Aloha & Mahalo

Just back from a small jolt of a vacation -- to the Hilton Waikoloa Village -- where the air, sea, and sky help rejuvenate the brain and body.

As a former California girl, I still default to Hawaii when I need a restart, and tend to graviate to either Princeville or Kona. On this trip, my mom and sister joined me, and this property is ideal for two generation trips. It's stunningly beautiful; big enough to accommodate ADD personalities (which run in my family); yet intimate. I highly recommend it. 

Another secret: as an East Coast-based workaholic (who isn't these days?) it is the perfect venue to accomplish both play and work: with the five-hour time difference, I fall asleep at 9 p.m., wake up at 2 a.m., and thus have at least five hours of blissful solitude each day to crank out time-sensitive editing and memos. (I've learned never to share a room with my mom or sister.) And who's going to complain about being able to work with tropical breezes that bring the sweet smell of Na'u (gardenia, for us mainlanders) through my open balcony doors.

A common topic among most of my friends is the challenge of how to "have a life" when you have a time-consuming job that you actually love. Last summer, SNR Denton's global CIO Andrew Jurcyzk and I played hookey and went to a Yankees/Cubs game at Wrigley, and were talking about how we balance work and family. Basically, we concluded that while we seem to work 24/7, the trick is to take advantage of the ebb and flow of our schedules, in order to grab a vacation day here and there for a quick refresh. Sometimes, an away game, or just working from home for a few days can be a big boost for both productivity and stress reduction.

But there's no substitute for getting on a plane and changing your scenery for a real vacation. You never know where ideas will come from. On a past trip, enroute to Kauai, I watched "An Inconvenient Truth," which was the genesis for LTN's "Green Law" features.

This year's trip to Hawaii was also a milestone trip — I achieved "million mile" status on United's Mileage Plus — which means that I now never have to worry about getting enough EQMs again (that's elite qualifying miles for those of you not obsessed). Assuming that UAL doesn't evaporate like Pan Am, Eastern, et. al — that means I am "Premier Exec/Gold" for life, which will make getting upgrades much easier. Talk about a stress reducer!

On this trip, one of the conclusions I reached as I flew toward the 50th state was that I have neglected this blog for the last few months as we've been consumed with the redesign and relaunch of both LTN print magazine and our EDD Update blog. Me bad! I promise to get back on track and practice what I preach — to keep my spirit and this blog refreshed!

Images: Hilton Waikoloa