"Kauai: Hurricane Iniki &  the Garden... " a Kauai Travel Page by richiecdisc

This was the first stop on an around the world trip that would span eleven months. I guess it technically started in London. Found a cheap fare from there and even with the added expense of the London flight, it was a great deal. The bonus was getting to see old friends and their new family; the downside was the flight from London to Honolulu! We did it going west and it was exhausting. Drank far too much red wine en route to LA and were rightly hung over for the “jaunt” to Hawaii. Got there too early for the morning flight out to Kauai but met a local businessman who sold us half price coupons for the flight. I was a little leery but he stuck with us through the gates and on landing, offered us a ride to the other side of the island where we were to stay with Nicole, Kristin’s cousin. We got there a little early and decided to have breakfast at a local diner. It was a bustling place and though still well in the US, we felt very much the outsiders. It wasn’t just a language barrier and people weren’t particularly unfriendly, but somehow you felt you had left the country. In some strange way, more so then when we were in London. And that was just the beginning.
The timing of our Kauai trip wasn’t the best. Hurricane Iniki had just ravaged the island weeks before and they were only letting relatives visit. We’d planned the stop months earlier and it seemed silly to not stop and have a look, and say hello to Nicole. Hotels were destroyed and the coast was noticeably weather beaten. Hikes we hoped to do were now mudslides. And still you could see nature already mending itself, obviously a lot faster than man could rebuild his works.