Monday, April 6, 2026

Sapporo to Chitose to Haneda to Honolulu

It was Wednesday, February 18th and time to go home.


We had our last breakfast with Kay and Dareld at 6:30.

9:00 AM Our two suitcases and box were lined up outside our room to be taken to the bus. We cleaned up our room and made sure we weren't forgetting anything.

11:00 We said goodbye to Kay and Dareld. They were staying a few extra days before heading home to California. In such a short time, it felt like we'd known each other for years. It was really sad to say goodbye. 

But the roads were cleared. Yay! And we were on our way to Chitose Airport.


While our guides watched over our suitcases and boxes, we all went off to find a place to have lunch.


We left Chitose Airport in Hokkaido for Haneda Airport in Tokyo. There was a bit of a delay with the weather but we were able to take off for Honolulu.

It was rather a long flight from Haneda back to Honolulu.

Kay texted me the bottom photo from their hotel saying it was a good thing they were staying the extra days because their flights could have been impacted.

We got home on Wednesday morning and we got to repeat Wednesday all over again. 



Once I got my sleep schedule acclimated to our local time, I texted this photo back to Kay.

Throughout Hokkaido I watched her spooning coffee over her vanilla ice cream. You know what? I was intrigued. But I did one better. I spooned the cold coffee over my vanilla ice cream and then put it in the freezer for about an hour. It now had a yummy and lovely crunchy coffee texture.

When I mentioned this to my friend, Diane she told me her husband, Dave prefers spooning a bit of vanilla ice cream into his coffee instead.

Hmmm... interesting. 😀

And speaking of Dave.


We were out walking and he wanted to show us another AI trick. He took a photo of us and asked what we'd like the background to be. We told him a wintry scene in Hokkaido.

Pretty cool. However, AI put us in the middle of a frozen river which was pretty hilarious. Still amazing though.

And now I've got a gazillion Hokkaido photos to arrange for our travel photobook. 

P.S. I'm now following Dave's morning coffee ritual. For the first time, I actually bought vanilla ice cream to add a spoonful in my coffee every the morning. 😄

24 comments:

  1. I've never taken a trip where someone dealt with my bags from the hotel room to where ever I was going but I'm guessing that is a very nice perk! I don't drink coffee so won't try any of the above mentioned methods but I'm sure they all probably taste good to those who do enjoy coffee.

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  2. I may try the coffee with a spoon of ice cream. I love the ai picture. I think I’d pick your local weather over your icy vacation!

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    1. Kay of Musings: Could you tell me who you are please. Any name will do. 😊

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  3. It must have felt good to reach home again and not have to keep packing and unpacking.

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  4. What a fabulous trip! Ice cream over coffee sounds worth trying.

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  5. Years ago HA flew direct between
    Chitose and HNL which made visiting Hokkaido so convenient. 😩
    Thank you for taking us along on your wonderful adventures! I enjoyed tagging along! 🤗 🏮🪆🍣⛩🇯🇵

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    1. Is this Pat? Would you believe Art scheduled us for another trip later in the year to Taiwan? Sigh... This is why my blog address is "travelerswife."

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    2. Yes, it’s me. Sry, it’s easier being anonymous. Haha!! Taiwan??? Wow, another trip to look forward to!!! Better brush up on your Chinese. 😂

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  6. Interesting discovery about the ice cream and coffee. They do make creamers with vanilla or hazelnut flavors, but those are rather chemically. I know one person who buys the liquid Premier Protein drinks as a creamer for her coffee. Gosh, you got so used to the cold weather that you can now stand in the freezing iceburg-laden river! Glad you're home okay. Linda in Kansas

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    1. I scheduled another post about this coffee concoction after talking to Dave about it again. :-D

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  7. What number trip was this for the two of you? You have some interesting adventures.

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    1. Oh gosh... I can't even begin to count. We've traveled overseas since 1990 when we took our young kids to England.

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  8. I must try the coffee ice cream thing on the husband. We feast on maple syrup on our ice cream for a treat.

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  9. People who drink black coffee don't know what they're missing. I drink black coffee.

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  10. Even in a frozen river you two would be happy!! ❤️

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  11. Phew, glad to find out you made it home safely and without too much delay. I bet your home bed felt great!

    Hot expresso and vanilla gelato is a classic Italian desert the name of which escapes me. I ate it all over Italy years ago (in the interest of science, you know, studying different combinations and temperatures).

    Ceci

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    1. Kay of Musings: Hi Ceci! Dave told me the name of it two weeks ago so I wrote a post about it. It’s scheduled to go up soon.😄

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  12. Art and you don't even look cold in the middle of that river. LOL I like your idea of coffee and ice cream but would add some drizzles of chocolate as well. It would make a mocha ice cream!

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  13. What an amazing trip! I know you will enjoy making the photo albums with all your adventures!
    I am trying to train myself to drink black coffee. . . . boring boring boring.

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  14. Another fun trip and making new friends along the way. Welcome back!

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  15. There is no way I could travel that far. I will enjoy your photos!

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  16. Hello, Kay. I loved reading about your winter adventure in Hokkaido! Seeing your smiles with the snow sculptures and all that delicious food including local specialties made me so happy. It really took me back to my two-week summer trip there when I was a college student. It’s amazing how different the scenery is between seasons. Shiretoko’s wild nature, the flower fields in Abashiri, and the mystical lakes... I’ll never forget them. It's a shame that I've never been to the Snow Festival.
    Yoko

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  17. Kay of Musings: I’ve been to Hokkaido three times before and some of the places were the same so it was extra fun to see it in winter. Actually, we’ve never gone to Japan in winter before. This was definitely a new experience.

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