During the summer right before I went to college I had the opportunity to travel to arguably one of the most beautiful places on Earth. A place that looks like its straight off a postcard, the Hawaiian Islands, which has some of the best coffee and land features in the United States.

Ever since I had been a little girl it was always a dream of mine to be able to see Hawaii, and I’m incredibly happy I was able to experience it as an 18-year-old. It was truly one of the best vacations I’ve ever been on and the things I was able to see were absolutely breathtaking.

The first island I visited on my trip was Oahu where I stayed right on Waikiki Beach. After I unpacked at the hotel, the very first thing I did was lay on the beach which was quite relaxing after the incredibly long flight I had gotten off of earlier that day. The water was around 78 degrees, sweltering compared to the cold New England weather that I’m used to on the beaches of Narragansett.

That night I fell asleep at 8 p.m. due to jet lag but I had never slept so good in my life. In the morning when I woke up I had a breakfast that consisted of guava bread topped with Nutella and fresh fruit. Fruit in Hawaii tasted so much sweeter than the fruit I had eaten prior to that moment. When my parents and I finished breakfast we ventured off to Diamond Head, an extinct volcano. My dad and I ended up hiking up to the top, where the view was absolutely gorgeous.

Later that day I went to the beach and soaked up the sun for a few hours. Waikiki Beach was incredible, I took in the clear blue of the Pacific Ocean and came to realize I was truly in paradise. The next morning we went to Pearl Harbor to see the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. This was a somber experience.

It was quite overwhelming to stand in the memorial and take in the events of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Nonetheless, it was an amazing experience and as someone who has such an appreciation for history, I was glad that I was able to see it.

The next day my parents and I flew out to the island of Maui, which out of the three islands I visited was my favorite. Again the hotel I stayed in was right on the beach, and the water was 80 degrees and clear. The first day I was there I sat on the beach the whole afternoon and even got to see a dolphin! When I woke up the next day I decided to try something new and learn how to surf.

For those of you reading this who have not gotten to surf, it is a full body workout. After surfing I went out to breakfast and ate some of the best chicken and waffles in my entire life. Still, I can’t get over that Hawaii had some of the best food I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. I went to sleep that night feeling very good and slept well because I was so tired from surfing for most of the morning.

In the morning, my parents and I decided to take a drive halfway to Hana. This is significant because it is a long winding road that has a lot of fun stops along the way. One of the stops on the road is in Haiku, Hawaii, where a hidden waterfall is located. Other stops include food stands where you can get fresh fruit smoothies and açaí bowls.

The next day my parents and I were off to our final destination in Hawaii, the Big Island, where we stayed in Kona. Here I got to have some of the best coffee in the world, Kona is known for their coffee farms. The first day that I was there I got to travel to the other side of the Big Island and see Hilo. In Hilo, my parents and I saw Rainbow Falls, which was absolutely breathtaking to see.

In our last day in Hawaii, we took a tour of the Big Island. The first stop on this tour was a coffee farm where I was able to drink some of the smoothest coffee I’ve ever had. It was coconut macadamia nut flavored. Next on the tour was one of Hawaii’s famous black sand beaches, where I learned that it’s bad luck to try and take some of the sand home from these beaches. We then visited the southernmost bakery in the United States and ate malasadas, which are similar to the Rhode Island famous “dough boy.”

Our second to last stop on the tour was to a vineyard in the side of the mountains, where we had a barbecue dinner that was very filling. My parents got to taste some of the unique to Hawaii flavored wine, inclusive of fruits that were grown in Hawaii mixed in with the grape flavor, that they would’t have been able to taste anywhere else.

The last stop on the tour was to see a view of the Halemaumau Crater in Volcanoes National Park at night. This view was one I will never forget because it such a surreal feeling to think that the earth can produce these large gaps in the ground where lava is. The glow of the lava was so spectacular against the millions of stars in the sky.

Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been able to travel to. If you’re ever able to venture there, which I highly encourage everyone to, you will not be disappointed with the sights you’ll be able to see, the delicious food, and the defining differences that can be seen from island to island.