While approaching the 2nd anniversary of launching this blog, it’s come to the point where the blog on it’s current platform (Blogger, FTP published) is getting too big to manage. That means the I’m finally starting the migration over to WordPress. It’s an exciting change, however, the timing is just bad, in the sense that I don’t have enough time to do it.

300 Strong
It was hard for me to believe as the number of posts here approached (and surpassed) 300 last month, but indeed there has been that much Aloha for Maui to share in the past 2 years. With that many posts and content, and the many limitations of of the FTP publishing model of Blogger (as opposed to their hosted model) means that just a simple post like this may take 10+ minutes to publish.  The label (aka tags or categories) files that get generated, for example, where up to 75+ posts in some cases. And since Blogger doesn’t support paging for their FTP blogs, those files where too large to be published, let alone load if someone wanted to view them.

Enter WordPress
A few of my fellow bloggers are either already using WordPress or have made the switch over this year, and have nothing but good things to say about it.  As a matter of fact, my newest site, Maui by Photo, is running on WordPress, so I too have seen what all the buzz is about first hand.

The migration process seems simple enough, however, I’m working on few steps to make sure search results and links from other sites that have gone up in the last 2 years are forwarded on correctly once the new blog is up.  All of the posts and comments will be moved over; it will just be managed better.

What to Expect
It will likely take at least a week or two until everything is up and running on WordPress, so you won’t see any new posts here for awhile.  The comments section will still be up, so you can still leave messages and responses to older posts without fear that they’ll be lost a week from now. Once all the kinks are worked out and I’m happy with the migration, expect to see more features and jazz at our blog, too, since I wouldn’t be moving to WordPress if there weren’t so many neat things to do with it.

Mahalo for your support during this transition.

Oh, by the way…
I mentioned earlier in the week that we’re still working out the details of a trip in September for the Maui Photo Festival. Well, it’s all but a done deal now. We’re going! It’s hard to believe that we’ll be leaving for Maui in just 30 days (Sept. 13th), and that it will be our 2nd trip this year, but it’s happening.  Once the blog is migrated over, I’ll try to sneak in a few posts about what we’re hoping to do with our free days and what I’ll be doing during the festival and workshops. Until then, find me on Twitter as @webnelly if you have ideas, questions, or comments about this next trip, and the little get-together we’re planning on the 20th.

Aloha,
– Kris

A little overdue, but part of this summer’s changes to our website are finally ready. The Our Trips section has now been given a new look and has been made easier to navigate and to digest what exactly we like to do (and have done) on each of our trips to Maui.

If you haven’t visited the Our Trips section yet, it contains a wealth of information about our many trips to Maui. Here’s a short sampling of what you’ll find:

• Details of each trip, including days/nights, flights, etc.
• Blog posts from our trip planning, which has proved pretty rewarding in the last year with all the great feedback and ideas from our readers
• Itineraries of what we’ve done day-by-day on our trips, helpful to see how we like to spread out our activities and not overdue it
• Journal entries, also from our blog, covering the events of our trip. Inspired by Cindy’s hand written journal from wherever we travel.
• Some of our highlighted travel traditions, neat little habits we like to do on every trip
• Our future plans, notes on upcoming trips in the next few years, because we also like to have another trip to countdown to.

In addition to all of that, we also feature our photo gallery and a small video collection from our trips as well.

Why Our Trips?
The main purpose of this site and blog are to help “Share the Magic of Maui.”  Since some of our site’s visitors might not be seasoned Maui vacationers, I think it helps to have a little insight into what works for us by seeing exactly what we do. All vacations are different, and there are too many combinations and circumstances to comprehend, let alone touch on, but if at least one prospective visitor to the Valley Isle finds this helpful section, I’m happy.

Also, as sort of a side purpose, it’s been pretty helpful for me to keep track of what we’ve done on different trips, too. As we spend more time on Maui and with all those hours spent on airplanes starting to feel the same, documenting our trips here helps me keep my facts straight later on when relaying our Maui experiences elsewhere on the web. I’m not getting any younger, and you know what they say about memory being the first to go.

More Updates Planned
At the moment, I can’t think of a time where I’ve ever been busier than I am right now. Still, there are many changes coming to this site that I want to get out sooner rather than later.

Our trip in February was really amazing for many reason, one of which was continuing to find new beaches, sights, tours, and places to eat that we hadn’t visited on previous trips. That means there’s a ton of new places I need to write up and list here at the site, starting with the Beaches section.

As I go through these sections and added stuff from trip 4, I’ll also be tweaking some of the pages similar to what I did for the Our Trips section. In addition to all of that, I’ve really be wanting to add a better Music page here, too. I’ve been playing a lot of great Hawaiian tunes on my iPod lately, which is making me want to share that part of the Aloha experience on the site, too.

300 Posts
One other quick note, the post last Monday was actually the 300th post here at the blog. When I started the blog as an extension of this site back in September ‘07, I never really had a number in mind as to how many posts I would have, etc. Looking back now after almost two years and seeing how much I’ve written and shared with all of you, it seems a little surreal, and I can’t say that I would have expected to have reached this milestone so quickly. Good times!

Talk Story
Going back to the updates for the Our Trips section, please check it out if you haven’t, and let me know what you think of the new changes. I’m very interested in hearing feedback on whether you think it’s helpful to showcase, and maybe other ways it can be improved. Maybe you’ve seen something on similar sites, or have your own traditions for blogging or recording your Maui memories? Do share.

Mahalo,
– Kris

Related Links

• Our Trips section
• Updates to Trip Details, Future Plans, and Archives
• All Site Updates

As I started mentioning late last week, I have been working on a new Maui site and it officially launched yesterday. Yay!

About the Site
The new site is Maui by Photo, and its primary focus is to provide a place for those that have visited Maui to relive all their favorite memories without setting foot outside their front door. And while you have those special moments top of mind, you have a place where to share them with others, as well as read stories from other frequent Maui visitors and even local Maui residents.

Below are a few screenshots from the new site.

Site Home Page

Sample Post View

Talk Story with Comments

The new site, much like this one, is always a work in progress and there are still a ton of things I want to do with it. Plus, there are still many, many more places that will be added to the site, as I’ve only begun to scratch the surface with the dozen or so posts that were added for the initial launch.

So what are you waiting for, head on over to Maui by Photo and start talking about your favorite Maui memories from some of the best spots on the island. And if you like it, which I hope you will, help us spread the word by telling all those Maui lovers in your life. You can also show your support by following @MauiByPhoto on Twitter, and if Twitter’s not your thing, become a fan on our Facebook page.

I hope to see you there!

Mahalo,
- Kris