Amazing Hawaii

"Mom, I know it is a bit weird because we were just there, but I miss Hawaii", Zoe said, as she crawled into bed at our LAX airport hotel. I agreed and said we would go back one day. I missed Hawaii already too. In fact, this had been one of our most amazing trips ever despite it essentially being a conference at a resort hotel. But the hotel was amazing, huge with a canal boat we could take round and around at the resort, even at night when Zoe would fall asleep on my lap and I would just sit and continue the journey, enjoying the palm trees, the stars and the warmth of the air. We would swim in the lagoon each morning, after which Zoe would build sand castles with her new-found friends and I would get sunburned on my legs because I forgot to put sunscreen on them. We would sit indoor, me watching interesting research talks, Zoe watching Pocoyo on her iPad, for a couple of hours, before hitting the ice cream stand and get ice cream that melted too quickly in the heat. We went on a boat tour looking for whales and we walked to the shopping center to get souvenirs. One morning at breakfast, Zoe looked at me and said in a serious tone: "Mom, you are a real adventure mom. We always do so many cool things." It pretty much melted my heart and made me so happy to hear.  We do exciting things. And hopefully we will continue to do a lot of exciting things, Zoe and I.

After our night in LAX, we continued on, back to Europe with a stop in London. Two days to get there, two days to get back, but it was worth it all.

Hawaii here we come

After an idyllic family Christmas, Zoe and I are embarking on our longest plane journey ever (the one to China from California was not quite as long); we are off to a conference in Hawaii. It was a long-shot when I submitted a paper last summer but it got in and now I have to go present it. From Copenhagen, Hawaii is as far away as anything possible, 12 hours behind, meaning our chances of actually getting over jetlag before we have to return are slim. I am envisioning a lot of nights in our hotel room reading books and waiting for breakfast to open, but also beach trips and Zoe yawning through conference talks in the back with her iPad (that's how we do it these days when conferences don't have childcare). It is a once in a lifetime trip and if I wasn't so broke from plane tickets between Copenhagen and Stockholm (5983 DKK per month to be exact), I would splash out on some actual trips on the island. We will be on the Big Island at a Hilton resort and there will be friends of mine with kids and someone who have promised to look after Zoe when I present my paper. All in all a good deal I think. Zoe has been singing 'Hula hula' all December in anticipation and packed not just two, but three bathing suits along her swimming doll.

Back in Copenhagen life happened. A lot of it. I can't be specific but let me say 2017 will be interesting to say the least from my personal perspective. Happy new year!