United Kingdom

We thought we’d deal with this separately as it was a full day and it’s worth it! Hana is a small town in the south-east of Maui. The road to get there is rated as one of the top drives anywhere and is a must do if you visit Maui. Why? Put simply, it’s 42 miles long, it’s speed limits vary from 5mph to 35mph along it’s 617 curves and the 56 single-lane bridges that make up the road that clings to the coastline, winding up and down the rock faces all the way. The driver gets no rest; your steering wheel is rarely straight and some of the corners are absolutely blind. Heading to Hana you meet trucks coming the other way and you test your skills to work out where the side of your rental car is in relation to the rocks / cliff’s edge when you have to stop and move as far across as possible so you can both pass. However, there are loads of people that do the route and you all just tootle along at 15mph-ish, stopping whenever you need to take in one of the many stunning views, numerous walks or various waterfalls. It’s not about Hana itself, it’s about getting there. For views, the road knocks spots off any road we’ve ever driven and we’ve seen some fairly amazing things this trip. And we’re thankful to have done it in the daylight on a nice sunny day. We now understand the t-shirt we saw that says on the front ‘I survived the road to Hana’!

Sat in the lounge at Heathrow enjoying free G+T and choc cookies. LA is our next stop for 3 nights. Just checked out the weather forcast. 28 or 29 degrees C (83/85F) and described as 'Plenty of Sunshine', 'Mostly sunny', and 'Brilliant sunshine' - how on earth are we going to cope.......??? - sounds like we are going to need cocktails to keep ourselves hydrated.

The best laid plans of an early night truly failed as the light got turned off at 12:30. 5 minutes later the alarm went off at 5:15 :-( The zombie-like routine, fuelled by nothing other than a cup of tea and adrenaline, got us out of the door 2 minutes after the taxi arrived. Goal 1 - hit. Goal 2, also hit - the luggage across the 2 cases came in 1kg under the allowance (Helen stuffed a bunch of extra stuff in because that's just what women do). And now, while she sleeps, I'm taking advantage of her Gold status, which has allowed us access to the Business Lounge where I can enjoy the free everything in blissful silence away from the rest of the travelling community. Next stop, the city of the Angels.

Tomorrow morning sees the start of our journey. Passports? Check. Visa? Check. Luggage? Check. Credit Card? Yep. That's about all we really need. The contact numbers have been shared. The house checks sorted out. LA-LA-Land here we come. It's come round quickly. I think we've done everything.

8 working days left. People at work are bored hearing about that fact. We've sorted out what we're taking and we've come in lighter than we're allowed to be! Now working out what we've forgotten. It still feels like we've got a lot to do in now much time at all. Arrrrgh!