Dick's Notes on Trip So Far

Dick here:

There is something otherworldly about a major airport at 3 AM. It almost seems a metaphor for hell. The most absolute blackness with a cacophony of lights that seem not to illuminate anything.

The flights were relatively pleasant though tedious. Six hours to LA on United and it was only two-thirds full. All of the middle seats were empty and so we had lots of room. The flight from LA to Tahiti was eight hours and the plane was literally only half full. Air Tahiti Nui is another experience in itself. The seating is more comfortable and further apart. I could actually stretch my legs out in front of me. They served a rather pleasant meal (imagine) and several snacks. All drinks were free including all alcohol! The flight attendants were very pleasant and very accommodating. This is not the flying experience I've become used to.

Landing in Papeete was smooth and being in a wheelchair made it even smoother. The people helping were very solicitous and I was given preference everywhere and moved to the front of every line. Oh the guilt!

We had an amusing little shock on arriving at our hotel. The bellhop came out to assist and all he had on was a sort of little sarong from the waist down and a pair of flip-flops. It turns out that this is rather standard here but coming from the Northeast in October ......

Papeete is what I imagine Honolulu was like before World War II but is still a tourist town with lots of shlock stuff for sale. We took a walk and had the worst ice cream I've ever had. Of course, ice cream is a measure of culture for me :-)

Saturday, midday, we took the ferry from Tahiti to Moorea and met a very original couple from Auckland, New Zealand, Julie and Trevor Skeller, with whom we had dinner Sunday and will again tonight. It will also be nice to have someone to say hello to when we get to Auckland. Julie is talking about plans to show us around Auckland which would be very nice. It is always nicer to see a place through a natives eyes.

Julie has the most extreme Kiwi accent I've ever heard. They take short e's and make them long. The color red is "reed" and at night one goes to "beed". It takes a little getting used to.















One of the other beauties of breakfast are the REAL croissants. This is, after all, a French territory.

This resort is very pleasant and quite beatuiful. I love our own little thatched hut with large balcony and king sized bed. The shower is about 7' square and has wonderful water flow. However the concept of 'manana' is here in spades. The Skellers sent us a fax yesterday morning. We didn't know about it until we spoke to them on the phone late in the afternoon. Jim called the front desk and asked if there was a fax for us. All they said was "yes, there was", period, end of sentence. Finally Jim asked them to bring it to the room, just on the principle that we should get what was sent to us even though we knew the contents of the fax. This is a 'luxury' resort. Another little irritation - the water at the hotel is not potable and they expect you to buy bottled water from them at a rather high rate. I noticed a few people going to the local store and bringing back a case of bottled water. In India and China every hotel provides each guest with a litre of bottled water every day. However these are minor irritations.

I have been taking it easy and am feeling better and more energetic every day but still have to be careful not to push myself. Jim has been able to go for runs and this morning took a bike ride. This afternoon he is going scuba diving to practice for the more serious diving he will do on some of the outer atolls.
I have to admit it bothers me that I'm not able to join him and share these experiences.

Except for that, this is the most wonderful experience. We are having a wonderful time together. There is a wonderful intimacy in this trip.


Later -

Tuesday night we sailed from Papeete for Huahine. Our first dinner on board was open seating (i.e. unassigned)and our table mates were very pleasant. Once of the nice thing about this smaller ship is that you get to meet people more easily. We have especially met quite a few New Zealanders.

Unfortunately we won't include photos for a while since the wi-fi on board ship is extremely expensive and ridiculously slow. Photographs take forever to upload and would use up all the time we had to buy. When we get to New Zealand we will include a bunch.