maui !

Cannot believe I've already been in Maui for an entire month! Time flies ! Yesterday I had the day off and went to Jaws. Absolutely a must see on a big swell day. Nothing quite like the peace of watching 30 foot waves and surfers. Personally I advise catching a ride in though as 4 of us walked it and it is about 2.2 miles each way on a narrow gravel road. I fell and scraped up my foot and knee, but that's more of a "I'm hella clumsy" moment then a "this road is trying to kill us all" moment.

Meditation Pad view at Huelo Lookout Workawayer's area

View from Jaws

so so so pretty

Cheers,

Day 18: Shaved Ice and Sun!

Today was another one of my blissful days off, and I decided to venture into Paia in my usual lovely hitch hiking fashion, to check out the bead store and just generally adventure and relax. Got a ride in with some lovely hippie types bringing their dad back from some dance your emotional pain away for 12 hours a day retreat that sounded pretty chill. The local bead store is well stocked and reasonably priced for beading supplies, but be advised they don't cater to other forms of crafting and I was disappointed by a lack of embroidery needles which were what I was questing for. Ah well, to Amazon I go. Shaved ice from Tobi's in Paia is epically delicious, I opted for Mango and Tiger Blood with cream on top, so freaking good. Highly recommend.

Justifications to Travelling NOW and Finishing School Later

I know when I finally got around to breaking the news to both of my parents that I was taking another

semester away from my University to take a working vacation, they took it... alright. Thankfully, they both were bitten by the travel bug pretty young as well, and tend to be wonderful supportive people. However, I would be crazy if I didn't walk in with a few reasons other than "wanting to see the world" and "insatiable wanderlust", otherwise I would get the dreaded lecture about "abandoning my education and destroying my future". 

Study Abroad

This may seem like the obvious one, but it has to be said. Many schools offer excellent opportunities to work on your classes while abroad. I know in my case, tutition is the same, and you just need to finance your cost of living/flights/etc., which is often cheaper outside of Canada. Check in with student services and see if this works for you!

     

Working Holiday Visas

Working holiday visas are a great way to get yourself into a country for a full year and still be entitled to work legally wherever you want in the country, however they usually have age restrictions at 30 or 35. As someone with the intent of life long travel on a limited budget, working while I'm gone is pretty essential. This might mean being a waitress or bartender and less of a focus on classes for a semester, but everyone needs a break sometimes right?

Online Classes

I'm lucky in the fact that my university offers a good selection of classes online, so for example, I'm still technically going to be a full time student while I'm in Maui this semester on a WorkAway project. If you can pull off being location independent while not actually putting off your education (or not putting it off as much by only taking one or two classes), why not? Online classes are often actually a bit cheaper as well!

Summer Classes

I know this is a bit of an odd sidebar, but many people don't consider that most schools offer intense summer classes where instead of spending a semester on a course, you crank it out in a month. Traveling during the Fall and Winter off season can be a lot more affordable than going in summer prime time, so picking up courses in the summer can be a great way to offset missing time during other semesters.

Travel Interning

Chances are, at some point in your college career, you're going to be doing an unpaid internship. It's great for resume building and has kind of become an expectation (I have my qualms with it, but that's me). If you use WorkAway, go WWOOFing, volunteer overseas, or any combination, PUT IT ON YOUR RESUME. Most long term hosts will be more than happy to write you a simple reference letter if you get along, and you'll be gaining valuable skills in your placement, even if they don't seem to directly correlate with your chosen field.