by Betsy Herbert

I can't seem to stay put. I've been home for several months now after taking a year-long trip around the world. I've been working on a book about my travels . . .but I needed a break.

My brother and his wife live in Kauai and they have a guest room. See where I'm going with this?

Just so happens that the IUCN World Conservation Congress was meeting in Honolulu the first week of September. Some of my environmental heroes would be speaking...people like E.O. Wilson, Jane Goodall, Kathryn Sullivan, and Sylvia Earle.

That clinched it. After chatting with my brother Charlie, I booked a flight directly from San Jose to Lihue, Kauai, arriving on August 25. Great flight on Alaska Airlines. It was a small jet with quite a few empty seats. I had a whole row to myself, so I sprawled out.

I drove a rental car from Lihue to Kilauea, where my brother lives, on Kauai's north coast. Traffic was heavy at first, making me wonder if Kauai was really the island getaway I remembered.