White Lotus Options Not Itineraries

We are back from a holiday. We stayed with our friends who live in Kona on the big island. It's the next best destination after White Lotus season 3 without killer monkeys, killer husbands, and Parker Possey. I adore Parker Possey with a southern accent, so this is high praise for Kona. I made some lists ahead of time with activity options not itineraries. We were inclined not to leave the deck; we love the deck's view of the Kona Sea scape so much. But just in case, I have made notes on ocean beaches, rocks, petroglyphs, and hot magma viewing day trips to fill our whole week but only as options to hang out on the deck.

Last year we made the same trip with the addition of two days to go to Hilo from Kona over the top of the volcano pass. It was an inchworm transit of stop and go one lane pavement work so that we got into Hilo late, just in time for the sidewalk to roll up for the night. We won't be going there again.

This trip had promising signs that we could see Molten Magma at the Volcano. Sadly, the park rangers informed us it was called lava on the surface and magma underground and that lava had stopped flowing an hour before we arrived. Curses. We could see the steam vent and hot rocks across from a lookout on the rim where other long deep vents let loose with a constant flow of steam. Oddly it did not smell like sulfur. The Volcano is a two-hour drive from Kona, it might be worth a day trip. There are orchards for macadamia nuts, open fields with horses and vistas of the south end of the island. We enjoyed the black sand beach and a famous bakery as stops on the way back.

We spent most of our week sampling the beaches just north of the airport at Kona. We had a bit of trouble figuring out which one we liked from last year. It's a public beach with no sign that can only be accessed by a gate to a major resort that also does not have any signage other than if the parking is full or not. It's public access with only 30 parking spaces. You have to drive through a golf course/resort with gates every few blocks. While they have to provide public access, they don't have to make it easy. There were turtles and fish to see snorkeling. The upside to discrete access and limited parking there were fewer people at this beach. I won't tell you the name of the beach, it's a secret.

Beach shoes and flipflops, and bookings.

My vacation errors: I forgot to pack my swim shoes for the beach. I ended up burning my feet walking across a beach parking lot to the rest room. It was like walking on hot coals to reach the lou. Don't book flights on cheapo_air. You save a few bucks on tickets but they want to charge you to create a boarding pass online. I am going to book directly from now on. We had to wait until we got to the airport to get seats assigned. I ended up sitting in the middle seat both ways. Lastly, preflight gummies are suggested. Five hours is a long time to sit in the middle seat.

Packing too little

Last year I noted in my journal that I over packed so this year I under packed. I was much happier with the under packed option. I bought a few tees while I was there, I didn't need so many socks as you would think, and just like at home, I wore two pairs of shorts consistently.

The critters

We saw all kinds of critters: sea turtles, dolphins, pigs, chickens, geckos, an eel, mongoose, goats. Our favorite critters were our hosts dogs and cat.

What am I reading this week?

I read a few cliff notes from the headspace app. about phone addiction, and the effects of ever more sophisticated applications that draw us into an infinity pool universe where we cannot put our phones down.

So this week I have been more about decluttering my phone and less about reading. Taking up a personal challenge to curb my phone addiction. The main tool is a paper notebook. When I have something to look up, I make a note on paper to use my computer to find my answer later. That is helping me stay focused on current tasks. Secondly, I am charging my phone outside of the bedroom. I have picked up a terrible doom scrolling habit when I wake up to take care of my medical stuff overnight. It's cutting into my beauty sleep. Next, I removed most apps from my phone. To use an app, I have to take an extra step to install it. This, oddly, is enough of a speed bump to curb me from being sidetracked.

Another topic I have been reading about is the effect on creativity in the face of AI use. People who use AI to write and create content are finding working without it daunting. Losing your mojo from lack original writing "use it or lose" it is a real thing.

New App.

I tried a dictation capture app. If you have a thought you want to capture this type of app captures your thoughts as they happen. I tried it for a week. It was great when I was walking the dog. I can cut and past the dictation into my journal or a document. In contrast, my go to analog field book for notes capture takes too many steps with rereading and retyping.

What have I been watching?

I watched a movie called Limitless. Bradly Cooper takes a drug that boosts his cognitive function. I was all for how well it worked for him at first. He cleans his apartment, writes a book, solves his landladies' issues, makes a million dollars day trading. Then he falls in with the wrong crowd, comes up with an alternate solution, agrees to working with a hitman. He gets his way in the end.