Honolulu

Where am I? And why did I for one second doubt the validity of travel? The sound of birds is deafening, the air is mild and sweet and damp - there's a tiny rainfall at the moment, barely visible against the greenery.

Chris and I had a bit of a frantic visit, as he'd forgotten another engagement and had to rush off. I got to poke around his stunning apartment. Here's one of his perfectly organized shelves:

Shelf envy.

A long but easy flight - 6 1/2 hours, and then at 12.30 a.m. my time, there I was greeting Penny and her friend Harriet in Honolulu. Harriet put a lei around my neck, so beautiful, I assumed the flowers were fake. But of course, they're not.

Harriet, who's Hawaiian and Japanese married to an Englishman, and Penny were neighbours in England many years ago, and when Harriet moved back to Hawaii, vowed to visit each other. Luckily for me, at last they're doing so. Harriet owns a time-share on Kauai, which is where Penny and I are going today, and in Honolulu, she owns a very small apartment in an old building her father bought decades ago. It's in the real part of town, no tourists here, a school right next door that starts at 7 a.m. Penny took a picture of me this morning on the porch:

Harriet is coming in ten minutes to take us to the airport. The next adventure begins. This is the life.