Almost every night I get to tell the same story: the story of my trip. Most people I meet on my travels are just visiting somewhere for a weekend. Sometimes I’ll pull out my laptop and show them the Google Earth map and walk them through the places I’ve been and the places I’m going. …
While I knew of rugby and even knew people who played rugby, my first real introduction to rugby has come during my trip here to the Pacific. New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga are all big rugby countries, and its hard to avoid it when you’re here. In Tonga, while wandering around Nuku’alofa, I came …
Bonjour, and greetings from the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia. I’m sitting at the food court of the airport writing this. my flight doesn’t leave for another twelve and a half hours, but I’m at the airport for good reason. My hotel for the night was within walking distance of the airport. I took …
Any guilt I had about leaving Tahiti earlier than I planned melted away the moment Rarotonga appeared in the window of the plane. Geology Like all Pacific islands, Rarotonga was created via vulcanism. You can think of islands on a continuum from the Big Island of Hawaii down to coral atolls. The Big Island is …
I try not to purchase a lot of crap on the road. The only thing I buy from each place I visit are magnets, which is something I’ve done for years. When I’m done with this trip I’m sure I’ll have to install metal cabinets in my kitchen because there is no way my fridge …
I’m safe on Tahiti. Its dark and I can’t see anything other than how bad I’m getting robbed. I’ll get to that in a second. The currency in French Polynesia and all French Pacific Territories is the Pacific Franc (XPF). The Euro is sort of on a 1-to-1 ratio with the dollar. By that I …
I managed to salvage the missed Tonga flight. I went to the Air New Zealand office in Apia and got the ticket changed to July 11, which is when I should be arriving back from Tokelau. If the Tokelau boat can’t get fixed before then, I can move the date up a week. I also …
I spent most of today just doing logistical stuff: getting my ransom ticket refunded and getting my tickets to Rarotonga and beyond, moving to the hostel, and taking care of some stuff online. Yes, that took most of the day. I assumed that I would be leaving French Polynesia on Friday, but I found there …
I have about four hours till I get taken to the airport to wait three more hours for my flight to Papeete. Despite some early problems, I think this week has been a good start to my foreign adventures. I managed to get by in the most isolated place on Earth without knowing the language. …