Bar trip to Hawaii!

After sitting for the bar, law school grads typically go on a “bar trip” to celebrate completing three years of law school and surviving the bar. My Fiancé (then boyfriend) and I initially planned a two week vacation to Europe, but with the start of my new job (which included a move to Philadelphia), we had to rework our plans.

My Fiancé travels for work, so we were able to book our tickets to Europe with points. Thankfully, he was able to cancel the flights and re-book for earlier dates to Hawaii! After researching the “calmest Hawaiian island,” we decided to travel to Maui. Maui is described as the place you to go relax; thats exactly what we needed for two reasons. First, we flew out the day after I took the bar. Second, after the trip, we had about two days to pack up the apartment and move to Philly.

It wouldn’t be a trip with us if something didn’t go wrong, right? We flew out of Atlanta and had a layover in Seattle. Delta didn’t load my bag onto our connecting flight, so I had to wait an entire day before I got my luggage. Thankfully, my carry-on had the essentials to hold me over for one night.

Here’s a quick recap of our trip.

Helicopter Ride

We took a helicopter ride around the island! (Like most of our activities on vacations, we booked this one via TripAdvisor). It was our first time in a helicopter, so we were looking forward to it. We had a quick lunch right before—big mistake—so I was sick about fifteen minutes into the ride. We sat up front with the pilot, which was a great view, but I didn’t enjoy it. The ride was about an hour and a half—the longest hour and thirty minutes of my life. Overall, it was a great tour! Lol

If you look closely, you’ll see a house! This family has lived there for quite sometime. Completely
isolated from the rest of the population.

Road to Hana

From our research, the Road to Hana seemed to be popular with tourists and locals. It takes about a full day to complete the drive. It is recommended to start around sunrise—we started around 10 a.m.—to avoid driving back during sunset. We used an app to guide is through the drive—I would definitely recommend doing that. The app mentioned stories and legends of the area and how it shaped Maui. Along the way, we stopped by local vendors for some fresh fruit and the most delicious food we had the entire trip!

We didn’t complete the Road to Hana because we wanted to get back before sunset. Nonetheless, it was a great way to spend the day.

Luau

You can’t go to Hawaii without going to luau, right? So, we did! It was great to experience a huge part of Hawaiian culture—the dances were beautiful, the music was serene and the fire breathers were breathtaking.

This was a pig roast! I vaguely remember the historical account the MC explained.

Snorkeling

This was by far my favorite moment of the trip. We went kayaking in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for about 5 hours! We booked the excursion via trip advisor. Our guide was an older man from one of the contiguous states (I can’t remember which one) and he’s lived in Maui for over ten years. Two other couples we a part of the group, so it was fairly intimate. I’m a Caribbean girl through and through; I love the ocean. I’m at my happiest when I’m at the beach and floating in the water. I can go on and on about this day. One I’ll never forget.