Bonjour,
Another late Air New Zealand flight delivered me to the outskirts of the capital city, Papeete at 12:30 in the morning. (they stop flying to Tahiti in April, so I got lucky). Again, I had contacted a hostel via email with no response, so I was hoping for a pleasant surprise at the airport, but I was certainly disappointed. First, it took me five minutes to get through customs as the officer apparently didn't understand my outgoing ticket until talking with his manager. Then I found only representatives from a few luxury hotels and a not-so-aptly named information booth that was of no help. A fellow backpacker was also looking desperate, and I mentioned to him that I might just sleep in the airport. After seeing a few others laying out on the floor or benches, I decided my best option was to find a place to sleep for a few hours and then take an early flight to one of the other islands, since Papeete is certainly not touted as an interesting or attractive city. Also keep in mind that this is not a nice carpeted airport with air conditioning - it's an open-air building with tile floors and hard metal seats, so sleeping at the airport was already not going to be as luxurious as it initially sounded. I also didn't know the policy on sleeping there, so I didn't want to pick an obvious spot that would get me in trouble. Around one corner, I found a spot with a few rows of seats and some open space that was already being used as a sleeping area by two men that appeared to be homeless. I decided against laying on the hard, dirty floor, so I picked a chair, locked my bags together and wrapped them around my leg and propped my head up on my arm. I had heard of certain airports being dangerous to sleep in, but Papeete never seemed to make it on that list. Even so, I was a little worried, but I clutched my bags between my legs and hoped to get a little bit of rest. Just before falling asleep, I saw the other backpacker, a 20-something traveller from the German part of Switzerland, place his sleeping mat on the floor directly across from me. He then wedged his huge backpack between the wall and a row of chairs.
I finally fell asleep about 1:15 am, but the 'sleep' was far from restful. Every 20 or 30 minutes, a combination of paranoia and uncomfort would awaken me, drifting just far enough into consciousness to open one eye, take a look around, feel for my bags, realize how much my neck hurts due to the sleeping position, check my watch, then fall back asleep. Right around 3 am, I did my obligatory scan of the surroundings, and I noticed that something looked different. Not only had the Swiss traveller changed sleeping positions, something else was different. I opened both eyes long enough to realize that his bag was no longer behind those chairs. I immediately tried to rationalize the situation, thinking that he may have laid it down next to him out of sight, or he found a locker in which to store it, though I know that both of those hypotheses were quite unlikely. Next, I checked for my bags, and they both seemed intact, though I still didn't have the awareness to check the contents. Despite being locked and between my legs, the zippers could still open partially, and they were accessible from the opening under the chairs behind me. As I fought feelings of sleep, I tried to think about what to do and finally found that all of my belongings were still with me, though I had a horrible feeling that wasn't the case for the other guy. About five minutes later, I saw him turn over, glance up where his bag should have been, quickly pop up and check around the other sides of him, then the look of panic/disbelief came over his face, in what would have to be one of the worst feelings of his life. I felt so incredibly bad for the guy as we sat on the bench and talked about what to do.
He flagged down a cleaning lady and told her his story in somewhat broken English, since neither of us speak French. She went off to get someone else, while he and I stayed behind, scanning the area, hoping to find some clue or remnant. He told me about his previous time in New Zealand, upcoming two weeks in Tahiti, then four month stay in the US and Canada. We were trying to figure out how it would work, since everything: his clothes, shoes, tent, camping gear, fishing pole, wallet, credit card, passport, 20,000 Swiss Francs, camera...everything was gone. He mentioned how he had his money and id cards and passport in a travel pouch around his stomach, but he took them off and put them in his bag before going to sleep. He had taken off his boots and placed them on top of his bag. He had thought about tying a rope inside his bad around his stuff and his arm, but he decided not to do so, since he felt his spot was safe enough. Now, he was left standing there at 3 am, barefoot with a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, the sweater he had used as a pillow, and the sleeping mat from his camping gear as his only possessions. That was it. I still felt so bad for him, but at a point like that, there is really nothing much to say, so I mostly just sat back and listened.
Soon after, an airport official came by and told us that sometimes there are "steal guys"(thieves), and that they'd be looking into it. He did seem to care and tried his best to help, but there was not much to be done. Also, our area was one of the few without security cameras, though we convinced him to check the tapes of the nearby cameras to see someone walking off with the bag. Next, they would contact the Swiss Consulate, but that wouldn't open until 7:30 am, another few hours away. Wishing I could do something to help, I sat there with the guy for a few hours and gave him my second pair of shoes/hiking sandals, but I wished I could do more, realizing how much something like that could completely ruin and turn around a trip. Also, he'll have to buy some of his replacement gear in Tahiti, which is definitely not a cheap place. A little scared and a little shocked, I went to the Air Tahiti booth when it opened and booked my ticket to Moorea, Bora Bora and back to Tahiti to complete my four day trip.
Another late Air New Zealand flight delivered me to the outskirts of the capital city, Papeete at 12:30 in the morning. (they stop flying to Tahiti in April, so I got lucky). Again, I had contacted a hostel via email with no response, so I was hoping for a pleasant surprise at the airport, but I was certainly disappointed. First, it took me five minutes to get through customs as the officer apparently didn't understand my outgoing ticket until talking with his manager. Then I found only representatives from a few luxury hotels and a not-so-aptly named information booth that was of no help. A fellow backpacker was also looking desperate, and I mentioned to him that I might just sleep in the airport. After seeing a few others laying out on the floor or benches, I decided my best option was to find a place to sleep for a few hours and then take an early flight to one of the other islands, since Papeete is certainly not touted as an interesting or attractive city. Also keep in mind that this is not a nice carpeted airport with air conditioning - it's an open-air building with tile floors and hard metal seats, so sleeping at the airport was already not going to be as luxurious as it initially sounded. I also didn't know the policy on sleeping there, so I didn't want to pick an obvious spot that would get me in trouble. Around one corner, I found a spot with a few rows of seats and some open space that was already being used as a sleeping area by two men that appeared to be homeless. I decided against laying on the hard, dirty floor, so I picked a chair, locked my bags together and wrapped them around my leg and propped my head up on my arm. I had heard of certain airports being dangerous to sleep in, but Papeete never seemed to make it on that list. Even so, I was a little worried, but I clutched my bags between my legs and hoped to get a little bit of rest. Just before falling asleep, I saw the other backpacker, a 20-something traveller from the German part of Switzerland, place his sleeping mat on the floor directly across from me. He then wedged his huge backpack between the wall and a row of chairs.
I finally fell asleep about 1:15 am, but the 'sleep' was far from restful. Every 20 or 30 minutes, a combination of paranoia and uncomfort would awaken me, drifting just far enough into consciousness to open one eye, take a look around, feel for my bags, realize how much my neck hurts due to the sleeping position, check my watch, then fall back asleep. Right around 3 am, I did my obligatory scan of the surroundings, and I noticed that something looked different. Not only had the Swiss traveller changed sleeping positions, something else was different. I opened both eyes long enough to realize that his bag was no longer behind those chairs. I immediately tried to rationalize the situation, thinking that he may have laid it down next to him out of sight, or he found a locker in which to store it, though I know that both of those hypotheses were quite unlikely. Next, I checked for my bags, and they both seemed intact, though I still didn't have the awareness to check the contents. Despite being locked and between my legs, the zippers could still open partially, and they were accessible from the opening under the chairs behind me. As I fought feelings of sleep, I tried to think about what to do and finally found that all of my belongings were still with me, though I had a horrible feeling that wasn't the case for the other guy. About five minutes later, I saw him turn over, glance up where his bag should have been, quickly pop up and check around the other sides of him, then the look of panic/disbelief came over his face, in what would have to be one of the worst feelings of his life. I felt so incredibly bad for the guy as we sat on the bench and talked about what to do.
He flagged down a cleaning lady and told her his story in somewhat broken English, since neither of us speak French. She went off to get someone else, while he and I stayed behind, scanning the area, hoping to find some clue or remnant. He told me about his previous time in New Zealand, upcoming two weeks in Tahiti, then four month stay in the US and Canada. We were trying to figure out how it would work, since everything: his clothes, shoes, tent, camping gear, fishing pole, wallet, credit card, passport, 20,000 Swiss Francs, camera...everything was gone. He mentioned how he had his money and id cards and passport in a travel pouch around his stomach, but he took them off and put them in his bag before going to sleep. He had taken off his boots and placed them on top of his bag. He had thought about tying a rope inside his bad around his stuff and his arm, but he decided not to do so, since he felt his spot was safe enough. Now, he was left standing there at 3 am, barefoot with a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, the sweater he had used as a pillow, and the sleeping mat from his camping gear as his only possessions. That was it. I still felt so bad for him, but at a point like that, there is really nothing much to say, so I mostly just sat back and listened.
Soon after, an airport official came by and told us that sometimes there are "steal guys"(thieves), and that they'd be looking into it. He did seem to care and tried his best to help, but there was not much to be done. Also, our area was one of the few without security cameras, though we convinced him to check the tapes of the nearby cameras to see someone walking off with the bag. Next, they would contact the Swiss Consulate, but that wouldn't open until 7:30 am, another few hours away. Wishing I could do something to help, I sat there with the guy for a few hours and gave him my second pair of shoes/hiking sandals, but I wished I could do more, realizing how much something like that could completely ruin and turn around a trip. Also, he'll have to buy some of his replacement gear in Tahiti, which is definitely not a cheap place. A little scared and a little shocked, I went to the Air Tahiti booth when it opened and booked my ticket to Moorea, Bora Bora and back to Tahiti to complete my four day trip.
(Greeters playing traditional music at the airport.)
(I was sleeping in the chair two to the left of the green guy, and the Swiss guy was laying on the floor in between the chairs and the guy on the phone)
2 comments:
That totally sucks about that dude. Glad to see you're still able to be a good Samaritan with him and the annoying travelers with a zillion bags.
Be careful, man!
I hope you at least gave him your really ugly shoes, not because he deserved an ugly pair of shoes after all he'd been through, but just because those things are so freakin' ugly.
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