Mele Kalikimaka
Celebrating Christmas around the world
Did you know the Hawaiian term: Mele Kalikimaka is literally just Merry Christmas using the available syllables in Hawaiian?
Hello and Merry Christmas.
We are in Hawaii for Christmas this year. Many people would be jealous and say they would love to spend a winter vacation on the beach. However, we are here for work. Our home is in Florida and I miss it. Our decorations. Our ornaments. Our friends and family.
Still, we have each other. Plus a temporary town home. We got a light up palm tree for the occasion and made our own decorations. We baked cookies. We opened gifts. We gave lots of hugs. We made lots of phone calls.
Get Operation Circumnavigate’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
All in all, one of our best Christmases yet.
This is a fun time of year, but my favorite is summer time. I absolutely love all of the water activities and summer nights just feel like pure magic. For now, I will take the moderately warm weather of December in Hawaii. It does get a bit chilly. If you find mid 60’s at night to be on the cold side, like I do.
I did my time in cold weather in the Midwest. Out on the flight line, at night, in -20 F wind chill. You can’t pay me to go back. The closest to cold weather I will come will be a cozy ski resort vacation somewhere. We are talking, fur lined beds, hot tubs in the room, heat lamps everywhere. Spared no expense.
If you have read any Operation Circumnavigate, you will know we plan to quit work and travel the world by January 2025. It is a huge undertaking and there is no time to waste in preparing.
A travel day dream with a winter theme? I have wanted to stay in an Ice Hotel ever since I saw one in James Bond back in the 90’s. I would also take one of those igloo rooms where you watch the aurora. Coming in next would be a cabin stay or a mountain top yurt. Honestly, the more I think of it, the more the opportunities strike me as intriguing.
I will note that I prefer to be in my home on Christmas Eve and Day. It is not the time of year I like to be out and about. That being said. What is a winter dream destination for you?
Please share!
A family of five has decided that life is too short to not take some risks and try to see as much of the world as possible. We are raising money, studying languages and maps, and examining both benefit and risk. Consider following along to see where our efforts take us!
