So Faa'a Away
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Papeete,
French Polynesia
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tahiti Faa'a Airport, in addition to its silly name, has a silly lack of seating.
We were given little flowers as we arrived (very pretty), then went to look for somewhere to crash for the next few hours. As our flight arrived at 1120pm and we were due to leave again for New Zealand at 730am, there was no real point getting ourselves a hotel, especially as we intended to check in at the earliest available opportunity in order to bag Mr. Longlegs some space for his...well, his long legs.
Jacob left Kirsty with the luggage and went off to find something to eat and drink, in order that we could take our malaria pills. Not that New Zealand is a malaria hotspot or anything: we had to finish the course from having been in South America. He found himself in the unusual position of not knowing what the hell the local currency was worth (or, indeed, what it was). No matter, he grabbed a couple of bottles and a couple of croissanty bunny things (with which, by that time of night, you could have driven in nails), and let Mr. Visa take care of it.
Should it matter to any of you, we spent 1310.00 Pacific Francs.
After our hearty meal of pop, malaria prophylaxis and crescent shaped masonry, we checked what time check-in started and went off to find some benches on which to stretch out. There weren't really any benches to speak of, just hard metal seats, a long shelf thing which was a bit too narrow, we realised after a short experiment, to sleep on, and a big expanse of floor. Tiled floor. Well lit, tiled floor.
Wrapped around our bags, accompanied by the DVT sock wearing couple from Easter Island who had been quite vehement about going off to find a hotel regardless of the expense, we slept on the floor. Actually, Jacob slept on the floor, Kirsty lay uncomfortably on the floor, becoming increasingly aware of Tahiti Airport's lack of walls and doors (it's open to the world, with pillars holding up the roof) and lack, therefore, of protection from the wind.
We got up, and Mr. and Mrs. DVT bought us coffee. Jacob went off to confirm that check in was when we had been told, to find it had already begun. We were still in time to bag some good seats, and as we were admitted to the departure lounge, we found it replete with huge plush leather sofas. The sort of huge plush leather sofas which are really nice to curl up on for the night when you have to crash in an airport.
As we boarded our plane, it was announced that we'd have to relinquish any pretty little flowers which we may have been given, due to New Zealand's bio-security restrictions. Seems a little wasteful to give them out in the first place...
