Traveling – Hawaii, Big Island

In 2005, the company that I worked sent the top performers (and their spouses) to Hawaii for an awards banquet in honor of their achievements. My wife and I were privileged to attend this event because for the second time in three years, I was the highest achiever in North America for my job function. I was very fortunate to have three of my fourteen employees also exceed their goals with outstand performance and were also able to attend the event.

The company sent us to the big Island of Hawaii for several days and we stayed at the Fairmont Orchid Resort. This was an all expense paid trip and everyone enjoyed the time by relaxing and celebrating our accomplishments.

The hotel is situated next to the ocean and there is a little lagoon that is has a nice beach for swimming. We would get our day started with a little ocean swim and hoping to see some of the sea turtles that swam through the lagoon. One morning I was taking pictures with an underwater camera of several turtles (being careful to keep my legal distance), when one of the turtles took an interest in me. I managed to take it’s picture just before I had to swim away to keep my distance.

One of the little extras was that we could have breakfast room service every day. My wife and I enjoyed sitting on our balcony eating breakfast while looking out at the ocean. One thing that the server warned us about was the little sparrows that fly around the resort. The birds have a taste for butter and they will fly to your table and peck into the round little balls of butter.

We were actually surprised at how bold the little birds were. While we were sitting right at the table, they would fly in and try to get the butter. If we left the table for even a few seconds, the butter would be full of holes.

We enjoyed this extravagant adventure and even the little extra fun of the sparrows visiting us for breakfast. On a side note, three months later the company laid me off - go figure.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell