11.02.2020 - Day 48 - Hilo, Hawaii/USA

After packing up and saying goodbye to Steve this morning, we drove south on the so-called Hawaii Belt Drive towards Kona Airport. That way we would have circled the entire island. Shortly after Hilo it started to rain, and really heavily at that. Brigitte drove the whole way and did a great job despite the poor visibility. In between, we stopped at one of the many coffee plantations and enjoyed a wonderful cup of coffee after a small tasting. Unfortunately, they didn't have any suitable cake to go with it, which is why we headed to the 'Punalu‘u Bakeshop' to have something similar to Berliner doughnuts 😋.

Then the excitement started, as we tried to check in online with United Airlines, which didn't work. So I called United and was told that our tickets were not confirmed and therefore we could not fly. After a tiny little argument, which ended with the United lady, that stupid b*tch, referring me to Lufthansa, the excitement naturally grew. Since it was the middle of the night at home and we couldn't reach our travel agency, we called an emergency number, where a friendly young man with an Eastern European accent finally helped us in English. In other words, we're now sitting here at the airport, holding our boarding passes and waiting for our flight to San Francisco.

Our verdict on Hawaii 🌺: Honolulu was fun and worth seeing, but we don't need to go there again. Big Island, on the other hand, is definitely worth a return visit. So far, it's my dream island. Just so you know: out of the world's 13 climate zones, there are 11 here (!!!). That alone speaks volumes about the diversity of this jewel in the Pacific Ocean. We definitely want to come back here!!