Travels

10/29/01 - Today would be the official last day of our honeymoon, even though the whole day would be spent getting back home. So this page will be short, and not very exciting, much like the day was. Our flight back to NY was scheduled to leave at 10:00am, so we started out early by showering and heading out to the rental car, with all our luggage and dirty laundry in tow. We packed up the car, and headed for Los Angeles International. But first, breakfast, and we were lucky enough to find an IHOP on the way. Every vacation we take, we get excited if we can find an IHOP, not necessarily because the food is great (although sometimes it is), but simply because we know what to expect, and we don't have to worry about any unpleasant surprises. So we enjoyed a famliar and comforting, if not exactly healthy, American breakfast, and then climbed back into the convertible to the airport. When we dropped off the car, I realized that I was missing my new sunglasses, the ones I got just before we left, which had served me faithfully in the South Pacific sun all this time. I knew I had them with me when we left the hotel, so I decided that I must have left them at the IHOP. Oh well, somebody got lucky that day, to find a fairly new pair of cheap but effective Polaroid sunglasses. Luckily for me I only buy cheap sunglasses, because I always lose them or sit on them or smash them. Too bad, I thought, because Polaroid was going out of business. I'll never find another pair of those.

The rest of the day was more or less uneventful -- one last long flight back to Kennedy Airport in New York, with the terror attacks still keeping people on edge but not away from the airports. There were plenty of people flying today, and no lack of lines to wait on. We got to see the random search tactic in all its pointless glory: most of the selected searchees were harmless old ladies or young girls. There was no racial profiling in evidence. Anyway, after a long wait we finally boarded our crowded flight, and were on our way home. On board the plane, Meagan and I busted out the thank you cards and began addressing them to our wedding guests, and I guess one of the flight attendants put two and two together, because she asked us if we were newlyweds. We told her that, yes, we were returning from our honeymoon, and she gave us a bottle of something from the galley. It wasn't anything they would miss -- some kind of "sparkling white wine", but it was a nice gesture all the same, and we were glad to hang on to any special treatment people might still be willing to give us. We knew we were heading back home to reality, where we would get back to living real life. Only now we were beginning a new life as husband and wife.

I found your website thru Polynesianislands.com.
My husband and I were in Moorea 10/19/01 - 10/27/01.
It was nice to see your pictures of Moorea and knowing I was on that small island at that time!
We fell in love w/ Tahiti much the same way. I heard a story about the seclusion of Tetiaroa. I researced it further to find out it was part of FP. From there, I was obsessed!
We will be going back in a few years and plan on Bora Bora and Raitaea w/ Moorea.
Did you by chance visit the Club Bali Hai bar? That was the most scenic, relaxing part of our trip!
Oh, it was also nice to see the guide from the shark feeding/snorkeling excursion. I forget his name, but he was great!
Best Regards,
Stacey and Brian Conway
Dallas, TX

How much does 10 days in the French Polynesia cost exactly? :-)