You’ve heard the old quote… “There is strength in numbers”. Well, there is also a heck of a lot of fun in numbers, especially when you travel with like-minded and fun-seeking friends and family members. Unless you are planning a honeymoon, anniversary trip, or simply a romantic getaway for two, you might want to consider asking a few friends or family members to join you on your next vacation. Here are several reasons why it can enhance your experience:
When a work-related group, such as a law firm’s leadership team, gets away for a leadership conference, they get the chance to make fantastic memories together. That can lead to upbeat morale in the workplace and even improve the long-term employee retention numbers in the firm. The company that plays together…stays together!
Extended families often live miles apart, and the average family with children usually has such a hectic schedule that it is often impossible to enjoy each other. As a result, it is becoming more and more common for a family member – usually a grandparent – to spearhead (and sometimes pay for) a multi-generational family group to get away together. It’s a very relaxed and fun atmosphere that allows all ages to have fun and spend time with each other.
The Aloha shirt has been Hawaii’s most enduring and visible greeter and ambassador for over half a century. Like a flower lei, the Aloha shirt is worn as a statement of one’s love for and connection to a most special place.
We find it quite amazing that a piece of clothing – a very simple shirt with vivid patterns or pictures and, if you’re lucky, coconut shell buttons – can have more lore, history, and anecdotes surrounding it than many a small country.
The roots of the Aloha shirt date back to the early 1930s and the famed surfer, Olympic gold-medal swimmer, King Kamehameha descendant, and “Ambassador of Aloha,” Duke Kahanamoku. Local beach boys of the day, looking for something unique to wear, decided to have sports shirts made from colorful Japanese kimono material.
Duke soon noticed that surfers would wear these shirts with the shirt tails hanging out. So why not make the shirts with the tails already cut off, he thought, to be worn neatly outside of trousers? Soon, the “Duke” shirt was born. In 1937, a local clothier signed Duke to a contract. The label on the shirts read, “Designed by Duke Kahanamoku, world-champion swimmer, made in the Hawaiian Islands.” Duke got thirty-five cents for every dozen shirts sold! Visitors to Hawaii also quickly discovered the colorful shirts.
The first thing tourists would do upon arriving in Waikiki would be to buy this bright, comfortable Aloha wear – adorned with flowers, leis, ukuleles, Diamond Head, and the Aloha Tower. So, several small local manufacturers began making what one called “Aloha shirts.”
Fine artists and fashion designers were caught up in the beauty and color of the shirts and the stories they could tell. Suddenly it wasn’t just visitors to Hawaii wearing Aloha shirts. The shirts had become fashionable all over the world! Realizing the allure of both Duke Kahanamoku himself and Aloha shirts, a national clothing manufacturer signed him up to be the spokesman for a line of Aloha wear. During fashion week, the kickoff promotional party was held at the world-renowned Stork Club in New York City. Before long, Duke was wearing Aloha shirts to fancy Manhattan soirees, power meetings in Washington, and on television programs nationwide.
We will leave you with a quote from Duke: “In Hawaii, we greet friends, loved ones, and strangers alike with Aloha, which means with love. Aloha is the key word to the universal spirit of genuine hospitality, making Hawaii renowned as the world’s center of understanding, tolerance, and fellowship. Try meeting or leaving people with Aloha. You’ll be surprised by their reaction. I believe it, and it is my creed. Aloha to you,”~ Duke Pahoa Kahanamoku, 1890-1968
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:
Join the Best of Hawaii group traveling in June 2023, where they will venture to the Hawaiian Islands. Check out the itinerary by clicking on the link below.
Registration is now open!
www.trips.tilliejamestravel.com/hawaii
Tillie and Joe James
Tillie James Travel LLC
804.997.9460 | info@tilliejamestravel.com
