Quick PSA before we start: I know that when you see an email from me, there’s a whole squad that immediately scrolls down looking for new models. The squad is large and enthusiastic. So in the interest of saving everyone’s time: this email does not contain a new model announcement.
What it does contain is something I’ve been wanting to write since summer. I’m taking you somewhere very, very far away. Nazlican’s Hawaii diaries are finally here — and I’m going to tell you how to get there, where to stay, what to eat, what to drink, which beaches are actually worth it. All of it.
How Hawaii Went from Tacky to Transcendent (For Me)
Growing up in Turkey, Hawaii existed in my mind as a cheesy, over-commercialized exotic fantasy — thanks in large part to LC Waikiki’s monkey logo. Two fun facts: there are no monkeys in Hawaii, and LC Waikiki is a Turkish brand with zero connection to the actual place. It’s about as Hawaiian as Madame Coco is French.
So “exotic island” never made me think of Hawaii. I wrote it off as a has-been, an impossibly distant cluster of palm trees. That changed when I moved to America at 35 and decided to take a domestic summer vacation. America is huge — and I mean really huge. The first time I flew from New York to Los Angeles, it took six hours and I was still in the same country. For someone who grew up flying Ankara to Istanbul in an hour, this was brain-breaking. And then we flew from Chicago to Hawaii…
Here’s the thing: I’m a Mediterranean person. Summer means palm trees, a gentle breeze, fresh fish, and gorgeous blue sea. But notice how everything on that list requires a sea? Guess who doesn’t have one? America. America has oceans. The Atlantic on one side, the Pacific on the other. I’ve swum in the Hamptons, LA, and Miami, and I cannot adequately describe in words how terrible the swimming experience is in those oceans. (If you gave me a brown pastel crayon, I could draw it for you though.)
The Six Islands You Can Actually Visit
Out of 137 islands (most of them tiny coral reefs and atolls), only eight are big enough to visit. One belongs to a family who closed it off 161 years ago (incredible move, honestly — God, why didn’t you give my family a Hawaiian island?). Another is a decommissioned military testing site. That leaves six:
1. Hawai’i (Big Island)
The namesake island, larger than all the others combined. Home to Kīlauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes (it erupted continuously for 35 years, from 1983 to 2018). Mauna Kea is technically Earth’s tallest mountain when measured from the ocean floor. Eleven different climate zones. You can go from tropical beaches to snow-capped peaks in hours. The southernmost point of the US is here (Ka Lae), where jumping off the cliff has become a ritual. Beaches come in black, green (yes, green), and white sand.
2. O’ahu
Where ~70% of Hawaii’s population lives. Home to Honolulu, the famous Waikiki Beach, and Pearl Harbor. Barack Obama is from here (Honolulu-born, later moved to Chicago). North Shore is one of the world’s premier surf spots. Hanauma Bay has some of the best snorkeling on the planet, with living coral reefs and hundreds of endemic fish species.
3. Maui
The “world’s most romantic honeymoon island.” Where HBO shot White Lotus Season 1. Every winter, humpback whales migrate from Alaska to breed in Maui’s warm waters (peak in February). Home to Haleakalā, the world’s largest dormant volcanic crater. Neighbors include Jeff Bezos, Oprah (she has a massive farm), and Clint Eastwood.
4. Kaua’i (Garden Isle)
The oldest island geologically (~5 million years). Some of the most iconic coastline on Earth — towering green cliffs, hidden beaches accessible only by helicopter or boat. Where they filmed Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and Avatar. Quieter and greener than Maui. Home to Waimea Canyon, the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” (16 km long, 900 meters deep). Locals proudly say: “We have more waterfalls than traffic lights.” Mark Zuckerberg, Julia Roberts, and Pierce Brosnan all have homes here.
5. Moloka’i
Small, undeveloped, historically used as a leprosy exile colony from the 1800s through 1969 (!). Kalaupapa is now accessible only by special permit.
6. Lāna’i
Larry Ellison (Oracle founder, Iron Man inspiration) bought 98% of it in 2012. Population: 3,000. Two Four Seasons resorts. Most residents work for those hotels.
The Forbidden Isle: Ni’ihau
Technically a main island, but closed to the public and privately owned since 1864, when a Scottish immigrant named Elizabeth Sinclair bought it from King Kamehameha V for $10,000. She’d been migrating from Scotland to Canada to New Zealand, stopped in Hawaii to rest, fell in love, and never left. Today the Robinson family (her descendants) still owns it. About 70–150 residents live there with no electricity, no internet, speaking Hawaiian rather than English. The family has essentially placed an anthropological glass dome over this Pacific island, preserving its inhabitants in a way of life from centuries past. Helicopter visits are allowed only with family permission.
