The HI life

Sunrise at Sandy’s.

For one winter, my boyfriend Jeff and I had the opportunity to escape one of the coldest Albertan winters in recent years and live the dream life in Hawaii. Now, now, don’t jump to conclusions and assume we ran off to the island and lived carefree by the beach, eating fresh fish tacos and swimming with turtles and dolphins everyday…that was only on weekends! ;) To be honest, it was a bit of an adjustment period, learning a new city, a new job and even a whole new health care system!! However, you know what they say, “nothing worth having comes easy” and this was definitely a worthwhile experience!

Now, you might be wondering, how did this opportunity even come about?! I am an Occupational Therapist, Canadian educated and licensed. The idea to consider a travel therapy position in the states began as a dreaming conversation with Jeff of living in Hawaii: he would ask “could you ever live in Hawaii?” to which I would reply “Of course! But I would never be able to work there.” Well, that got the wheels turning and a few months later, after spending much of the spring studying, I found myself writing the American Occupational Therapy exam. With a passing score, I talked with my employer at the time and was granted the opportunity for a leave of absence to further develop my career through this opportunity. I began working with recruiters though mind you, it was now the fall, and Hawaii as a travel position in the winter was quite popular. One phone call on a Thursday evening in December pulled the final details into place. After a VERY quick interview I was offered a 13 week contract position on Oahu in a Skilled Nursing Facility. They wanted to know if I could start the job on Monday. MONDAY! Well, that made for a very busy next few days: I needed to confirm the finalized dates for my leave from work, Jeff and I needed to pack up my house, get our tenants set up, drop my cat off at my ex boyfriend’s place, book our flights, find a car and a place to live for the next four months. We soon found our very tired selves onboard our flight, ready for the adventure ahead! Have a look through the following topics to find some of our favourite places and things to do on Oahu!

Five best hikes on Oahu!