Place I visited that wasn't what I expected
A few years ago I took a trip to Australia and New Zealand and a
travel option was a stop over on a south Pacific island of my choice.
Since I had met someone from Tahiti, I thought I could stay with her
and get to know the island from a native. I booked the trip with
Tahiti at the end, figuring I would be getting short on money and I
would be a relaxing end to the trip. However I never connected
directly with the person I knew in Tahiti but a mutual friend assured
me that I was expected.
After traveling for 4 weeks Down Under I arrived in Tahiti at
something like 2 AM and no one was there to meet me. After watching
all the cabs take fares I decided that I had better call. Because of
the night flight, she expected me the next night (I woke her up, of
course) and that because of her family was busy with her mother's
political campaign for mayor of Papeete there wasn't any room for me
to stay with her. She had booked me into a hotel in downtown Papeete
and she hoped that I had a nice visit. I was a bit confused but since
it was now 3:30 AM I got a cab to this hotel. I checked in with some
trepidation because the old credit card was nearing its end from
previous shopping.
Let me say now that when I travel I generally stay with friends to
save money and when friends aren't available I utilize youth hostels,
even though I'm usually the oldest person there. I spent the first
couple of days trying to leave early, however, flights into and out
of Tahiti are few and far between and I soon became resigned to
staying the entire week because there was no other way off the
island! Although most people do speak English, all the signs were in
French, and it had been over 25 years since I had taken a French
class in high school. Even though some French came back it was still
a struggle to use public transportation and buy at local markets
rather than the shops and restaurants catering to tourists. I was
also not interested in beaches, nude or not, since I am fair skinned
and had already gotten very badly sunburned snorkeling at the Great
Barrier Reef a few weeks earlier. That left me with some booked tours
of the island but little money for eating.
I did become very familiar with Le Bus, public buses, and the
Roulettes, trucks which set up as restaurants in the dock area at
night for the locals. The Roulettes were fun actually and the food
great. Lots of choices like brick oven pizza, crepes of all types,
and Chinese. So my trip to Tahiti was definitely not what I expected,
but I must say I probably have seen more of the island and met more
real Tahitians than the average tourist from the US. Once I got over
the fact I was alone, spending more money than I really had, I
learned a lot about Tahiti and myself. I would recommend Tahiti for
couples staying at the resort for a vacation. For a single woman, low
on funds Tahiti was more of an adventure.
Sarah
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