Day 14 - Thursday 18 January 2024

Today is my last day in French Polynesia. Down to breakfast at 06:30 as is my habit, and I enquired at reception of the possibility of a late check out; unfortunately for me, they have incoming guests so it’s not possible. Back to the room, and packing went smoothly; the list I made of the order seems to have worked, and the bag closed easily.

I returned to the reception area to see whether I could select a seat for the Air New Zealand flight, but before I had the chance the phone rang; it was my nephew, Benjamin calling for a chat to see how I was doing. I ended up chatting to Alan, Sebastian and Zachary as well before getting back to Air New Zealand, and finding out that seats could not be selected.

I read on the balcony until checkout time, and at 11.00 I checked out and moved my luggage to the hotel's secure room. Then down to the beach for a day chasing the shade under the palm trees. A visit to the restaurant for a couple of beers, but not much of note to report for the day. I may have caught the sun a little though!

Away from the beach at 5:15, and a shower and change before adding my day stuff to the baggage; it was hot and sweaty, so I went and stood in the breeze on the jetty to cool down a bit. Away from the hotel at 18.20 with a young Hungarian couple who are going to Sydney (via Auckland), we caught the 19:00 ferry to the airport. 19:20, and I was all checked in ….. the check in agent mentioned that I had a connecting flight, and then laughed at the fact that it was 03:00 the next morning. Thanks for that!

As we left the berth at Vaitape, we were treated to a wonderful sunset; in a lot of ways it felt quite apt as the sun was setting on the first leg of my big trip as we bade farewell to Bora Bora and French Polynesia.

Back to Papeete with just over 6 hours to go, and the check in for the Auckland flight doesn’t open until midnight, so I found a locker to put my bag in, and retired to the air conditioned comfort of l’Aviation bar, which remained open until 23:00. The last hour was back in the heat of the airport.

One thing I had noticed on the Bora Bora to Papeete flight was that my board pass had ‘Premium’ noted on it. I checked the paperwork, and both flights tonight were Premium Economy, so when I check in I would see what that line was like.

At 23:45 I reclaimed my bag from the locker, and went to wait for check in to open …..