January 18, 2011

Rise and shine!

We had an 8:30 flight to Rarotonga and got up early again. We had been spoiled by the lack of carry-on luggage checking on our previous 4 flights with Air Tahiti, and hadn´t bothered to do the extreme repacking we did the first time when going to Tikehau. As you might remember Air Tahiti has what must be the worlds lowest baggage allowances. Maximum 10 kilos (22 pounds) of check-in and maximum 3 kilos (6.6 pounds) of carry-on per passenger.

Mistake. The rather voluminous woman at the check-in counter lived up to her sumo-like appearance. Once she spotted my carry-on suitcase, with all the electronics, she was on the case like a starving eagle. First she insisted it was too large.

I had bought that suitcase when I traveled very frequently as part of my work. I had checked all the major airlines carry-on size restrictions and gone for the minimum of the maximum allowed in each of the three dimension. I thought I had a very good case.

They had a wooden test-the-size-of-your-hand-luggage-here-so-we-don´t-have-to thingy and I went over to it and had a hard time getting the thing in. OK, too much in the outside pocket. I removed some stuff and put it in one of the backpacks. I finally managed to make it fit except for the wheels which stuck out about a centimeter. She looked at me with a very skeptical look and told me she was so sorry, but I had to check it in.

I remembered well how US Airways had treated that suitcase when we went from Phoenix to New York. Back then I had cursed myself for letting them check in my electronics suitcase so easily. I had sworn to myself to never again be weak in front of an airline representative and resist all attempts to check in my suitcase.

I told her it was full of fragile electronics and that I really didn´t want to check it in. By this point she had gotten the attention of two of her colleagues who followed the scene with attention. She said she would let the size of it pass if it weighed under 3 kilos (6.6 pounds). Great chess move, indeed. She obviously knew how to play this game. I put the suitcase on the scale and felt like someone who had just been caught driving drunk and being asked to blow into an alco-meter. It stopped at a whooping 8 kilos (17.6 pounds). She made the mandatory shocked face.

Just like at the airport in Salta (going to Iguassu), she seemed focused on the suitcase because of its size and did not ask questions about the back-packs. I suggested that I could transfer the heavy things to other pieces of carry-on. To my mild surprise she agreed immediately. I started to move external batteries and other heavy stuff over to the back-packs. Time was passing and the flight would leave in about 40 minutes, I had to hurry. It was not easy making room for everything and I started to sweat as I frantically moved things around with Helene´s help. In the end I put the suitcase on the scale and it stopped at 4.5 kilos. I gave her my best puppy-stare and to my surprise she told me she would accept it. Wow, for a few seconds I thought I had won.

Then she asked me if the other back-packs hadn´t passed the weight limit when I moved stuff over to them. Could I please put them on the scale? Ooh, brilliant, forced check mate in 3 moves now. This woman was GOOD.

The heaviest back-pack weighed in at 10kg (22 pounds). Ouch. I tried a last time to convince her that I couldn´t check in the suitcase. She rolled her chair a bit back from the desk to create distance, crossed her arms and said, with a grin on her face and a mocking voice (I am not making this up) “The flight will close soon!”

It was first now that I realized that she would never give in. Her two colleagues were still watching and she couldn´t lose face. If she gave in she would be the big laugh during their lunch break.

I hesitated long enough for her to move the knife around in the wound again: “The flight will close soon, and you will not be on it.” She was really enjoying this. I guess it didn´t help my case that she was Polynesian and that I was a caucasian middle-aged man speaking French either.

Time to let principle be principle and back down. We took a few towels out of our large checked-in back-packs. I quickly sorted out the most fragile items and in record time packed the rest in the towels and put them in the carry-on suitcase. I hoped that this monumental sacrifice would make her accept the small back-packs.

She was a very happy woman when I put the suitcase on the scale and asked her to check it in.

Then she started complaining about the saxophone. Nooooo, was there no end to this? We were saved by one of the two colleagues who had witnessed it all. One of them came over and said something in Tahiti Polynesian. She nodded and asked her colleague in French: “So, you think it is OK?” The colleague played the game and said “Yes, I think it is OK.” She handed over our pink “carry-on accepted” tags without asking anything more about the small back-packs.

We were very quick in picking up the back-packs and moving on.

Ready for security check, minus one carry-on:

The waiting hall was nicely decorated, but we didn´t get to enjoy it much:

Let´s get out of this place 🙂

Another ATR-72:

The flight was maybe one third full, really important to police baggage weight limit restrictions in other words, 🙂 After a two and a half hour flight we arrived in Rarotonga, the main island of the Cook Islands. This guy, standing on the luggage conveyor belt thing, welcomed us:

We were picked up at the airport and driven to our self-catering bungalow at Muri Beach on the other side of the island. There is one main road here, it is 32 km (20 miles) long  and it follows the coastline of the island.

The bungalow was more like a house and beautifully placed on a hill overlooking the lagoon at Muri. There was wifi, but I needed to purchase a card to get access. A physical card sold at a select few locations. No online credit card option.

We also quickly discovered that a usable beach was not as close as we thought and there were almost no shops on this side of the island. We would need a car. Getting one was very easy and not very expensive. Rarotonga seems to have more rental car agencies than supermarkets. Walking to the closest one we passed by this sign:

An opportunity to talk to the kids about tsunamis and what causes them. I told them the fascinating story I had read about the indigenous people of Thailand, the so-called sea gypsies. The deadly tsunami which struck Thailand (and so many other countries) in 2004 was the first one in Thailand for over 300 years. Still, from generation to generation, they had orally transferred the knowledge that if the ocean ever retracts you must run up the closest hill. So they knew that when the ocean level suddenly drops dramatically at a beach a tsunami will soon come, something most educated westerners on the beach did not know. Not a single sea gypsy died from the tsunami.

The rental agent told us that on the Cook Islands you need a Cook Islands driving license. Huh, come again? Oh, do not worry, all you have to do is to go to the police station and show them your current driving license and they will make you a Cook Islands one for 20 New Zealand dollars (USD 15). And how do we get there? Oh, I just make you a temporary driving license valid for 24 hours right now which will only cost you 3 dollars. OK, if you say so. Strange system.

We took our newly rented vehicle on a drive around the island and stopped in Avarua, the main village and the capital of the Cook Islands, to do groceries and purchase three internet cards (the police station was closed):

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You pay by the megabyte, interesting. At least we wouldn´t be ripped off if the line grinds to a halt, like in Tikehau.

Once we were back I I wanted to update the blog. Alas, the internet card I tried first didn´t work! “Wrong code” I tried one more, same result. Grumble!

Instead I started writing a new blog entry. At least the view from our balcony was gorgeous with the lagoon and three small motus (islands):

Soon the full moon showed up:

Goals for tomorrow: Going to the beach, getting a driving license and complaining about the non-functioning internet access cards.

Eirik

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