I spent last week on a cruise in Hawaii.  It was awesome.  Here are my thoughts: 

1.  It's a very diverse place in terms of nature.  There are obviously beaches.  But right near the beaches, there are huge mountains.  Some of the mountains are covered with trees and forests.  Other mountains are covered with newly-cooled (within the past 50 years or so) volcanic rock.  There are active volcanoes.  There are rivers and waterfalls.  There are farms and fields.  I guess I was surprised to find out that the island isn't covered with sand and there's more to do that just lay on the beach. 

2.  It's not a very diverse place in terms of animal life, but the animals there are pretty cool.  There is essentially nothing "native" to the islands since they were volcanically formed from the bottom of the ocean.  So the land animals are things that were introduced by humans, like wild chickens and pigs.  But the sea life is pretty cool.  Besides some colorful fish, there are sea turtles and whales just off the coast.  I thought whales were cold water animals.  I guess not. 

3.  There are basically no dangerous animals or bugs.  This is arguably one of the most appealing parts of the state.  There are no deer ticks or giant, man-eating spiders.  There are no snakes or lizards.  There are no crocodiles or bears.  The only thing you need to worry about is coming across a poisonous centipede, which I thankfully didn't.  Even after talking to a few locals about it, they agreed that Hawaii is largely creepy-crawly-free. 

4.  Unfortunately, the travel time is borderline ridiculous.  From the east coast, a non-stop flight would be about 9 or 10 hours, but ours was split into two parts.  But two 5-hour flights isn't much better than one 10-hour flight.  And then there's the timezone difference.  Hawaii is 2 hours earlier than the west coast, which is 3 hours earlier than the east coast.  So basically, breakfast is lunch, lunch is dinner, and dinner is a midnight snack.  But after a day or two, everything feels normal.  One benefit of the time difference is that I easily got up at 6am to see the sun rise.  I'm absolutely not a morning person, so this should tell you something. 

5.  Hawaiians are cool people.  It's the absolute opposite of the Caribbean.  My experience in the Caribbean is littered with poor people trying to con me into taking stupid tours and buying overpriced hand-woven baskets.  I understand it's how they make their living, but I still don't like it.  Most islands in the Caribbean thrive on tourism, so the locals are a bit pushy and in-your-face.  Hawaii also thrives on tourism, but the people are completely different.  No one is in your face.  No one tries to steal your money or take advantage of you.  You can walk down the street without feeling like your life is in danger.  Also, Hawaii seems to be a little more conservation-minded.  The streets aren't filled with garbage and people make an effort to keep things pure and natural.  It's almost like Hawaiians treat it as a privilege to live on the islands, not a right.  It's different, and very cool. #travel