Day 2 of our trip. We awoke in Tahiti around 6 am, which will be a trend for the entire trip, but not a problem. I was definitely ready to go check out the beach. I suspected it was a black sand beach from what I could see from the balcony, and I had never been on a black sand beach before.

Breakfast was a smorgasboard of choices, and I’m suprised I wasn’t sick after eating so many different things. Rolls, croissants, jams, fruit, fish, salamis and cheeses, fruit juice and coffee. Sweets and savorys. The croissants were great with this coconut puree that I never could find in a store (I should have stolen some from the hotel).

After breakfast, we took a quick walk on the beach. It was neat, but I couldn’t wait to get to Manihi and see the crystal clear water. So back to the room to grab our suitcases and head back to the airport. This morning the tour peeps were waiting for us — Angel and her driver. Angel gave us some history lessons on the island, as well as talked a little politics, language lessons, and tips on buying pearls in Manihi. One of my favorite people I met on the trip, we covered a lot on that 10 minute ride to the airport.

No problems at the airport — we checked in, checked our luggage, and wondered around a bit. One thing I regret is not getting pictures of the locals shipping their products out at the airport — lots of produce, etc. It was an area we stumbled upon when we were walking around, and I almost felt as if I shouldn’t be there, so we headed back to our gate.

Though the flight to Manihi was short (only a little over an hour) I was squirmy today. Day 4 on a plane was too much. We passed over some other atolls as we made our way to Manihi — it’s amazing that there is life out here in the middle of so much ocean.

Finally, we are descending and before I know it we are on the ground. As we come to a screeching halt on the runway and start to turn, I see there is no room for error here. If we hadn’t stopped exactly where we did, we’d be in the ocean right now. We deplane at the Manihi Airport:

Filed under:
French Polynesia by Courtney

Amazingly, I was comfortable on the plane ride to Tahiti from LA. I had spent the past two days on planes criss-crossing the country, and even though I was excited to be going to Tahiti, I didn’t know how I would fare for day three of flying, especially on the 7 1/2 hour plane ride.

Well, there were no problems there. They keep you really busy on these long flights. First they hand out forms. Then they hand out headphones. Then they hand you menus. Then drinks. Then food. Then coffee. More drinks, more food, more coffee, more wetnaps. Then the mobile duty free shop. And plenty of movies, games, magazines too.

Landing in Tahiti was a little overwhelming. We breeze through customs or whatever it’s called (which, will be problematic later on). We’re thrust outside into a sea of people waiting for their friends and loved ones. People talking, kiss-kissing cheeks, playing ukuleles and putting lei after lei on the home-comer. Some of these people had leis up to their noses.

In the midst of all this we’re supposed to be able to find our guide who would transfer us to the hotel. No luck… Raju wonders off to call the tour company, and in the meantime I’m left watching the sea of people. Of course, while he’s gone, the tour people come, but they weren’t expecting us, and they don’t speak a whole lot of English. I speak no French. While trying to explain my boyfriend has gone to call them, I learned they don’t understand “boyfriend”. For the rest of this trip he will be my husband.

Finally, Raju comes back, and he has more luck with the tour people. We’re in business and ready to roll!

The tour guy tries to find some tunes that we would like on the radio — we end up listening to something that sounds like Pass the Dutchie in what I imagine is French? Not sure, but the tune is now stuck in our head.

As we breeze down the road and through lots of circles, I see lots of small cars, le Feng Shui Chinese Restaurant, and a few stray dogs. I was amused by the dogs, because the other times I’ve been out of the country I haven’t seen dogs running around, but Raju says this is fairly common in big cities. Seeing the dogs put a smile on my face and reminded me of the Milo.

We arrived at the hotel we were staying at for the night, and again we’re greeted by a throng of people (I guess they were catching the 11 pm flight out that we would be on next week). Luckily, the hotel was expecting us (a rarity in this trip) and we were in our room in no time at all. We enjoyed a Hinano, marveled at the size of our balcony, and watched the downpour of rain that came after we were safely inside.

It was nice to fall asleep to the sound of a downpour.

Filed under:
French Polynesia by Courtney

This time last week I was just finishing my morning snorkel beneath our bungalow. Today I’m eating fruit and cheese reminiscing about my trip, wishing I was still there.

More to come about the trip… Stay tuned! In the meantime, enjoy the photos in Travels.

Filed under:
French Polynesia by Courtney