The snow was piling up as we waited to ride the light rail to the airport.
At Minneapolis/St. Paul MSP, snow-clearing crews were keeping ahead of the snow: across four departure boards, I saw only two cancellations, probably due to inbound cancellations.
The weather delayed our departure. An engineer arrived to deal with a frozen boarding door, then the plane received a 15-minute de-icing. For me, the weather just added to the value of our trip.
9 hours later, at Honolulu HNL, we stepped into a warm, deliciously damp climate.
We spent five full days in Honolulu before continuing our journey to New Zealand. We prefer the other Hawaiian islands, but we decided we could happily fill five days with walks and interesting stuff, while avoiding crowds.
By the middle of the week, I was starting to feel pretty punk. A cold, lingering from the previous week, was manifesting itself as bronchitis.
A bowl of soba noodles made me temporarily forget my symptoms.
The relief brought by soba noodle therapy was short-lived. That night, a dry cough prevented any sleep. Next morning, Dwight insisted we go to a nearby UrgentCare clinic.
After that, I slept, then slept. We did squeeze in a slightly over-ambitious walk on the last full day, before I succumbed to yet another nap.
Next morning, we rode the city bus back to HNL. I didn’t feel particularly disappointed by our time in Honolulu, especially as we would return to Hawaii after a month in New Zealand.
