Papeete, French Polynesia, Tahiti and Auckland, New Zealand

1-(19?) 20-10

Sorry, I don’t know what day it is really. I don’t think I lived much of the 19^th if at all, since I skipped a day as I crossed the International Dateline. I know I landed on the 20^th.

So the plane ride itself was fine. I even slept…a little. My big problem on the plane was that I could not figure out the remote. On a long overseas flight, you get to have a choice of movies to watch. On previous flights, I could select a movie and watch it at any time. Well, the remote I had kept turning the screen on and off. Then it would jump stations. I even accidentally turned on the light up above (thoroughly disturbing my neighbor).

Also, the movies played continuously and you can’t stop, rewind, fast forward or pause. So if you don’t get it right at the beginning, it’s you loss. Of course I never got the movie at the beginning, so I watched one half of a movie (the latter half) and one third of a movie (the last third). So I never knew what was going on. Plus, the one movie I really wanted to see was listed wrong. They were playing a different movie than they were supposed to. They also had movies in other languages, so it took me a while to figure out how to get the channel in English (it was in French). Way too complex for me.

We eventually started our decent to Papeete, French Polynesia. Amazingly my ears did okay! So after the plane landed, everyone had to exit the plane outside, even though I would board the exactly plane and have the exact seat as before. As soon as I left the plane, a heat wave hit me. 80 degrees F and humidity hit, and I was wearing long sleeves, long pants, had 2 heavy carry-ons as well as 2 jackets. HOT!!!

We went to the transit and saw a little of the island. The airport was pretty small. When we went through, the guy in front of me said he had no idea where he was going. I just told him, “Neither do I, but following the masses is usually a safe idea.” Therefore, we could all get lost together!

We wandered a bit, but found the bathrooms. There was no hook for my stuff, so it had to go on the floor. There was a ledge, so I put my jackets there. The toilet had a hard time flushing for some reason, so I had to keep standing there flushing the toilet. It was interesting.

Then I went to the sink. They were automatic sinks, but I could not figure out where to wave my hands…so I waved everywhere. It still was not working and I was waving my hands around like a crazy lady until someone took pity on my and showed me what to do. The sad thing was, I had to go across the room to get soap. I tried what the lady showed me, and failed to get the water going. Again someone took pity and helped me. I felt like a fool.

So then I tried to dry my hands from the drier. The problem was, the humidity was not being kind to my wet hands. So I dried my hands on my pants. Then I noticed a flower they gave me fell in the sink. So I quickly picked it up. Of course the water came on immediately soaking my kind of dry hands. So I proceeded to dry my hands on my pants again (which will probably never dry in this humidity) and practically ran out of the bathroom.

Then I sat and waited to board the plane, which actually did not take that long. The guy sitting next to me was from Mexico doing the same thing I was doing…planning to stay and work for a year. He was really outgoing and talked a whole lot. Then it was time to eat.

I hate it when a guy is so much more proper than me. So he got his napkin out and put it on his lap and ate properly with his knife and fork. The first thing I do is pick up my salad and drop the tiny tomato on the floor, which proceeded to roll down the aisle. I practically picked up my crepe and ate it like a pizza, because I could not cut it for some reason. Then I started eating my roll and flakes were flying everywhere. My tray was full of food, trash, cups, and other stuff, so I started dropping things left and right. I tried to retrieve them, but was unsuccessful.

Well, we landed in New Zealand, and I we started to move down the aisle. I thought I forgot my favorite sunglasses, and so I had to weave through people to get back to my spot. Then I realized they were on my head the whole time, so I had to go back into the crowd.

So, the New Zealand airport is about the nicest airport I have been in. The people are so friendly and kind. They ask questions about your stay in such a nice way, it is like talking to a friend. Even when a guy took a picture (a big no no) the security guy told him nicely that it wasn’t allowed.

Then I got to the baggage claim. I got my luggage fine, but I needed to find a way to get my stuff in a proper way so I could actually walk with everything. I tried to combine bags so I had less to carry. Unfortunately nothing fit, so I was struggling down the airport to the next checkpoint and had to sent my bags through the x-ray. Then I collected my baggage, went outside, and forced one of my carry-ons into the check-in bag. It was quite interesting. People were passing by and watching. It was quite embarrassing. So now I had to big bags (one overloaded, very wobbly, and lopsided) and one backpack.

I waddled slowly to a the crosswalk and asked where the bus was that would drop me off at the hostel. She told me the white bus. So, I went to the white bus That bus driver told me to go to the blue bus. So I went there and had to force my luggage up the stairs and hoisted all 3 pieces of luggage up on the middle rack, since the bottom one was full. Again, I was all sweaty and completely ready for another shower. I waited until the third stop and got off. I walked to the hostel, squeezed in the elevator (I took up the whole elevator myself), forced my luggage over the gap, and went to the reception area.

Just at that time, I heard my name and saw Alison coming toward me. What a wonderful sight! So we went and got checked in. I was so embarrassed when I saw Alison only had one bag and 2 carry-ons! Our other 2 roommates had only a backpack! We were trying to figure out if they were guys or girls based on what they brought. At first we thought they were guys, but I noticed a purple and kind of frilly towel, so we thought one guy and one girl. No…they were both guys.

Well, we got situated…kind of. Then we started walking around. It was super windy. We walked down main streets and located key areas. Then we got really hungry and ordered chicken kebobs (gyros). Then we went back to our room and sat on the ledge in our room and looked out the 10^th floor window with a view. It was fun.

Then we went back out and went to Albert Park. It was uphill and really steep all the way. We tried to find an art museum and something else, but couldn’t find them. So we went back to the room and took a shower. The showers were fun. You have to push a button every 15 or less seconds to get water. So you have to constantly pump.

We came back and tried to figure out how to plan our schedule of things we have to do and want to do. Tomorrow is our business day to get things done. We are still not exactly sure when we want to leave for Wellington. We are going back and forth of which day would be the best. Either Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Well, let’s see what tomorrow brings!