In addition to its sheer physical beauty, Hawai’i also has going for it its wonderful people who are notorious for their generosity and hospitality. This is why my favorite spot on Earth is a place where these two features blend into an irresistible mix of serenity and companionship.

My friend Eliza grew up in a town on O’ahu called Manoa, where the state’s main university campus is located. Her family’s house is perched atop a little hill nearer to the mouth of Manoa Valley. The valley is known for its daily drizzles as it serves as a catch basin for many of the tradewind generated rain clouds that breath over the razor sharp spin of the Ko’olau Mountain range to the west. At the mouth of the valley, where Eliza’s house stands, the light tropical clouds tend to disperse, opening the skies up to the famously lush Hawai’ian sun.

The house was built in the early 1900s in a classic bungalow style with a hearty front porch framed in stone with a simple pitched wood-framed awning. After entering the welcome room in the house’s mid-section you find sliding doors and windows lining an enclosed patio to the left. In fact, there is a slew of casement and double-hung windows throughout the first floor. The house was designed to take advantage of the natural ventilation provided by the tradewinds that come from deep within the valley. You stand in the entrance way and immediately begin to feel the cool and inviting flow of valley breeze wisp around you. Immediately, Eliza, her father or mother is giving you a big, warm hug and asking if you need anything to drink. Kirin Ichiban please.

It’s this feeling of ease and hospitality that you anticipate as you walk up the hill toward the house and that wonderful front porch. Even the worst day could not ruin your time here. I have spent many nights siting on that front porch with friends and Eliza’s family, talking story and enjoying the cool breezes and warm companionship. From the porch, looking over the rooftops and over toward the silhouette of Diamond Head and the bustle of Waikiki in the distance, you forget about commitments and obligations and begin to remember what it is like to live completely in the moment, in the now.

Sitting on a wicker rocking chair, sipping Kirin, chatting it up with friends and family on the greatest front porch of all time and looking over a dot of an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean you make a note to yourself to never ever forget the moment. You know that safe warm place that people euphemistically suggest that you go to in times of duress? Well, I know where mine is.

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