island Archives • The Bliss Movement

Guides + Itineraries, Travel, United States

The Road To Hana: A 1-Day Adventure

The Road to Hana is one of those activities that everyone insists you need to do if you’re ever in Maui. With 64 miles of road from Kahului to the small town of Hana, you’re in for a long stretch of hairpin turns, narrow roads, one-lane bridges and impeccable views of the scenery along the way. From the lush jungle to the coastal waters, your eyes will be delighted no matter what direction you’re looking. While the road to Hana is best enjoyed over a couple of days, we only had a single day to explore. You have two options for experiencing the road to Ha[...]

Barbados, Caribbean, Travel

8 Reasons Barbados Should Be Your Next Winter Vacay

Recently dubbed the Caribbean Destination of the Year by Caribbean Journal, Barbados is, without a doubt, the next trip you need to book. Like, yesterday. Barbados is known for its white, sandy beaches and being the birthplace of Rihanna. It’s the place where high-profile people such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Simon Cowell, Elton John and many others jet off to for their holidays in the sun. But don’t let that fool you into thinking this destination is only for the well-to-do. That’s far from the truth. Barbados is the perfect getaway for travelers of any a[...]

Barbados, Personal Development, Self-Care, Travel

4 Lessons Learned from Living on an Island

Before living on an island I had no idea what to expect. Warm weather, the sea and days relaxing on the beach, obviously, but I had no idea just how life changing it can be to immerse yourself in island living. It has shifted my perspective on reality and I am determined to incorporate the life lessons I've learned for the rest of my life. Island time is a real and inherent thing that you will come to love if you end up living on an island. As you embrace this concept of time, the stress and anxiety begin to fade and you finally begin to take in the life that[...]

Caribbean, St. Lucia

Gros Islet’s Famous Jump Up in St. Lucia

A Friday night in St. Lucia is not complete without making an appearance at Gros Islet's jump-up, the street party that has made this town famous. Once the sun sets, the town locals and all the tourists flock to the streets to celebrate another week done and another weekend beginning. Our local host, Noa, and her friend Steve had been talking about the party all week and were eager to show us a good time. Sections of town are closed off to vehicles, allowing people to eat, drink, dance and party in the streets all night long. After stopping at the fish fry down t[...]

Caribbean, St. Lucia

Soufriere, St. Lucia: Soaking in a volcanic mud bath

Dunking myself in warm, scratchy mud was at the top of my list when I headed to the island of St. Lucia. It might seem counterproductive to take a bath in mud, but the effects on your skin are truly amazing! Soufriere is one of the world's only "drive-in" volcanoes, meaning exactly that. Instead of hiking up a volcano you can drive your car right up and into the volcano itself, parking the car and going by foot to get up close and personal. The drive to Soufriere is breathtaking, with the road winding through the mountains and giving you incredible views of the P[...]

Barbados, Caribbean, Travel

On Living, Learning and Leaving

Time moves at a different pace when your senses are being stimulated by all the wonders that the world has to offer. Home feels stagnant; there is a desperation to continue living a life that is elsewhere. The mystery of the earth and all that creates it pulls me from home time and time again. This time, I was pulled when I least expected it, to a place I had never dreamed of experiencing. Uprooting in the middle of my final year of my degree, I boarded a plane and stepped out onto a Caribbean island, determined to create a life for myself during the following fo[...]

Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago

day trip to Pirate’s Bay, Tobago

We spent two days road-tripping around the island, getting used to driving on the opposite side of the road and slowly getting comfortable with the narrow and winding roads. From the south of the island we followed the road along the east coast with the Atlantic as our view. After stopping at Argyle Falls we headed on to Charlotteville, with a few more picture stops along the way. Charlotteville is a small fishing village on the north coast of the island. Colorful homes perch upon the lush mountains that surround it and groups of locals lime over Cari[...]

Barbados, Caribbean, Mood and Mindset, Self-Care, Travel

The Traveler’s Shift

I zoom through. Cities, countries, museums and temples, I zoom through them all. That has been my past travel experience nearly everywhere but Thailand. It paved the way for the title of this blog, a whirlwind. A travel affair where I leave after one short, intense kiss. I land in one destination and move frantically through it, desperate to see it all in three days or a week and then I disappear, leaving a city or a country behind me without seeing but a sliver of it. I've questioned this way of travel before and yet I continued to justify it. In some places th[...]

San Francisco, United States

An Afternoon In Alcatraz

"Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz," - Author Unknown We've all heard of Alcatraz. A prison located on a very small island off the San Francisco Bay, where there was no chance of escape and if you did, then you had the sea to battle next. A prison that housed the likes of Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, and Mickey Cohen. Walking through, the cells are tiny and dismal and the entire prison has a harsh feeling to it compared to modern day prisons. The best room of the place was easily the kitchen, where[...]