A Year in a Car For No Apparent Reason

Well, I’ve been in Hawaii for a couple days now and as much fun as I know I’m going ti have over the next two months, I got to say, I miss having my car.

I hate planing very far in advance. Normally while traveling, I don’t know in the mornings where I’ll be sleeping that night. I may have a general idea of where I want to go, but this whole having to plan and book rooms/campsites is cramping my style. Too much stress! I suppose I’ll get the hang of it though. When I get to the Big Island I’ll stay longer in each place and that should help.

Tonight I’m trying out my tent for the first time. It’s pretty windy, but I guess that’s why it’s called the windward coast. I’ve got my tent all set up on a nice spot next to the ocean and even though it’s only 3 in the afternoon I plan on just hanging out here, not doing much and putting off worrying about accomadations for the rest of my trip until tomorrow.

Hostels are nice, but I still got to say that traveling by and sleeping in a car is much, much simpler.

I think I’m nearly completely packed up for my two months in Hawaii.  Which is good, since I leave early tomorrow morning. It’s strange, but I love packing.  All the planning and making guesses as to what I’m going to need or not need. Together my backpack, day bag and purse are down to about 40 pounds. I’d like to be lighter, but at this point I don’t think there’s much I could take out.  About 12 pounds of that is camera and recording equipment, and most of the rest is camping stuff.  I’m hoping to save a fair amount of money by camping as much as possible, so we’ll see how that works out.

Any suggestions for things to see or do on Oahu, Kauai or the Big Island would be greatly appreciated!

I had a great weekend hanging out with some old friends.  (I love it when old friends move closer!

Now I’m back to work and am updating my links page (”Other Stops on the Road”).  I know I’m missing a lot of great pages, send me your suggestions.

I’ve added a new sub-page to the vandwelling page for frequently asked questions.  The current list of questions comes from some of emails I’ve gotten in the last couple days.  If you have any questions please send me an email to jessica (at) ayearinacar (dot) come.  I’ll love to expand the page.

That being said the one question I get more than any other is about showering, so I’ve written an entire post about it. Also common is questions about good places to park.  For that one I’ll refer you to an article I wrote for the Indie Travel Podcast website.

Hope that some of these pages help answer some questions!

Now that the pledge drive is pretty much over (I have a couple more days worth of stuff to finish up) I’ve been putting off posting here because I’ve been waiting to do something worth posting about.

Don’t think it’s going to happen for the next couple weeks.

I’m down in San Diego which is going to be my home base for the next four weeks or so before I head out to Hawaii for two months. (No the car is not going with me). Between now and then I’ll mostly be finishing up work, packing and planning for Hawaii, working on a couple projects (including the website), hanging out with some friends, and a whole lot of cleaning and reading of books so I can get rid of them.

That’s basically what I’ve been up to the last two weeks and pretty much all I’ll be up to for the next month

I do have an article up on the Indie Travel Podcast website that I haven’t mentioned here, and I’d better mention it soon since I have another one going up later this week. The current one is about starting up conversations with people on the road. I’d love for you guys to read it and leave comments with the ways you start conversations with people.

You may have noticed that I’ve also added a page about tatting. Eventually I’d like to set-up a better page, but this is a start.

I don’t really know what to go and see/do in Hawaii. I bought the plane ticket because I had an airline voucher I needed to use before it expired and the ticket to Hawaii was just the right price as to be practically free. I’ll be going to Oahu, Kauai, the Big Island for sure, possibly to Maui, and anywhere else that’s recommended as well. I have two months, so plenty of time to see a lot.