Well, it was a typical family departure... we planned to leave at 7:30 sharp and thus, naturally, didnt pull out of the driveway until 8:34 not so sharp. i had to do my science project last night because we will be arriving home late on the night before it is due (procrastination is key in these sorts of situations). so this morning was rather hectic what with the last minute packing and chemical-and-egg-putting-away. since we live in san diego but the tickets were cheaper from LA, we set off in the mini-van up to LAX. we passed the time with lovely and charming banter about colonoptomies (spelling?) or whatever they're calling butt checks these days. we also jammed to the my fair lady soundtrack. dad got so absorbed in singing "im gettin married in the morning" that he totally got off at the wrong exit and sent us chugging along in the complete wrong direction. it was fab! when grandma finally pointed out that we should have reached the disneyland signs by then, we consulted Map and found our way back on track and rolled into the carpark place with time to spare! a very small amount, however. we onloaded our rolling suitcases (theyre was no way we were doing backpacks with grandma in tow) and hopped aboard the airport shuttle bus. dad insisted on bringing a monstrous target bag full of water bottles despite mom's best efforts. "these'll be like gold when we get to tahiti, man" (in retrospect... they really werent) so we finally got to the international terminal and were inundated with crowds and crowds of asian flight attendants... like there must have been a convention or something! intense... and they all had the same haircut too. it was hilarious. check-in, security, etc. once inside kevin and i realized we were hungry. alas! we walked all the way down the hall and there wasnt any food! so we ran. i dont really know why, but it was way fun. people took us for important. finally like 13 miles from our gate we found a deli and coughed over 4 bucks each for a hot dog. we sprinted back to the gate (just to relive the glory) and boarded a shuttle to take us to the plane. i felt like i was in indonesia or something... standing and holding onto those grimy ceiling handles in an overcrowded bus. it was so fun. so after riding down the runways we arrived at the plane loading place which smelled like a giant port-a-potty. delicious. once aboard the plane we discovered that our only window seat was actually a wall seat. but as the plane filled we discovered it was only like 3/4 filled. so im going to move into a window seat once the view gets exciting. right now (in the air) its just water with a lovely backdrop of water. this plane is sweet! there is a pillow and blanket at everyones seat and we each have private TVs in the seatback in front of us. there are 6 movies to choose from and also 12 games (you can play against people on the plane! "hey 32D, wanna duel?"), a screen that tracks the planes progress, and a bazillion music stations. there's a pop-out remote, too (thats my favorite) right after we took off they came around with little tropical tahitian flowers that are closed but open as the flight progresses. they smell lovely, too. we're all wearing them in our hair/ears. then they came around with the menu and a survival kit thing. it included:
. ear plugs
. blue socks
. headphones (floral ones!)
. moist towelette
. eye mask
. gold-plated silk pajamas monogrammed with your initials and date of birth
(kidding)
so cute! and the menu was all cute and turquoise and full of itself. it was really fancy though and showed the meal choices for dinner and the "light meal". there is also a snack pack that you can get whenever you want one. eating whenever you want... thats my kind of life. a few minutes later they came around with honey roasted peanuts and pineapple juice and wine(free!) i think i could get used to this! not that i drink wine at age 17, but still. im gonna go watch a movie while i wait for the meal, baby! oh yeah, and the stewardesses have already changed outfits 3 times! heck yes.
later...
we have arrived!!!! and it is amaaazing! ok, since i have like major OCD about details (if you havent noticed) im going to start where i left off. so i was on the plane and dinner rolled around and i ordered lemon garlic fish. i love airplane food! mostly just because its packaged so cute though... anyway the lemon garlic fish was surprisingly good. actually i loved it. then i watched 'spanglish' and 'a series of unfortunate events' and then tried to play solitaire. to no avail. then i moved to a window seat so i could stretch out across the 3 seats and hog 4 pillows. i listened to Ellen DeGeneres' new book on my iPod and laughed so hysterically that the flight attendants kept walking unconvincingly nonchalantly past my seat to make sure i wasnt plotting some hijacking. ellen is literally too funny. she should be arrested. well as we neared landing time, kevin and i went to a different window seat to watch the sunset over all the little islands. we took like half the camera's capacity of pictures, most of which i just found out dad deleted. idiot. it was SO PRETTY. there was this weird cloud in the shape of a gigantic man waving his hand which made the sunset even prettier, despite its oddness. as we were landing, we flew through the cloud and punctured the mans stomach. poor guy. so we landed! we came down the fold-down steps onto the runway and i jumped heartily down the last 3 steps to kick off the trip with zest! as we walked toward the tiki-hut terminal, dad kept taking pictures like every 6 feet and eventually the security guard made us leave. all the plane passengers were laughing, and they had good reason because they all passed us and we ended up dead last in the line for customs. we're really dumb, actually. it was so hot and humid (no AC) but i loved every second of it. they gave us more of those little flowers -they're EVERYwhere- and eventually we made it out of the airport (last). we got in the awesome van cab and rode to the sheraton where we are staying. on the way there the scenery was so insane (even though it was dark) and way different from america. everyone was on bicycles and there were these cute little vans that served food out of the back. all the signs are in french, too! anyway we got tot he hotel and got free pineapple guava bippity whatever juice (yum) and i sat in this HUGE woven chair to write this. oh my gosh, our room is awesome. We got their penthouse suite (which im nearly positive was an accident) and it has balconies and windows up the wazoo. we have every possible view of the ocean. im sitting on the balcony and there's a frank sinatra meets bob marley band playing 'somewhere beyond the sea' and this is the most beautiful place ive ever seen.
later still...
so after i last signed out we went down to the pool and swam and goofed off for about an hour. we were the only ones down there and the band played on. the stars are so bright! we could see the entire milky way! its a huge speckled white squiggly strip across the sky and im in love with it. we went to get food but were 15 minutes too late. instead i ate two packs of trail mix out on the balcony. gourmet? you betcha. now i'm in bed and i wish i WAS tahiti. i love it and i havent even seen it in daylight yet. well, im signing off for the night cause im going to try to get up at 5:45 to see the sun rise. (psh, ha, wish me luck) until tomorrow!
-kristen
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