“ You smell that? “ my dad said with excitement, “it's the sweet smell of paradise.” What he and all of my family was smelling, was the strong scent of tropical flowers as we got off the plane on the island of Oahu. I was about 15 and was excited to be there with my dad, sister, cousins, aunts and uncles. It was my first real trip that I will be able to remember, sense all my other vacations i was so young. As we walked outside to our car to take us to my aunt's house, who was stationed in honolulu for the army, there was a gust of humid air. I've never felt air that warm before it was almost hard to breath. As we drove through honolulu, we drove in the immense mountains through dark tunnels to get to town. It is so different from MInnesota, they have tiny old houses crammed together, then up on the green hills there is nice townhomes and condos. There was homeless people everywhere in town and by the beaches.

That first night I didn't sleep at all, I stayed up on the porch and watched the sun rise over the mountains and volcanoes. It was absolutely the most beautiful thing on earth I have ever laid my eyes on. With the orange and pinks in the sky from the sunrise and the warm air on my face. That day we went to a private beach ment for only people in the military stationed there, we went boogie boarding and we grilled out for dinner on the white sandy beaches. You can hear the water crash against the beach, the warm tropical breeze dry us from playing in the water all day, and the delicious fish sizzling on the grill for dinner. That night I slept like a baby, knowing i'm in the most beautiful place with all of my family, making memories for the rest of our lives.

The next morning we went to a small donut shop and got hawaiian donuts more known there as malasadas, they were balls of dough fried and put in sugar, but different from the ones in Minnesota we are all used to at gas stations. When you bite into the sugary goodness it is still a little gooey on the inside and hot from being fried, with a not as sweet taste as regular donuts more of a cake taste. Later that night we all went to a Luau for my Aunt Jessica's birthday, the one we were visiting in Hawaii. It was unlike any experiance I have ever seen before. People up on stage dancing, smiling and having a good time while we sat at the table and ate an amazing pig roast dinner that they cooked in the ground all day. It's where they dig a hole, put hot rocks and coals in then put the pig in and bury it that night to let it cook and eat the next day at the luau. The end of the luau was by far best, that's when the fire breathers came out and did a fire performance. It was so exciting seeing all these new traditions, foods and being able to share it with the closest people in my life.

On the last couple days of our trip was the most memorable. We all separated and went on a hike up the beautiful mountains to a historic lighthouse called Makapu’u Point lighthouse. As we reached the top you could feel the breeze on you face, and it felt good to finally reach the top. As we came closer to the edge of the cliff of rocks, when you looked out to the ocean you could see the very crest of the other island. Also in the sun spots we spotted a family of whales jumping out of the crystal clear blue water. It was an exquisite view that I will never forget.

The very last day of that trip was the most important to me, it made me realise a lot. It was christmas morning and was pouring rain. We all sat around the christmas tree opening our presents that “Santa” had brought us. My cousin matthew was sick with the flu, despite everything that was going wrong it still was the perfect christmas. In the moment it seemed we all forgot that we were even in this exotic place. It was just an enjoyable moment being with my family and laughing. After it stopped raining me and my uncle went outside to look at flowers and weird bugs. There was pink, yellow, orange and red huge flowers all bigger than my head. Some I didn't even know existed, and the bugs were huge, they reminded me of the bugs in the movie Jumanji.

I was amazed, there was little geckos running all over the place as you walked by. “Come look as this,” my uncle said excited to show me something. “Touch this grass and see what happens!” I was scared at first because he made it seem like something bad was going to happen, and knowing my uncle he's a jokester so I didn't trust him but he finally talked me into touching the grass, what happened next I will never forget, I didn't even know it was possible. The grass curled up to the ground, it acted like it did not like people touching it. My mind was blown.

Right then I decided for the rest of my life I would want to travel, to see all these new traditions, and foods. To experience the amazing things in this world. As I was coming home on the plane on that long flight back, I sat and thought about how i’m going to be able to travel all my life ,and where I want to go, and with who. There is so many things to contemplate but if it's something you really want to do, then make it happen. You only live once.