The timing of this link-up is apropos as I have several places that I can’t get out of my head right now.  Steve and I leave for the Virgin Islands in about a week for a 10 day vacation that is much needed right now.  I have a bad case of the “DIF”, aka, Dreaded Island Fever.  January through the first week of April is a really busy time for me at work every year so I can never take a vacation (other than a day  or two around a weekend maybe) during the first quarter of the year.  By the time we get to early April, I am usually exhausted and jonesing for a nice vacation.  I’ve also been doing some research on some other trips that we have planned later this year and some that I am thinking about planning in 2019 and they all revolve around islands.  I guess I’m a beachy kind of girl. So, here are a few tropical islands that I can’t get off my mind right now.

Virgin Islands (U.S. and BVI).  I recently wrote a separate post about this upcoming trip here so I won’t repeat everything but suffice it to say that I can’t wait to get down island and get my first painkiller cocktail in hand.

Fiji.  We have booked a trip to Fiji this coming November and I’m so excited about this trip.  We are staying on a small private island resort called Matamanoa Island.  I really wanted that quiet castaway feel and this place is actually only a 15 minute boat ride from the real Castaway Island where they filmed Tom Hanks with his beloved Wilson.  We plan to snorkel, go boating and relax on the beach during this trip, which will be nice after an 11 hour flight to get there from San Francisco.  We also want to experience a little Fijian culture and hospitality and plan to make a village visit and attend a kava ceremony.

Bora Bora/Moorea.  We checked this trip off of our bucket list last year and I still dream about that warm, salty lagoon at Bora Bora.  Jumping off the deck of our overwater bungalow and swimming with sharks was something I have always wanted to do and I’m so glad we bit the bullet and splurged on the St. Regis hotel.  Moorea probably had the bluest, clearest water I have ever seen and watching the sun set behind Mount Otemanu on Bora Bora while drinking an overpriced mai tai to celebrate our wedding anniversary was worth every penny.

Hawaii.  I have been to Hawaii one time and visited Oahu and Maui but I was around 13 years old, was with my parents and was in that teenage jerk phase where I appreciated nothing and thought everything was lame.  So,  I think it’s time to pay a revisit to Hawaii as an adult but I have my sights set on the island of Kauai, which is known as the Garden Isle.  The oldest of the Hawaiian Islands, Kauai boasts the deepest canyon in the world, the wettest spot on earth and the jaw dropping scenery of the Napali Coast.  I’m looking at a possible 8 night stay on Kauai in 2019.

I am also looking forward to our late summer stay in Paris and the French Riviera this year but right now, I can’t get tropical islands off my mind!