Aloha, Ohana!

I picked this up on our Hawaiian cruise in October 2013. Now that I've altered it a bit, I'd like to send it back down to make the rounds on all of the Hawaiian islands.

This trackable represents two of my favorite things: Starbucks and travel!  I have a tradition of going to Starbucks when I'm traveling to take a photo in front of each of them. I have quite the collection.  But an epiphany hit me recently...Starbucks gift cards would make great trackables!  They're all about recycling, so I'm doing my part. After the money on the card is gone (Sorry, folks! I promise, it's already gone! LOL), a little creativity transforms it into a trackable.

(Trackable front and back)

**  As this trackable is hand-made, please be gentle with it. Thank you! 

My mum, dad and I did a Hawaiian cruise in October 2013. When we were in the islands, we learned a few words. Everyone knows "Aloha" means both "hello" and "goodbye". When we were on the big island, the natives called everyone (including us tourists) "cousin". But on the other islands (Oahu, Kauai, Maui), they called us "Ohana", which means "family". Hawaiians consider EVERYONE family, whether you are or not. So, "Aloha, Ohana!" are the most important words to learn. Hawaiians are a fun and friendly lot, and their laughter and positive attitudes are infectious. 

Sadly, with the U.S. take over of Hawaii as first a territory and then a state, the arrival of military bases, and then the ease of getting to Hawaii by sea or air, has doomed the Hawaiian people genetically. Only 1% of the native people is of pure Hawaiian ancestry. 

(Lava tube Kilauea)

We really enjoyed our 7-day cruise. We, of course, went to a luau on the big island (although my parents said that to do it right, you don't want to do a huge, touristy luau like we did, but a smaller, family luau if you can), then we also visited Maui, Oahu, and Kauai. Unfortunately, we caught the tail end of the typhoon that hit the Phillipines so my snorkeling trip to Molokini Crater (there was an Earth cache there, darn it!) was cancelled on Maui. We made up for it on Kauai, which was a small Zodiac of just 12 people, which was better anyway because there wasn't so many people stirring up silt. But otherwise, we had perfect weather. I enjoyed the volcano. And the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory had me drooling as I got off the bus. Yum.  I look forward to going again, someday.