Turtle Rock Resort and Travel

There’s nothing more exciting than making plans to travel the world. You’ve saved up months, maybe even years’ worth of money for this one trip, and it’s finally time to put a pen to paper and draw up a schedule for your world tour. You feel incredible.

But – and this is completely normal – you also feel a bit nervous. You’ve put so much into saving for this this trip, you’ve sacrificed so many nights out and social opportunities at home, all so that your journey around the world is as perfect as you could possibly make it. That’s a lot of pressure.

The best thing to do, if you’re in a bit of a panic about how to plan the perfect worldwide getaway, is to take things slowly. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Start at the very beginning, and work your way along from there.

The first thing you need to decide on is your starting point, country number one. The first country on your checklist tends to have more significance than the rest, because it’s the destination where you will most likely make your initial adjustments to long-term traveling and settle into your new lifestyle.

You don’t want anything too intense, and you definitely don’t want to be hit with a massive culture shock straightaway – which is why Hawaii is the preferred starting point for so many world travellers.

If you want to know why it’s worth launching your worldwide trip in Hawaii, take a look at the key reasons below:

It’s got that laid-back lifestyle

When you first set off on a trip around the world, it’s best not to throw yourself into something too full-on from the very beginning. Hawaii is a great destination to kick off your travels because it doesn’t require much advanced planning to make sure everything’s perfect once you arrive. In fact, if you wanted to, it would be totally acceptable to come to Hawaii with only the vaguest food and beach-related ideas in mind, no real plans in place, and see where the island takes you.

There’s plenty for everyone, and because Hawaii doesn’t have the busy, act-fast atmosphere of a city, you’ll usually find that you’re fine to show up for meals and activities without pre-booking beforehand. It’s a great way to gear yourself up for the more intense destinations you have lined up for later in your trip in a stress-free environment.

It offers good connections to the States

Not many people would choose to exclude America from their tour around the world. Conveniently, Hawaii isn’t too far away from the west, so if you’re planning on visiting the likes of California or Las Vegas, you’ll find Hawaii has some handy connections to your destinations of choice. When you’re trying to figure out how you’ll get from country to country, it can often make sense to start at Hawaii and work your way east until you’ve come to your final destination.

Hawaii also has good airport ties to Australia and New Zealand, so if your travels are taking you in that direction, don’t rule Hawaii out as a starting point. From Australia, you can easily move on to popular Asian travel destinations like Thailand, Hong Kong and The Philippines.

It’s a home away from home

If your whole point of traveling is to escape your hometown, then you might not want to hear that Hawaii is like a home away from home. But don’t take it too literally – it just means that, instead of feeling like you’re in a completely unfamiliar environment, you’ll feel comfortable, confident and relaxed in Hawaii. English is spoken widely on the island, crime rates are low, and Hawaii’s culture and culinary options won’t make you too nervous.

Adjusting to new environments can be particularly different if there’s a language barrier, or if you’re not used to the behaviour of the locals. Hawaii is the perfect location to start your adventure around the world because you’ll need very little adjusting to settle into island life, so it won’t all feel a bit “too much, too soon”.

It’s a hive of opportunity

Just as much as you could easily show up to Hawaii with absolutely nothing in your plans, there’s no reason why you couldn’t book a full itinerary of activities and still be left with the opportunity to do more. The beginning of a long trip away is the perfect time to immerse yourself in some of the more physically challenging activities, as your energy levels will naturally be higher. Luckily, Hawaii has plenty of those on offer.

Whether you’re more into hiking, swimming, biking or water sports, Hawaii is an island that takes its outdoor activity seriously. There’s plenty of fun to be found no matter where you’re hitting up, and the island locals are only too happy to accommodate your specific needs. Thrill-seekers will love Hawaii’s wind surfing scene and helicopter tours, or if you’re not looking to splash the cash too much, there are plenty of walking trails and secluded beaches to take advantage of.

We all know that there are some pretty obvious perks of traveling the world. Who doesn’t love an extended vacation, right? Travel, to most people, means time off work, adventure, fun, relaxation, amd the ability to try new things and see the places you’ve only ever seen in photos or heard about from other people’s stories. It’s a chance to experience true freedom, for a few weeks, a few months… or however long you choose to country-hop and live out of your suitcase for.

But traveling the world goes so much further beyond the obvious. It’s only once your travels have come to an end that you can truly appreciate the full benefits that you were exposed to during your time abroad. There’s no denying that world traveling can completely change you as a person – for the better.

Here are 5 major benefits you’ll only be able to experience from traveling the world:

You’ll learn independence

When you’re at home, there are certain things in life that are handed to you on a plate. Need to go shopping? You can just use your card at the local corner shop. Sick? Book at appointment at your doctor’s. Stranded far from home? Call a taxi. You know exactly how to do them, and they don’t seem like a big deal to you at all.

Compare this to when you’re abroad and in an unfamiliar environment, and everything you’re used to having isn’t there anymore. You have to learn to handle a new currency, navigate around unknown locations, purchase a sim card and figure out how to use it to make calls, learn about the local services and facilities, and so on. This encourages independence in even the most reluctant of travellers.

Your confidence will skyrocket

Everyone has their own personal comfort zone, a place in which they feel calm, and overstepping this comfort zone is definitely not an appealing thought for most people. The problem with staying within your comfort zone, though, is that it can narrow down your umbrella of opportunities – and actually, the more you turn things down because you just don’t feel “capable” of the challenge, the smaller your comfort zone will become. If we stick within them too much, our comfort zones can become very limiting.

Fortunately, traveling aboard guarantees that at some point, you’ll have to leave your comfort zone well behind you and just go with the flow. Meeting new people and adjusting to new cultures can both be testing to your self-certainty. And you can guarantee that there’ll come several occasions on your trip around the world where it’ll be entirely your responsibility to get yourself out of a difficult situation, and while it might be stressful at the time, it’ll help you to grow in confidence enormously.

You’ll strengthen your relationships

Before you set off on your travels around the world, there’s a good chance that you haven’t previously spent excessive amounts of time with your travel buddies. Even if you’re traveling with a sibling or partner, and you’ve lived together for some time, nothing quite compares to spending day after day on end in their company.

You might be the best of friends with your travel buddies, but the reality is, we’re all human, and we all experience day-to-day ups and downs. Even if you have seven fully good days in a row, chances are, on that eighth day, you’re going to snap for one millisecond, and an argument will spark. Don’t let this put you off – traveling will teach you how to better-control your temper around those closest to you, and most importantly, learn to compromise. There’s always something to learn from spending so much time with another person, and you’ll likely strengthen your relationships by the end of your trip as a result.

You’ll learn a lot about yourself

Think about when you go away for a week-long vacation. Like it or not, your week of intended thoughtlessness turns into an extended reflection of your life; what’s going well, what you want to improve, your goals for the future. And actually, this period of self-reflection is really important for helping you to reinforce your planned direction in life.

Now imagine what effect several weeks or months traveling might have on your self-reflection abilities. Some people say that they experience an “awakening” of sorts while they’re on their travels, and this is nowhere near as spiritual or impossible as it sounds. Most likely, your time spent traveling the world will help you to put a few things into perspective, which might mean you end up having a wakeup call or two that will help you understand exactly what you want to get out of your life.

You’ll realise the possibility in everything

As humans, we’re conditioned into believing that we must lead our lives exactly as society dictates. We believe we should wake up at a certain time every morning, eat the breakfast foods we’re told to eat, work a mundane job that pays us the money we need to survive, living in a city that’s far from perfect, but “does the job”. We don’t realise how much more is out there waiting for us – and that no matter what, happiness is the ultimate goal.

When you travel around the world, you’re opening yourself up to so many different experiences and lifestyles. You’ll get to see how thousands of different individuals are choosing to live their lives all across the globe, and it’ll make you realise that nothing has to be set in stone. In fact, nearly everything is possible.

We all have the freedom to decide exactly what we want to do with our lives, where we want to live, and how we want to spend our days on earth. Traveling opens up your eyes to the possibilities presented to you, and encourages you to act on them face. Life is short, after all, and if we only live once, it’s worth doing properly!

There is a often overlooked place call turtle rock on Oahu. Not too many people visit. It’s a little far away from the busy Waikiki and Honolulu, it’s a little bit off to the side if you are trying to go to Waenae beach, it’s a little bit inside the residential area, but it has one of the most stunning views.

I like traveling like a turtle. Taking your time, absorbing your surroundings, but don’t let the turtle fool you, they can sprint pretty fast when they want to. I like figuring out what locals like to do and what locals like to eat. I wish I could try living in all places, but of course that is impossible, so instead I try to submerse myself for the few days I have. I also don’t mind going to the very touristy places. After all, I am a tourist. There is a reason why some of these places are so popular. But, I sure don’t want to limit myself and feel like a cattle being push through a line at a tourist destination. Anyway, more to come on this website.