#HanaTrip

The last time I traveled to Hana I was still learning to text and my service provider supplied a meager signal once, somewhere near Keanae. This popped into my mind only after I accepted the invitation to join a group of Maui bloggers and avid Social Media users on a journey to one of the most remote towns in the US, with the goal to bring Hana to the world, via the World Wide Web.

We were hosted by Chris Norberg, creator of Maui Information Guide and provider of marketing services for our tour provider, Valley Isle Excursions and two of our stops: Wailele Farm at Twin Falls and the Travaasa Hotel Hana. Our goal was to share our experiences with these vendors while on the road, with our Tweeps, Friends and Followers around the globe. We were using some of the most advanced technology available – sending words, images and even videos around the world – and to each other – in a matter of seconds. When we had a signal, that is. It was still Hana, after all. As an artist my focus was on capturing the beauty of the trip while trying to keep up with all the modern tools.  The twelve of us headed out on a most beautiful day.

The #HanaTrip Team!

Ramana makes a delicious smoothie at the fruit stand at Wailele Farm, Twin Falls.

A beautiful fountain at the Travaasa Hotel Hana

Touring the grounds at the Travaasa Hotel Hana

The Eternity Pool at Travaasa Hotel Hana

The Kīpahulu District of Haleakalā National Park was a beautiful contrast of blue and green. I stood there looking out at the ocean and remembering my all-time-most-favorite camping trip that happened at this very park. The view was so incredible I took a quick picture:

Further experimenting with the concept of technology in this remote place, I applied the “Brush Stroke” effect on my Tangled FX app. This what it looked like:

Kipahulu using Brush Stroke #TangledFX

Later, at home, using a real paint brush, this is how it turned out:

In this one I was able to straighten out the horizon 😉

Walter, our driver and guide for the day, was wonderful in accommodating our needs as we searched for signals and clogged up his charger with multiple cords and adapters. A former thirty-year resident of Hana, he’s not much of a social media user, but as he reminded us, “Living in a small community, the news gets home before you do. And this was before Facebook!” Indeed. It is still Hana, afterall 🙂

We brought our technology to one of the most remote locations on earth. Did we succeed in bringing this remote place to the rest of the world? Our Accidental Consultant Erik Blair tracked the data after our trip and found that with the combined tweets, pictures and posts of the 12 of us, we had made 2.8 million impressions among our friends and followers. I think we succeeded! You can see them too – look for #HanaTrip on Twitter and on Instagram.

Mahalo!

I’d like to thank Chris Norberg for putting this adventure together;

Erik Blair for inviting me;

Valley Isle Excursions for treating us to this tour;

our driver Walter for meeting our needs and making it a great experience;

the Travaasa Hotel Hana for a great tour and delicious lunch;

the Wailele Farm Fruit Stand for the yummy smoothies and snacks for the trip;

Jill @JillzBeanz for letting me use her group picture of us;

and the awesome team of social media peeps that made it such a fun day!