When I arrived at Tahiti’s Fa'a'ā International Airport, I wandered into Papeete and since I didn’t want to spend any money for a hotel, I spend the night crawled inside a rowboat.
I didn’t enjoyed it one bit, and that made me thinking how I would juggle my limited budget and the many nights that still separated me from my planned return to France.
A bit like for my friend Gérard, I didn’t make the best out of my free remaining day on that romantic island, but after I woke up, unharmed, I walked around the main town to find out that the streets weren’t all paved with gold and shaded with lovely hibiscus trees…
Later that day, I walked back to the airport to catch my flight to L.A. This would be a long, but calming day as I boarded the UTA DC-8 and nestled in my seat for the 8 hour flight, in which one could only see sky and an endless ocean below.
The flight was almost empty, which gave me plenty of time to relax, sleep and talk to the French stewardesses.
The night had already fallen when we approached Los Angeles from the south, over San Diego, and seeing from my window seat the sea of lights brightening that huge metro area over more than 80-100 miles was a sight I will remember forever.
What a way to discover America for the first time!
As we got there, I had no place to stay and one of the flight attendants took pity on me and invited me to go the flight crew’s hotel, The Miramar, in Santa Monica, where she kindly gave me her room. Once more, what a lucky guy I was!
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