A final conclusion

Now we're back to everyday life, the suitcases are emptied and are in the garage to be scrapped - unfortunately they didn't survive unscathed. The laundry has been washed and we have had to work again since the beginning of the week. Time goes by so quickly.

But at the end of a trip there is always a conclusion.

Traveling is always nice. We saw a lot, met nice people and worked well together as a team.

Vancouver Island was beautiful. We did it right this time by staying a few days longer in Ucluelet and getting there first. Even if getting there required some patience. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the trip, my cold (or maybe it was Corona, who knows) and then Shahaatz's illness put a stop to our planning. There wasn't much hiking in it. The trip to Champell River for a day wasn't worth it, even if I had been healthy. The place was more reminiscent of an industrial area. If you want to hike, you need 2 nights on site. We really liked Victoria, a beautiful city. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the surrounding area (Sooke and the adjacent provincial parks). You would have had to plan another 2 days for this. I don't know what people see who do the tour in 4 days.

Hawaii's island world is fantastic. Oahu with its white beaches and warm, turquoise water - a dream. Waikiki is a typical tourist place. What I didn't like was that you couldn't access the 8 beaches that Waikiki has without detours, as several hotels had closed off sections. Otherwise, the island is quite small, so you can get to the other end of the island by car in less than 2 hours. What you have to be prepared for is that parking in Waikiki is incredibly expensive (US$47 per day). How Hawaii in general is incredibly expensive compared to Germany. We visited great bays and beaches, bravely jumped in huge waves (Schahaatz at least) and didn't see a single wave or surfer at Hawaii's number 1 surfing spot. And neither do the Reimanns. Thanks to the heat, long hikes weren't fun either.

For me, Kauai was the most beautiful island. A highlight was the helicopter open-air flight. And it's good that we did it at the beginning. Here too, great beaches and incredibly beautiful nature with a colorful canyon, huge waterfalls and bizarre rock formations. Here too, the heat took away our desire for physical exertion. Unfortunately we couldn't and didn't want to visit the island because of the fires on Maui, which was really a shame. We liked the Big Island the least of all 3 islands. The Volcano Park, with the walk through a lava tube and the march on the floor of a volcano, was impressive. But without lava, just black-gray rock. We hoped until the end that Kilauea would still erupt because the signs were there, but it only erupted 3 weeks after we were there - the stupid volcano.

What you definitely have to do on Big I is diving/snorkeling with the manta rays and taking a ride on them

Mauna Kea. You should spend the money on the four-wheel drive car. Our accommodation on Black Sand Beach was great, we wouldn't choose Kona again for such a long time, then Waimea and the area above and below Hilo. And the long driving distances were very annoying.

The East of Canada: Quebec City is well worth seeing, French is an advantage here but English is also spoken, although less frequently. Montreal is certainly beautiful in the right places, but unfortunately we weren't there. We liked Nova Scotia best in all of Canada. Here you have everything, mountains, forests, lakes, waterfalls, coast and small towns. Sure, the mountains, forests and glaciers in western Canada were impressive, but it was also very monotonous. And it's the variety that we liked so much in Nova Scotia. But 9 days is clearly too short. 3-4 days for the southern part of the peninsula and a detour to Brunswick would have been great.

Maybe we'll do it again sometime - maybe not.

7 weeks was enough and we were looking forward to being home. Even though traveling broadens your horizons, it's still best to be at home, with family and friends. With cheap and healthy food with a large selection, familiar surroundings and language.

We would like to thank our readers for their loyalty and hope you will be there again on our next adventure when it means:

Shahaatz and I left again 😘😘