When it comes time for that vacay getaway—whether for a weekend or a month—“check” ✅ sets the journey in motion.

My trip for a weekend getaway to explore yet another part of gorgeous Kenya flowed like this:

Staying in a “surpriseable” frame of mind. Check ✅

Besides the plans you make, every good escape needs room for the unexpected. How else will your inner child come out to play?

Good weather. Check ✅

Imagine the sun peeking over the horizon, meeting soft morning breezes as if ushering in the dawn of a new day. When I’m heading on vacation, I make every effort not to waste any part of the day—so I’m usually on the earliest flight in and close to the latest one out.

Seat selected. Check ✅

Without fail—even when I say I won’t—my trusty iPhone is ready to capture what’s below as the aircraft comes in to land. When you want an unobstructed view of the landscape, a window seat is best. So yes, I’m ready for online check-in the moment it opens.

Mode of transportation for a weekend getaway. Check ✅

This time, a propeller aircraft. Not my preference. But if you want quick and efficient, you bottle up your fears, get onboard, and settle in for the flight.

Dream destination. Check ✅

Imagine wide stretches of white, powdery sand against clear, turquoise-blue water. A “natural mystic flowing through the air,” giving off Bob Marley vibes.

Only, this is not imagination. It’s real.

It’s Diani!

Diani sits on Kenya’s south coast along the Indian Ocean—a short one-hour flight from Nairobi. One of Kenya’s most laid-back coastal escapes. Easy. Unassuming.

Days rise and settle into kaleidoscopic shades of yellow and orange against the horizon’s unending blue. Sunrise beckons a yogi’s sun salute—upward and downward stretches, standing tall in tree pose, letting the break of day center you. And sunsets lull you into a quiet sense of peace at day’s end.

At low tide, the sea recedes so far it reveals unspoilt white sandbanks. Walking these small expanses in the middle of the ocean feels like you’re suspended between water and sky. If “surreal” had a form, this would be it.

Along the beach, you’ll see dhows and glass-bottom boats, catamarans and speedboats, jet skis and canoes. I opted for a glass-bottom boat, having sailed a dhow while in Zanzibar. The beauty of it lies in the surprises it reveals—sea dwellers dashing by. At one point, our guide dives in and reappears beneath the boat, feeding the fish and giving us a closer look at the ocean’s varied life. This time, zebra fish made an appearance.

Starfish—different colors and sizes—dot the seabed, while sea urchins and sea cucumbers remain tucked into the crevices of coral exposed by the receding tide.

The diversity in the ocean is matched on land—flora and fauna varied in form and color—each one drawing out soft exclamations of appreciation.

Mother Nature has been kind to this land. And Diani is not shy about it.

It invites you to chill on its open, calm, spread-out beaches lined with palm trees. Trees that actually give shade—not just an aesthetic backdrop for photos (though the photos are, indeed, spectacular).

It moves at its own unbothered pace. And it nudges you to join in its rhythm—slow walks, ocean breezes, dhow cruises, a stretch into yoga, or simply frolicking in warm ocean water.

Vendors walk the beach, widened by the receding tide, peddling what they have—coconuts, woodcraft, wristbands, even camel rides.

And then it happens.

You find yourself in that in-between space—where you don’t feel rushed to do anything.

And you don’t.

You comply.

You do nothing… just chill.

And somewhere in that stillness, you find exactly what you didn’t know you needed.

Happy birthMONTH to me!

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In creative solidarity, Dee