TAHITI

We landed in Papeete, Tahiti around midnight. It was a 4.5 hour flight from Auckland in an Air New Zealand 787.

We were welcomed by musical guitar players (even at midnight). We cleared customs and were shuttled to the InterContinental Resort & Spa Hotel.

Upon daybreak, it was an incredible view of everything. There are small beaches with sand, various pools and a swim up bar among other amenities.

The city of Papeete in the background.

It was a day of much needed R & R. The people here are totally different than the folks in Australia / New Zealand. They are not near as outgoing and friendly and just keep to themselves. It is like you flipped a switch. It is sometimes hard to understand them.

I was not wearing a shirt as I was on an exploratory mission. I wrongly walked into this very elegant restaurant to ask about a possible dinner reservation. I was quickly greeted by a rude gentleman who sized me up very quickly and I was told there were no reservations available. Now I realize I probably should have had a shirt on but hey – we are on vacation and I was unfamiliar with the rules (which I don’t always follow anyway. 😉 So I made a u-turn and accidentally ran into the restaurant manager on the exterior sidewalk. I politely asked if there were any dinner reservations available for the eve and he sent out this young lady who ask if 6:00 or 6:30 would work best. I replied 6:30 and asked about a certain table close to the water which was available. Done!

The restaurant was called LeLotus. We had a very nice water front dinner with a view. Meanwhile I was looking for Mr. Rude. I didn’t see him which was probably the best! ( I really wanted to say good evening to him). 🙂

While walking to dinner there was a beautiful sunset.

We will be departing for our final stop Bora Bora tomorrow. I can’t believe we are on the final days of our journey.