An Hour Early - Good Morning From Haleakala Crater

lck (48)in #travel • 7 years ago

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Our team has been on the go-go-go over the past two weeks. We have travelled from Hawaii to Japan... and from Tokyo to Hiroshima while in Japan. Unfortunately - our roadshow style of travel has caused us to be quiet on steemit over the past few days.

As I sit here in Hiroshima with a few minutes of down time before heading to Kobe, I am finally able to take a moment to digest and reflect on all of the things that we have done, seen and experienced.

As a full-time traveler, I have learned that life lessons are often found in moments that are either uncaptured or if captured, moments that don't do justice with picture or video.

I had one of these moments in Hawaii... at the Haleakala Crater.

The Haleakala Crater is one of the most popular attractions in Maui. It provides stunning sunrises, panoramic out-of-this-world landscapes, birds-eye views of the Maui central valley, and flora and fauna that exist nowhere else in the world. After that explanation - why wouldn't you go?

Well... nothing in life that is spectacular comes easy.

The Haleakala sunrise excursion begins by waking up around 2-2:30am to start your trek up the mountain (note - its by vehicle, so as long as your not driving you can catch an extra hour of shut-eye). Once at the top - you then go find a spot to camp out at until sunrise. Let me warn you... it will be cold. Actually, more like freezing ❄️

It's during this hour of waiting for the sunrise with wind gusts up to 30mph that continuously knock the breathe out of you which will make you question if you should have left bed that morning.

As your face and fingers begin to numb, nose run and inner monologue become negative - its not until you see the first ray of the sun expose the clouds and crater below you to realize your decision to wake up early and bare the cold was a critical step in order to experience the magical views that the Haleakala Crater offers.

Life is getting up an hour early to live an hour more!

More of my life lessons to be shared from our world tour. Excited to share with you all my steemit wanderers ✈️

Cheers to Travel,
Leo