December 15th & 16th 2019

Up again with the roosters and the dawn. MAC resumed her methodical packing regimen trying to fit everything into bags and keep the weight reasonably within limits.

We went up to breakfast at 8 a.m. and afterwards bought a couple of tikis to retain as mementos of our South Pacific stay. The hotel was lively as the Director General allows locals to come up and have brunch and use the swimming pool on Sundays. It was nice to have the children playing in the pool and generally having a good time and allowing their parents to relax and enjoy the buffet.

The wonderful wooden tiki in the hotel lobby. (the ones we bought were rather smaller!!)

We paid the bill and checked out and at 10 a.m. M. Jean-Jacques Boillet, the Director General of the hotel drove us to the airport. We commented on the quality of the airport road and he told us that it was built for the visit to the island of M. Jacques Chirac, French President in the early 2000’s. In the end he cancelled his visit but the road stayed!! The airport was quite busy, an incoming flight was arriving and would later leave for Nuku Hiva and then Papeete and later our plane arrived which would leave from Hiva Oa direct to Papeete.

We soon boarded and took off a few minutes late for the 3 ¼ hour flight to Papeete. 

Both of the islands are very beautiful and somewhat different from one another. 

The flight was uneventful except when we got near to Tahiti when we experienced heavy cloud and turbulence. We also saw rain on the plane windows. We landed pretty much on time but when we disembarked the weather was very hot and humid and there was rain in the air. Our baggage was through very quickly and we were out and in the arrivals area in no time. Our lady driver was waiting and we were soon on the way top the Pearl Resort Hotel where we would rest up before continuing on to Los Angeles. It started to rain which was not unexpected but then the rain became very heavy, even torrential. Our driver was very vocal about Tahiti and its government which she said was very corrupt but had also dome good things for the island and especially for the city of Papeete. She had lived here all her life although she had been schooled in New Zealand and her siblings had all been educated outside of Tahiti.

We arrived at the hotel and were given a room which we can occupy until 9 p.m. prior to our pick up to return to the airport at 9.30 p.m. for our midnight flight to LAX. WE soon learned that the flight would be delayed until 12.40 a.m. and this will mean that our connection in LAX to our Jet Blue flight to NYC will be in jeopardy. I did text Jet Blue to let them know this but we will see if we have to catch a later flight or not.

We had a rest in our rooms before going down to the bar to enjoy ‘happy hour’. After a cocktail, we went to the restaurant and had dinner. The bar area had been taken over by a DJ and a large group of extremely energetic dancers who whirled and twirled for a couple of hours. Whether these were hotel guests or outsiders enjoying a Sunday night out, we are not sure. They certainly cut quite a sight. Outside the rain fell in ‘buckets’, this was truly a soggy Tahiti to which we had come to spend just a few hours. Our driver told us it was the rainy season and this rain could continue for some days on end. The Marquesas which are quite some distance further north are much drier.

After dinner we returned to the room, collected our bags and checked out at 9 p.m.  Our ride to the airport arrived at 9.30 p.m., it was the same driver who had brought us in from the airport on our overnight stay at the hotel on the way to the Marquesas.

We arrived at the airport, soon checked in and waited to go through security. Although the line was long, it moved fairly quickly. Then, due to the delay, we decided to go to the Air Tahiti Nui Lounge to wait for boarding in comfort. The incoming plane arrived at 11 p.m. It remains to be seen when we leave and if the plane can make up enough time for us to make our connection in LAX.

The flight was reasonably comfortable and uneventful and we both slept for a bit. However, the flight was not able to make up enough time to get us into LAX with a chance of getting our connecting flight. We arrived at LAX at about 10.40 a.m. with our Jet Blue flight to JFK due to leave at 11.30 a.m. We had to wait for our checked bag but were quickly through immigration and Customs but the the design of LAX is such that the international arrival terminal is quite a long walk from Terminal 5 where the Jet Blue check in is located. Despite a headlong rush we did not make it in time and had to have the flight rebooked which seemed to test the trainee lady Eva quite a bit. She was very helpful and friendly which is more than could be said for her colleague who refused to respond to anything I said or even make eye contact. She was, however, helpful to her inexperienced colleague so we should be grateful for that. Our new flight was at 12.30 p.m. However, we were delayed in the security line and although the gate clerk told us he had called for us repeatedly, we had heard not such announcements and when we arrived at the gate we were told the flight was closed!! So then we had to rebook again. Fortunately, the new flight was not that much later than the original and instead of getting to JFK at 8 p.m. we should be there at 9.30 p.m. Our checked bag is however on the earlier flight so we hope that is waiting for us when we get there.

Despite a slight technical delay, we took off not too late and flew over the sprawling city of Los Angeles which hardly looks tempting from the air. It seems very flat and one-dimensional and stretches for miles of what appear from the air to be developments.

After we left Los Angeles, the ground became desert very soon and there was little of note to see other than the endless stretch of brown sand or earth. We passed over Las Vegas which appeared as an oasis in the drab scenery. Then it was on over snow covered mountains and plateaus and further stretches of serrated desert with canyons, ridges, valleys and buttes. Almost no visible habitation for mile after mile. One area we passed over a series of snow-covered hummocks looked from the air like a piece of tripe!!

We passed over Nevada and featureless Nebraska and on through the seemingly empty west of the US. It is a vast and desolate part of the country with the drab shades of brown of the swirls and patterns of the desert and occasional red rocks the only landscape. Probably, it has its own beauty but does not show it from above.

Our arrival at JFK was accompanied by rain, sleet and cold. But we found our limo after not too much trouble and were soon on our way home.