THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD

There is a painting behind the reception desk at Montage Kapalua Bay by Californian artist Pegge Hopper, who has lived in Hawaii since the 1960s and is one of the region’s most lauded creatives. In it, a woman reclines among fern fronds, her arms raised lazily above her head with delicate plumeria behind one ear. She gazes directly at the painter, but her thoughts are elsewhere. She is perfectly serene.

I wish I could say the same about myself as I, six months pregnant and accompanied by two travel-weary toddlers, approach the same desk. My one- and two-year-old daughters had been impeccably behaved on the five-hour flight from our home city San Francisco, but