What a long day! It felt like two days, it was so long! And it was surprisingly long considering how little I did.
I am so not motivated to write tonight. I've felt that way a lot the past couple of weeks. I either had a very full day and I was tired and didn't want to write, or I did almost nothing and wasn't inspired to write. :( Sorry, I'm whining.
Morning began with breakfast, packing and a few errands in Auckland. I had a last few minutes with Rachel and Andrew, then they dropped me off at the airport on their way to a wedding elsewhere in NZ. Auckland's airport is large-ish, some areas have plenty of comfortable seating, but gate areas are a little crowded. The wifi is not free (boo!). The security checkpoint was pretty standard: no removal of shoes, just a metal detector and bag scan. The lines were too long though, because most stations didn't have staff.
The flight was uneventful, meaning... no problems. Besides the awesome Richard Simmons video, I watched Toy Story 3, which I've been wanting to see ever since I watched Toy Stories 1 and 2 a couple of months ago. And Heavenly Creatures, a New Zealand made film about a murder in 1950s Christchurch. I saw it several years ago but watched it again since I've now been to the town.
It was dark when the plane landed in Faa'a, which, if you don't know (and I didn't until recently), is a city on the island of Tahiti, which is one of several islands in the territory of French Polynesia. I've already squawked about the price of the hotel, and I've got to say... I am not getting my money's worth. I know French Polynesia is expensive and all, but this place isn't near anything except the airport and it doesn't even have a pool. The air conditioning is mediocre at best and the hallway lights just... turn off, so everyone stumbles around in the dark. :\ Since it was dark when I arrived, I slept for about 7 hours, then it was strangely light again when I woke up.
I spent a large chunk of the later part of this very long day talking with people back at home -- mom and dad, a couple of friends. That was really nice, but makes for a lame blog entry. Hunger finally drove me out to the chinese restaurant across the street, where I had a delightful meal: A raw fish salad in coconut sauce (think sashimi on cucumbers, in sauce). Yum! Something tells me it's not an "authentic" chinese dish, but adapted to local tastes.
I'm worried about my next stop, the island of Moorea, which is across a bay from Tahiti. I'm heading to Moorea because it's cheapter than Tahiti (and apparently nicer as well, we'll see). But the hotel I'm maybe staying at never confirmed I actually have a room. And I have some backup places in mind, but I have no idea where anything is relative to each other. Or how often the buses run to get me around the island. Or whether my backup places will have room, etc. I know there are many hotels on Moorea, the trick will be finding those that are not too far over my budget. So tomorrow has the potential to be a really annoying day.
I am so not motivated to write tonight. I've felt that way a lot the past couple of weeks. I either had a very full day and I was tired and didn't want to write, or I did almost nothing and wasn't inspired to write. :( Sorry, I'm whining.
Morning began with breakfast, packing and a few errands in Auckland. I had a last few minutes with Rachel and Andrew, then they dropped me off at the airport on their way to a wedding elsewhere in NZ. Auckland's airport is large-ish, some areas have plenty of comfortable seating, but gate areas are a little crowded. The wifi is not free (boo!). The security checkpoint was pretty standard: no removal of shoes, just a metal detector and bag scan. The lines were too long though, because most stations didn't have staff.
The flight was uneventful, meaning... no problems. Besides the awesome Richard Simmons video, I watched Toy Story 3, which I've been wanting to see ever since I watched Toy Stories 1 and 2 a couple of months ago. And Heavenly Creatures, a New Zealand made film about a murder in 1950s Christchurch. I saw it several years ago but watched it again since I've now been to the town.
I spent a large chunk of the later part of this very long day talking with people back at home -- mom and dad, a couple of friends. That was really nice, but makes for a lame blog entry. Hunger finally drove me out to the chinese restaurant across the street, where I had a delightful meal: A raw fish salad in coconut sauce (think sashimi on cucumbers, in sauce). Yum! Something tells me it's not an "authentic" chinese dish, but adapted to local tastes.
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