After my recent experience with snowmobiling in Iceland, I was starting to think that maybe piloting motorized vehicles at fast speeds was not the vacation activity for me. But then Wim asked Heather and me if we wanted to go on an ATV tour in Hawaii, and being a Yes Girl I really only had one…

Hawaii was filled with highs for me. So when it came time to write about my trip, I thought why not start with the most literal high of them all? In Oahu, I conquered one of my long-standing fears and checked a major item off my Life List: I went skydiving in Hawaii. It all started…

Recently, Facebook reminded me of a status I posted a few years back. “Alexandra Baackes is having non stop fun all the time and absolutely loving life.” At the time, I was dripping with sarcasm. Today, I could write that status in pretty non-ironic way. Today, on my twenty-third birthday, life is good. I might not…

I’m back in New York, and I have one overwhelming emotion: brrrr! Those six weeks in Hawaii were some of the happiest I’ve ever had, and I admit it’s been a shock to the system to come back to cold air and grey skies. So many of the things I enjoyed so much about home this…

Dear Hawaii, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to introduce you on my blog. I’ve only been away from you for a week but I still feel fireworks when I think of you. I want my readers to know — I want the world to know — all the ways in which you are a…