STAY: Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii
We recently escaped to Big Island, Hawaii for a 4-days trip. We stayed at the Fairmont Orchid Resort which was the perfect hideaway in the island with private beach and snorkeling sites. We stayed in the Ocean view 1 BR Suite. The spacious suite has separate living room, angled ocean views from private patio, marble bathroom + half bath. This place could not be more perfect, we wake up to beautiful ocean views and have breakfast on the patio every morning. For the first two days we did not leave the resort – we woke up, did yoga, had breakfast, went snorkeling, had lunch, laid on the beach reading, went back to snorkeling, bathed, ordered room service for dinner, and slept. This was the most relaxed we’ve ever been on a vacation.
For more information on hotel room, click here
When these photos were taken, I still hadn’t had my reconstruction surgery yet so I was stuffing my bra with any clothing I could find. As most girls can relate, what we wear at the beginning of the day can look very differently by the end of the night especially when you wear a strapless top that requires you to pull up repeatedly. So here I was taking pictures and trying to keep pulling up my top to cover my unilateral mastectomy dent while Bradley was giving me words of encouragement to just be myself, an old lady walked up to me with tears in her eyes. She said, “I just want to tell you how beautiful you are, you are so strong and brave to be here right now, and you two [Bradley and I] make a beautiful couple.”
After the relaxing 2 days, we went on swimming with wild dolphins. The hotel concierge booked us a boat tour with Kona Ocean Adventures Dolphin Swim. As they were wild dolphins, we were very respectful of their space and did not get too close so the pictures may seem blurry. Funny enough, the dolphins did not feel the same way about me. While I was swimming from afar to try to get images of them, 2 baby dolphins snuck up behind me and jumped out of the water right next to me scaring me half to death while another baby dolphin popped in my face and immediately joined the other 2 dolphins diving down to the seafloor while laughing in their high pitch squeal. This was the most incredible experience I have ever been on, other than being popped in the face of course.
On our last night there, we went on Mauna Kea Summit with Mauna Kea Summit Adventures. Mauna Kea Summit is the tallest mountain in the Hawaiian chain. Well known for its astronomical observation, the view was spectacular. Since I suffer from acrophobia, I stayed in the car almost the entire time so I only have pictures of Bradley here.
