On Saturday (9th) we flew from Aitutaki to Rarotonga in the morning, arriving on the main island at about 1030. Our flight out was not until 2300, which meant that we had a fair few hours to kill, which was not helped by the fact that it was Saturday and everything shuts at lunchtime. We had brunch at Cafe Salsa in town and managed to stretch this out until they kicked us out. Whilst sat outside, a couple walked past who had also been disembarked from the flight in NZ, so they stopped for a chat. It turns out that mad Lori Fay had been on the same island as them in Fiji, where she had caused uproar by stripping off all her clothes at every opportunity. Fijians do not take kindly to nudity and they find it really offensive - she was nearly arrested at one point. Once the cafe had thrown us out onto the streets we spent a bit of time in the internet cafe, until that shut too and the only thing left to do was head out to the airport. Not exactly the bustling hub that is Gatwick or Heathrow, so we sat around reading to kill the 5 hours until our flight took off. After just under 2 hours we landed in Papeete, Tahiti and were all turfed off the plane. Once we had queued to get through the security measures, Keren and I decided to get a drink, which proved to be a fruitless mission. They would not accept any credit cards or foreign currency and we certainly did not have any CFP on us (something Franc Pacifique, as the island is French). An hour later and we reboarded and set off for the US of A! Keren and I both stayed awake to watch Finding Neverland, which was accompanied by much blubbing from Keren! After the odd bit of dozing, we landed in LA at 1400, local time, fully expecting to spend ages getting through customs and immigration. Despite the fact that everyone is now fingerprinted and photographed when entering the US, we were through pretty quickly - we must have looked very honest and trustworthy! Having missed a nights sleep we were pretty dazed and so went and sat in Starbucks whilst deciding where to go. We ended up getting a shuttle bus to Paradise Backpackers, where we were nearly turned away. The receptionist asked how old we were and when I replied she said we were too old and had to be under 30 to stay in a dorm!! So I said, OK I'm 29 and she let us in!!!!!!! Once we had had a much needed hot shower and eaten, we went to bed early and managed to get quite a decent nights sleep despite being in a 20 person dorm. Onwards to Canada tomorrow, Sherry xx