The trip over the Pacific!

So!

Here I am, hanging out in Napier, New Zealand.

Well, that's not exactly a new thing, because I've been here for almost a week, but we can pretend it's new so that I'll have something to write about.

Where to start?

I left February first, at 4:50something (I think) PM, on a wonderful flight across the US run by United. And by "wonderful", I mean, well, not wonderful. I mean, come on United, not only is it almost a 6-hour flight from 5 to 7 (well, with the time change), you don't give us individual screens *or* food? Either one would've been nice, but to have neither was a bit gross. So, I half-watched Unstoppable and half-listened to the guy behind me, who I'm pretty sure didn't stop talking for a vast majority of the flight. It got to the point where my rowmates and I started to bond a little bit because we were pointing out how much this man was talking about his family and his travels to China and how he was going to Australia after coming back from Hawaii a couple of weeks before after a honeymoon or a second honeymoon with his second or third wife and how his son was going to be a doctor and save the world from Decepticons while also helping fifteen pregnant women give birth and saving a small village in Nepal from a rabid yak. Or something.

So I started making things up after the second or third wife part...sorry.

Anyways.

I arrived in LA at 7:something PM, which was enough time to check in (why were so many people going to Tahiti/Auckland at 7 at night? Checking in took almost an hour, and I just needed a boarding pass since my bag was already checked through) and get to the gate (why is LAX so big and horribly planned? As far as I could tell, there was no transportation between terminals, so I got to walk for a good 10-20 minutes outside to get from the United end of the airport to the everybody else end). We got on the plane, which had a lot of pastel blues and pinks, and got started on the longest leg of the journey.

Air Tahiti Nui is actually a pretty decent airline, especially considering it was the second-cheapest option available. They had individual screens, food that I would actually be thrilled to eat again on an airplane (as far as airplane food goes, it was rather delicious - cheese ravioli for dinner and chocolate crepes for breakfast), and the movies were recent. Unfortunately I had seen some of them before, but that was fine. Despite not really sleeping very much, the flight was pretty painless.

We got in to Tahiti at 6:something AM on the second, and I was glad we were there that early because A) it was already starting to get humid and in the 60s and 70s and B) the airport had a surprising lack of walls. After spending most of my airport time in US or European airports, which are almost like prisons (well, US ones at least), it was astonishing to see the airport in Papeete (the capital of Tahiti!), which had its main waiting area open to the outside and the tarmac areas on one side. It had a cafe, it had a shop, and it had a seating area outside with no wall between the two.

No wall!


Other than that it was a nice airport, there were three musicians waiting at the entrance to the terminal, playing songs on, well, to be honest I'm not sure what they were but they looked a bit like ukuleles (that is rather ignorant and I am sorry!). They even gave us lovely little flowers, but unfortunately those had to be thrown away because New Zealand's customs would not have liked that. There were some people who actually didn't throw theirs away in Tahiti and the little sniffer dogs they had roaming around the baggage claim caught the flowers - no penalty because they were thrown away immediately, but still.

Lovely little flower which had to be thrown away!

The trip from Tahiti to Auckland was surprisingly painless as well, and it was also rather empty - most people got off in Tahiti, it seemed. After arriving in Auckland, by which time it was 12:30ish PM, and getting my bag and going through customs and immigration, I caught a bus to the area where my hotel was and checked in around 2.

I'll take a little break here, partially because this is already a long post, partially because I'm getting a bit hungry, and partially because the library is going to close soon, so more on Auckland and Napier soon!