Up early this morning to check out and head to the airport. The early Sunday episode of Doctor Who that Tivo always tapes for us was playing and was quite distracting - let's hope Tivo will have it waiting for us on our return! We were at check in reasonably early, but the flight is full and because it's with Qantas and our tickets booked by Air Tahiti Nui we were unable to preselect our seats. We wholeheartedly agree with seatguru that the row immediately in front of the toilets is not the best row in the plane, but that's all that was left, and it's only for the short flight to Auckland. After checking in our baggage we found a Coffee Club where we had a lovely bowl of fruit and some cinnamon tortillas ( I know, right?) for brekky. It was delicious. And of course this was followed by airport security where I had to stand inside a little "Beam me up Scotty" capsule and have a full body scan - I promised her I'd lost weight! Seems to be a thing that happens to Jess, Char and I - the full security thing - must have been villains in a former life! Tom alleviated the indignity of it all by buying me some Dior mascara (oh gee, forgot to pack mascara) and Diorissimo - my signature scent since I was 21 - the "mum and dad are on a date" fragrance that our girls are familiar with. I haven't seen it on the net for ages and have been reluctant to use up my supplies. So, the flight to Auckland was uneventful - I got to watch the delightful Drew Barrymore/Adam Sandler movie "Blended", which I thoroughly enjoyed, and just got to finish as we were landing in Auckland (memories of that dreadful American Airlines trip back in the dark ages where we didn't get to finish our movies as we landed in New York). Food? A delicious braised pork dish. Tom had the chicken. With a lovely piccolo of Sauvignon Blanc. So in Auckland we were virtually last off and had to go through security all over again (thank heavens the Dior was 100ml and we hadn't bought any alcohol) - this time Tom got the pat down treatment. So we boarded Air Tahiti Nui bound for Tahiti. This was a 6 hour flight in seats of our choosing. :) I watched the Nicole Kidman "Grace of Monaco" - it was more about politics than I expected, but entertaining enough. Food? The chicken or the chicken! Quite tasty though, with a piccolo of French bubbles. Then we landed in Tahiti, and it was Saturday night again because we had crossed the International Date Line. The temperature was in the high twenties at about 10.20pm! We were in line alongside the Tarmac (yes, still no aerobridges) and through a queue house for about an hour waiting to go through immigration. They had a cultural group singing and dancing to distract us all. After finally claiming our luggage and going through the non-existent customs, we walked outside and found our name on a board. We were draped with frangipani leis, given a booklet of vouchers and then waited quite some time for our transport to our hotel. By the time we reached the Radisson it was well after midnight, and Sunday again. This hotel is on a beach of black volcanic sand and we have a huge balcony overlooking the beach and looking beyond to Moorea. Nothing here is pronounced the way I always thought it was. Not More-aya but more- ee-a ? And not Pap-ee-ay-tay, but papa-ee-tee ( I think! These people pronounce it so quickly). And so to bed. At least this bathroom has a sliding door.