On Friday morning, I headed to Sydney Airport.
I'd tried to check in online after receiving an Air New Zealand email. However, their website told me that South
African passport numbers consist of nine integers and no letters. While two expired passports did comply with
these parameters, my current passport begins with a letter. When I went to check in, I explained this oddity to an assistant, who clarified that it
was not the number that prevented me from checking in online. Instead, it was because
the airline had to check the validity of my travel documents. That makes much more sense.
(Indeed, getting this visa for French Polynesia was not a walk
in the park. I had taken a day off work
in November last year to travel up to Taipei to apply for a special class of
Schengen(!) permit. The French Institute
had told me that they could not issue one until I had one for Australia, as I'd
be returning there after Tahiti. They
did, however, accept my application and took my passport. This was okay because the visa for Australia
- which, by the way, is quite likely the most expensive authorisation I've ever
purchased - could be applied for and issued electronically. Two weeks later, I forwarded my Australian permit
to the French authority. Then I
waited. After another two weeks, I
contacted the institute to find out what was happening. The assistant said that she too was surprised
by how long it was taking, that it appeared South African passports go through
a lengthier, more stringent process. Finally
my visa was ready, a good six weeks after application! I picked up my passport the day before taking
off, the first day of winter break.)
The cabin crew on Air
New Zealand was friendly and helpful.
This was the first time since long ago flying KLM that I noticed career cabin crew.
What I mean is that the staff was not made up of
young people. Our crew was middle aged
and older. I applaud the airline for this choice. Young and beautiful should not trump loyal
and competent. The safety demonstration
was more interesting than I'd ever seen. The crew stood in the aisles as usual, but
the demonstration was a video played on the individual screens. The current one was made by Kiwi surfers and its
appeal is obvious.
Auckland is two hours
ahead of Sydney. I hadn't realised the archipelago was that far east of the
continent. There I had a brief layover.
Then I boarded my connecting flight to Papeete. The plane would fly in a northeasterly
direction, but instead of again finding myself in a time zone ahead of
Auckland, my destination was in fact 23 hours behind. This was my first time crossing the
international date line, and as an avid traveler, I was excessively excited.
I'd taken off from Sydney at 11:50 a.m. on Friday January 29th,
and after a total flight and layover time of 10 hours, I landed in Papeete at 00:50 a.m. on January 29th! It was like being caught
in a time loop. I realise that this is no big deal for people who cross the
Pacific frequently, but it was a novelty for me, and I couldn't believe that my travels had finally brought me to
"the end of the Earth".
Auckland lies within the first time zone of any calendar day, while
French Polynesia is second last. Due to
daylight savings, the difference varies from 23 hours in the summer to 22 hours
in the winter.
French Polynesia is interesting before one lands. Constitutionally part of France, it
nevertheless has its own government and is self-ruled. It is made up of 5
archipelagos: Archipel de la Societe in the west, Archipel des Australes in the
southwest, Archipel des Gambier in the southeast, Archipel des Tuamotu
mid-east, and Archipel des Marquises in the northeast. Altogether there are 118 islands and atolls. The country's total land area is 3,521 km2,
making it about the size of Rhode Island, USA and a third the
size of the Falkland Islands. However, as they lie,
spread out and far from one another, they cover an area the size of Europe, as you can see from the Air Tahiti route map.
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