December 4th 2019 - the journey begins

We got up at 4 a.m. and were ready by 5,30 for the arrival of the Carmel Limo and by 5.45 a.m. we were on the road to JFK. Our flight was at 8 a.m. to LAX. The early morning traffic was quite light and we made good progress an were soon at the airport, checked in and eating donuts and drinking coffee. Boarding was easy and the six hour Jet Blue flight uneventful with the exception of some bad behavior of some of our fellow passengers. There was some turbulence on arrival at LAX but this was not too bad and there had been quite a heavy rainstorm just before we landed.
We got our baggage and then walked the 5 or 7 minute walk to the Tom Bradley International Terminal where we had to check in again and go through security. We stopped for a sandwich at a kiosk owned by Jose Andres and had a very tasty cold chicken sandwich. Then it was on to our gate and boarding the bus for the long drive to our Air Tahiti plane. This turned out to be a brand new Dreamliner and our seats in Premium Economy were decked out in a beautiful aqua green and all the décor was very ‘island’. The seats were very comfortable, and the amenities excellent. Despite a short delay to load some late transit passengers, the 8 hour flight passed quite easily with our getting some sleep. We arrived in Tahiti and were soon through the formalities and picked up by our driver to take us to our hotel for the night before we travel on to the Marquesas. Our driver, Michael, was very interesting being a Brit who had been a rugby playing policeman in Scotland ho married a Tahitian lady living in the UK. As an experiment he came to Tahiti with his wife and loved it and stayed even though his wife prefers the UK!! He teaches applied math at the UK’s Open University – a long distance learning organization and also drives for a living. His experiences were very interesting and amusing.
He dropped us off at the Tahiti Pearl Resort Hotel and we were soon in our lovely room complete with sea view, balcony and hot tub!! By now it was after midnight local time and we fell into bed as we have another early start in the morning with a 6.30 a.m. pick up.

The view from our Tahiti hotel room

A Tahitian Christmas tree

Welcome to Tahiti with a wreath and with the Tahitian word for 'welcome'


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