One of the first problems I had to solve after landing in Tuvalu on Friday afternoon was… Sunday.

Everything shuts down on Sunday. Restaurants are closed. Stores are closed. If you have not planned ahead, food can become a real problem.

That reminded me of an incident from many years ago while I was trekking through Mongolia.

I met an American father and daughter who were traveling on the Trans-Siberian Railway. They had started near the North Korean border, made their way through China and Mongolia, and were headed all the way to St. Petersburg.

The trip had a deeper meaning. They had recently lost his wife, her mother, and this was their way of celebrating her life.

Having already spent a few days in Mongolia, I knew how challenging the local food could be for the American palate. So I asked them, “How are you solving the food problem?”

They shared a very practical trick.

“No matter where you are in this part of the world,” they said, “you can always find hot water. They constantly drink tea here.”

Every train compartment had a large hot water urn for tea. Every station seemed to have boiling water available. Before starting the journey, they had simply filled a backpack with instant noodles.

It was such an elegant solution that I never forgot it.

Standing in Tuvalu decades later, I suddenly remembered that conversation.

I found a five-pack of instant noodles at the Tokotu Beach Convenience Center. My room had an electric kettle for making coffee.

And just like that… Sunday was solved.