The couple of weeks spanning Christmas and New Years is the single busiest time in
We normally are fully booked at this time from about August. However, we had a cancellation and still do have some availability. To make a holiday reservation with us, please contact us at: info@luanainn.com The last couple of years we’ve had guests actually see humpback whales off
We are pleased to announce that on August 18th our second son, Ryan, was born. He is a beautiful, peaceful boy and we are extremely thankful.
As far as the business is concerned, there has been no change to our level of service. We closed for a couple of weeks following Ryan’s birth, but have since re-opened. Guests can expect the same high level of service, great breakfasts, gorgeous grounds and lovely rooms as always. Ken is doing breakfasts each day temporarily (normally we alternate days), but I’m out and about visiting with guests as much as I can and will return to work soon.
Speaking of kids, the
Speaking of secret places tucked down winding roads,
Paleaku is a beautiful garden and a very special, peaceful place. You’ll pull down their driveway and park under some very old trees most likely filled with chattering mynas, then enter through a shaded walkway lined with interesting plants. Part of the year, a crimson jade flower will be blooming above you. You walk through a partially open/partially covered walkway and sign in, look at gifts if you like, use the restroom, grab an umbrella if it’s raining. There will most likely be no one else around. You’ll hear birds and the tinkle of little fountains and wind rustling leaves, but this is a place of silence, not a tourist-spot or heavily-visited botanical garden. It is a peaceful place and its mission is to host/foster peaceful activities.
You exit the entry walkway and head down a grassy path that ends at a brilliant white Buddhist stupa backed by a sweeping ocean view. There’s a covered area with two Tibetan sand-paintings on the way (I saw the monks working on these a couple of years ago and it was amazing), and a green parrot named Harriet (Harry, for short) that likes to whistle at you as you pass. The grassy lawn is bordered by some strange exotic flowers and deliciously-scented flowering trees and elegant cocoa palms. A breeze blows up from the ocean keeping the grounds comfortably cool. In addition to the Buddhist stupa there are other sculptures, a labyrinth, and a
On the one hand it feels a little hypocritical to call ourselves green while living in such an extraordinarily luxurious house, but on the other, we do take seriously doing everything we can to minimize waste and impact. This has always been our process, but it’s come to our attention that our guests appreciate this, so we thought we’d put it out there. Here are some of the green practices Luana Inn has always followed:
Being a small B&B doesn’t mean we aren’t running things professionally. We once had a friend who stayed at another island B&B which she described as “funky”, where she – in her words - was afraid to look behind doors and in corners. There were loads of ants and a prevalent musty smell, beer bottles left out from previous guests and an air conditioner that made her wheeze. This isn’t relaxed and funky and cool, it’s gross and unnecessary. We take cleaning extremely seriously here (I admit I’m a bit of a germ-a-phobe) and follow these practices (among many others):
We recently spent some time chatting with a friend of ours who is a restaurant owner/chef. We hadn’t seen each other for awhile and didn’t realize how much we needed to talk. It’s a lonely, isolating world being a small-business owner, and it’s a major relief to sit down with someone who understands this and blow off some steam.
Here’s the down-and-dirty reality. It may look like a dream to the outside world, but in reality, owning your own small business is very, very hard work. For example, as Anthony Bourdain, with characteristic bluntness and humor, discusses in “The Nasty Bits”, for people who dream of opening a restaurant, the reality is – most often than not – that they will fail. If it was as easy as swanning about the dining room in nice clothes giving out free drinks to friends and raking in loads of money, everyone would want to do it. The young celebrity-chef wanna-be who is faced with boxes of onions to peel and dishes to wash and the reality of the heat and sweat and stress of a professional kitchen will not last. He describes successful chefs who at times return to the “menial” jobs of prepping garlic or washing pots because they appreciate the meditative nature of such jobs, and have understood that it is these seemingly small, mundane tasks that actually make up the bulk of your days in a kitchen. If you can’t perform these tasks mindfully, if you cannot find pleasure there, then you should not be in a kitchen.
Running an inn is no different, really. As I was re-reading this book for the second or third time, this part about peeling garlic made me think about cleaning toilets and doing laundry. It’s not uncommon for us to do ten loads of laundry a day and finish folding in front of the TV at nine at night, and to spend eight to twelve hours on our feet each – and I mean each – and every day. And it’s typical to work seven days a week, with a day off every couple of months. It may look like a dream from the outside, but being a small business owner – even in
We’ve been asked with surprising regularity if this is “all” we do, and what our “real” jobs are. To be asked this, after spending hours scrubbing and cleaning and mending and peeling and cutting and baking and washing and folding and ironing and sweeping and hauling and managing books and marketing and being on the phone and computer and running up to Costco and Home Depot and Lowes and baking and cleaning and washing some more and tossing and turning all night wondering how we’re going to pay our bills … I am speechless. But, I try to take it as a compliment, that we make things look easy because we are professionals.
As our conversation drew to a close with our friend and we’d aired all our common complaints and stresses and fears, we returned without hesitation to the fact that we love what we do, wouldn’t trade it for anything. Sure, it’s extraordinarily – if not obviously – hard work (you can forget weekends, evenings, holidays, any sense of security, and probably a pay check for many months or even years when you first start out). However…we choose this work so that we could be with our kids, and raise them in a beautiful place we love. We’ve risked much to do this, but we still believe it was totally and completely worth it. We love it here, and we love the work. Our friend is fabulous at his job, and his customers can feel this. We genuinely love taking care of our guests and sharing the island with them, and we think that they can feel this, too. We are constantly working to do better by our guests, to improve everything we do – from our website to our welcome book to our breakfast offerings to our marketing. We have met the most fantastic people here, and it is our absolute pleasure taking care of them. Yes, it’s hard work, but we wouldn’t be doing anything else. Again, I think it’s like being in a kitchen. It may be hot, you’ll definitely get burned and cut, people will send back food and abuse your waiters, your feet will ache, you’ll stress endlessly about paying the bills, but at the end of the day – or long night – when things have settled and you see how happy you’ve made your guests with your creation, with your vision, with your dream, you know you are in exactly the right place and wouldn’t trade it for the world.
This beach is fantastic for two reasons. First, it’s just a beach, there are no resorts or houses near by, so you don’t have to deal with the crush of the resort-crowd. Second, it’s just freaking gorgeous. Envision white sugar-sand, soft and feathery, brilliantly clear water than glows green over white sand, and a huge blue sky spanning all around you. It’s isolated enough that it doesn’t feel that busy, but is easily accessible meaning you can cart in your cooler and umbrella and books and beers and snacks. It is hot and bright, so wear sunblock, and there’s a great break so it’s perfect for body-surfing and boogie-boarding. Because it’s sandy it’s not so great for snorkeling (you WANT the rocks and reef for that so wait until you’re back here at Kealakekua Bay), but it’s perfect for swimming and playing in the waves. For a purely self-indulgent laze in the sun on white sand, go here.
