Hawaii: When Travel Writer Meets Travel Reader

The note, sent in response to the post I’d written about Ko Olina, O’ahu, was short:

“We are also at KO.

I would like to meet you.

(signed) Louise”

One thing I’ve learned about blogging is that we don’t really know who – if anyone -- reads the posts we’ve written - unless they make a comment or send an email.

At times it is kind of like feeling as if you might be talking to yourself.

Some bloggers live by ‘stats’ but even those numbers don’t tell us if what we write is really being read.

We also know the numbers of ‘subscribers’ - those who sign up to receive the posts as emails  – and if we dig deep enough,we also know their email addresses. (Rest assured, I seldom do that.)

In the case of TravelnWrite subscribers, the majority are people we don’t know. People like Louise. So to say I was thrilled that 1) someone was reading the blog and 2) wanted to meet me, sent me ‘over the moon’.

In this case – the weird part is --Louise and I had already been together earlier in the week at a Ko Olina owners’ “Meet and Greet” that she had organized.

In fact, I’d  taken photos and written about the event on the owners’ Facebook page.

But ‘that Louise’ and I didn’t have an opportunity to chat . . . so I was guessing, when I wrote her back asking if she might be the same person. She was one and the same!

A few hours after exchanging emails, we met at poolside; chatting as if we had known each other for a long time.  We talked travel, and Hawaii and timeshares. . .and about the blog, of course.

She isn’t quite sure who recommended it to her, but she’s been a TravelnWrite reader since last September and had ‘come along ’via the blog on our South Pacific adventure.

Louise (pictured left) and her husband left Ko Olina for their California home a couple weeks before us, as they have another trip coming up.  But Louise and I have stayed in touch and will continue to do so until our paths again cross ‘same time next year’ at Ko Olina.  


Mahalo Louise, for sending that note!  And a big  mahalo to who ever recommended our blog to her!

We love meeting members of the TravelnWrite community, so let us know if we turn up somewhere near you.  Just drop us a note: travelnwrite@msn.com

If you've not subscribed and want to do so, just fill in your email address in the box to the right of this post, then reply when Feedburner sends a confirmation email to your email address. It is free and as simple as that!

And recommend us to a friend of yours. . .just look at what might happen if you do!  Thanks for the time you spent here today – we’ll be back soon with more Tales from Somewhere in the Pacific.

(In case you are wondering, I have Louise’s permission to use her photo and tell you the tale of how we met.)