Day 71 is easier. ;-)
It was a disembarkation day unlike any we've ever had. We did set an alarm, but were up about 6:30am anyway. Ring the bells; Papeete was awash in bright sunshine today. Not a drop of rain, nor fog, nor even wind. It was a day made for something more exciting than getting off the Pacific Princess and rolling luggage over to the Hotel Tiare Tahiti, but that's what we did.
Before our final breakfast in the Club Restaurant, we took all our hand luggage up to the steakhouse on the ship to be stored until we disembarked. While I was taking up the last load, G singlehandedly rearranged the furniture in our cabin back to its original configuration. Go G! We had our final breakfast in the Club Restaurant then walked over to the hotel. If we could walk on water, it would take one minute, but, since we can't (though one of us sometimes thinks he can), it takes about five minutes. It was only 9:30am or so, but they already had our room ready. I'm really liking these ladies who work at the hotel!
It was hot in our room (steel yourself), 86F. The AC only runs when there is a special metal plate in the control and the metal plate is attached to the key (yes, a real key, not a key card) and the end result is that it heats up when we're not in the room. We chose sides of the bed quickly; I'm directly under the air conditioner, with cold air blowing on me. It might be 81 in the rest of our room, but I'll survive. We were assigned the fourth (basically the top) floor, harbor front, just what we requested. The room is basic but functional, and has a large covered balcony overlooking the harbor. It is spotlessly clean (has a tile floor), has a microwave and small refrigerator and coffee maker, a comfortable mattress, plenty of hot water and good water pressure.
Wucy, we ARE home!!
So close yet so far
It took one more trip back to the ship, and we stayed for lunch, but then we disembarked for good, which was simultaneously exhilarating and scary.
We spent the afternoon settling in, sleeping and cooling down the room a bit. At 5pm, the joggers and walkers come out to the waterfront park area, and we joined them. It started to cool off by then, and turned out to be a perfect evening. We thought we'd not be hungry until Tuesday (notice how quickly the days stopped being called by their ports and started being referred to as their real names), but by 7pm G was looking for food. We decided to walk over to Les Roulottes (food trucks) for dinner and met several officers from the ship having a quick meal there. We got a recommendation for good Chinese in addition to our fav creperie, and ended up splitting a sweet and sour chicken.
I've decided to add a feature to my blog posts while we're in Papeete, called 'Things I learned today'. Here we go...
Today I learned that, when there are only five TV channels, all in French, G can be quite entertained watching a travel show where he has no idea what is being said. Desperate times...