Overview:
My tour of the Samoas was the second stop on the Pacific
Island Nations tour scheduled with Advantage Travel & Tours, Poway,
California to complete my visits to all the countries in the UN. The trip was a set tour by Advantage Travel;
they called South Pacific Islands Explorer.
I was traveling with Lynn Bishop, Mary Warren and Bob Ihsen with whom I just
had visited Tarawa.
The Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western
Samoa was the last UN country for me to visit to complete my goal of visiting
every member country of the United Nations.
This journal starts as I arrive in Apia, Samoa, from Fiji.
Tuesday, June, 17, 2014: Arrive Apia and take a ferry to
and tour Savaii Island, Samoa
We landed in Apia, Samoa at 01:40. I had accomplished my goal of visiting every
country in the UN!
Apia had a little larger airport than Suva but not as large
as Nadi. Immigration processing was fast
since we were the only passengers in the building. When we entered the baggage claim I was
surprised to see and hear a band welcoming us to the country at the late hour
and the small flight. My bag was the
first off and Customs selected it for inspection so I ended up being the last
of our group to exit baggage claim. We
were met by a representative of the local tour agency and loaded in a bus for a
forty five minute ride to our hotel.
It was 03:40 before I got to bed. We had a 06:15 scheduled departure by ferry
to Savaii Island, so I only got ninety minutes sleep. The hotel restaurant was not scheduled to
start until 06:30 but the desk staff gave us a full ‘English Breakfast’ (eggs,
bacon, sausage, baked beans and toast) on a tray which were able to eat before
the tour bus arrived. The ferry terminal
was near the airport so it was another forty five minute ride including a stop
to pick up additional tourists at a hotel near the Mulifanua Wharf ferry
terminal.
The ferry was large with over three decks. The walk on passengers had to sit on the top
deck. Our scheduled departure was listed
as 08:00 but they departed early and arrived at the Salelologa, Savaii Island ferry terminal a few minutes
after 09:00. Salelologa is the only
township on the island.
Savaii is the largest of the Samoan Islands and ranks the
largest Polynesian island outside of Hawaii or New Zealand. It was also the highest with Mt. Sikisili in
the Samoa chain of islands. The island
is home to 43,142 people (2006 Census) who make up 24% of the country's
population. The island has the largest
shield volcano in the South Pacific with recent eruptions in the early
1900s. The central region forms the
largest continuous patch of rainforest in Polynesia. It is dotted with more than 100 volcanic
craters.
As we were
disembarking I saw three school buses with no side widows and painted bright
colors like a Philippine bus would be decorated. They served as the public transportation on
the island. We rode in a more
conventional Toyota HIACS van.
Our first stop was
at an ANZ Bank so some of the group could exchange money. From there we rode past what used to be the
market to a new market on the other side of the wharf road. It was a very large building with open sides
and I would estimate at least 100 stalls.
We were given time to tour the stalls.
Many were selling colorful clothes and wraps. Others were selling makeup and household
items. There were a few selling
handicrafts which were made of wood or sea shells. A few of the group bought table mats weaved
from coconut leaves. The more unusual
items included items made of tapa cloth.
Across the parking lot was another market which specialized in
fish. I guess they don’t want the fish
smell to get in the clothes sold in the main market.
We left the market
and headed north along the cost but first we had to stop at the one traffic
light on the island. The coastal drive
was very picturesque with many
churches, houses and meeting houses called fale tele set back from the road
with green lawns.
We stopped to tour
one of the fale tele. Our guide told us
the the fale tele means big house, is the most important house in the
settlement. It was usually round in
shape, and served as a meeting house for chief council meetings, family
gatherings, funerals or chief title investitures. The fale tele is always situated at the front
of all other houses in an extended family complex. The houses behind it serve as living quarters,
with an outdoor cooking area at the rear of the compound. At the front of the fale tele was an open
area, called a malae. The malae, was
usually a well-kept, grassy lawn or sandy area. The malae is an important cultural space where
interactions between visitors and hosts or outdoor formal gatherings take
place.
Our guide went to
great lengths to describe the construction of the fale tele.
The main supporting posts, erected first,
vary in number, size and length depending on the shape and dimensions of the
house. Usually they are between 16 and
25 feet in length and six to 12 inches in diameter, and are buried about four
feet in the ground. The term for these
posts is poutu (standing posts); they are erected in the middle of the house,
forming central pillars.
Attached to the poutu are cross pieces of
wood of a substantial size called so'a. The so'a extend from the poutu to the
outside circumference of the fale and their ends are fastened to further
supporting pieces called la'au fa'alava.
The la'au fa'alava, placed horizontally, are
attached at their ends to wide strips of wood continuing from the faulalo to
the auau. These wide strips are called
ivi'ivi. The faulalo is a tubular piece
(or pieces) of wood about four inches in diameter running around the
circumference of the house at the lower extremity of the roof, and is supported
on the poulalo. The auau is one or more
pieces of wood of substantial size resting on the top of the poutu. At a distance of about two feet between each
are circular pieces of wood running around the house and extending from the
faulalo to the top of the building. They are similar to the faulalo.
The poulalo are spaced about three to four
feet apart and are sunk about two feet in the ground. They average three to four inches in
diameter, and extend about five feet above the floor of the fale. The height of the poulalo above the floor
determines the height of the lower extremity of the roof from the ground.
On the framework are attached innumerable
aso, thin strips of timber (about half an inch by a quarter by 12 to 25 feet in
length). They extend from the faulalo to the ivi'ivi, and are spaced from one
to two inches apart. Attached to these strips at right angles are further
strips, paeaso, the same size as aso. As
a result, the roof of the fale is divided into an enormous number of small
squares.
Across the road from
the fale tele we toured was the entrance to the Savaiian Hotel where we were
scheduled to have lunch. We stopped
briefly to give them the head count and then returned riding north along the
coast. We passed several fancy two store
mansions built with commanding views of the sea.
Our next stop was at
the monument marking the landing of John Williams the pioneer missionary of the
London Missionary Society in the Pacific on August 24, 1830.. He was the first to really convert the Samoans
to Christianity. Across the road from
the monument was a London Missionary Society Congregational Church high on a
hill. John Williams was commissioned by
the London Missionary Society to perform missionary work in the South
Pacific. Although he was very successful
in Samoa he and fellow missionary James Harris were killed and eaten by
cannibals on the island of Erromango during an attempt to bring them the
Gospel.
Our next stop was down a gravel road off the highway to the Satioalepai
Wetland with its large concrete sided pond full of turtles. Several of us changed into swimming suits and
swam with the turtles. The water was
very refreshing and was interesting in that it had bands of warm water in
between cooler waters. I swam handing on
to turtles and had fish come right up to me.
I was the only one of the group wearing googles so I saw many fish in
addition to the turtles. The pond was
not very deep and had a rocky base where in places it was only waist deep. One of the men in our group kept picking up
the turtles so his wife could take pictures of the turtle struggling to get
free. Although I grabbed the turtles
under the water I let them drag me along and didn’t attempt to lift the out of
the water or hold them so they struggled to shake me off. It was a fun experience.
Unfortunately both Bob and Lynn slipped and fell on the
slippery group leading to the swimming hole.
One of the ladies dropped her camera in the water but it was retrieved.
We returned to the main road and started back south. We stopped at the Saleaula village lava
fields and walked over the lava to the “Virgins Grave”. It was a spot were a young girl was buried
and when the lava flowed through the area it formed a cave around her burial
site and didn’t flow over her grave. In
the area was also a Catholic church that the lava flowed into and burned the
roof and windows so all that is left is the walls and a floor of lava. The lava was very slippery and a gentleman
from Italy slipped and fell on the walk and scrapping his skin so it bled. Our guide was a Samoan who grew up in Bell
Gardens, Los Angeles. After graduation
from high school she visited her relatives in Samoa and stayed.
Where we parked the van for the walk there was a fale tele with ladies making tapa cloth from
the bark of the mulberry tree. A process
very like what I had seen in Myanmar.
There was also a woman weaving mats from the coconut leafs. She was a delight to watch how quickly she
wove the strips of leaves.
Our next stop was back at the Savaiian Hotel for a buffet lunch.
They served BBQ chicken, rice and cold slaw. Our original itinerary had time to swim at
the hotel but the Tour Guide told us the ferry schedule had changed and we had
to leave right after the lunch to catch the ferry back.
When we dropped off the other members of our tour group at
their hotel I realized it was the Aggie Grey Resort which was one of the
fanciest resorts in the country. It had
a large golf course and was situated close to both the ferry terminal and the
International Airport.
It took us forty five minutes to ride back to our
hotel. That drive was in day light and
provided good views of the country side which we hadn’t seen at the ride in
from the airport or the ride to the ferry because I slept most of that trip.
We were very tired and met for dinner in the bar before
19:00 and all ordered their pizza. It
wasn’t bad. After dinner we arranged
with the hotel to get us a taxi to the Domestic Airport and to provide an early
breakfast. They said that we didn’t need
to get to the airport until 90 minutes before our scheduled 07:30 flight
because the terminal would not open before then. So we agreed to have the taxi pick us up at
05:30.
We then returned to our room and retired early since we had
another early morning departure scheduled to fly to American Samoa.
Wednesday, June, 18, 2014: Fly Apia, Samoa to Pago Pago,
American Samoa and fly back
I woke to my alarm at 04:00 to shower and packed a day pack
for a flight to American Samoa. The
hotel provided us with a hot English breakfast again before our taxi arrived at
05:15. We started out traveling the same
route we had taken the day before to go to the ferry. It didn’t seem right to me so I took out my
smart phone and called up a GPS map of our location. I was right the taxi was headed in the wrong
direction planning on driving us to the Faleolo International Airport forty five minutes away. I asked him to stop and told him we needed to
go to the Domestic Airport. He was
confused since there were Domestic flights from the Faleolo International Airport. We showed him a copy of our ticket which
spelled out the name of the airport as the Fagali’I Airport which Google Maps
showed was only a 9 minute drive from our hotel. The taxi turned around and I started to track
his progress on my smart phone GPS. He
wandered all around back streets instead of taking what looked like would be a
more direct route but eventually he delivered us to the small terminal which
was still closed.
I couldn’t determine if it was the hotel’s fault or the Taxi
companies fault. I know the hotel
receptionist knew were we were going and described that the terminal was small
and would not open until ninety minutes before the flight. She had estimated that it would cost 15
Samoan Tala. I had used the ATM to
withdraw 50 tala the night before to pay for the taxi. The taxi driver tried to charge me 50 Tala
and I was at a disadvantage since I only had a 50 Tala bill. We argued and finally settled on 20 Tala
since he was driving a van. He admitted
a smaller taxi would charge 15 Tala but since he was driving a van he charged
more. He didn’t have change and had to
get it from one of the taxis that were being to arrive.
The check-in counter opened at 06:00 and we were weighted
with our hand carry and got our boarding pass.
We had to fill out a departure card and get our passport stamped but
didn’t have to go through a security check.
The plane flew in at 07:00.
It was a 19-passenger STOL utility de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter. We were assigned seats and I had a row 4
window seat. When I boarded the plane a
very, very large Samoan was sitting in row 4 and I panic thinking I was going
to be squashed against the side of the aircraft until I realized I had the
window across the aisle from him.
We took off on Wednesday
the 18th at 07:35 and landed in Pago Pago at 08:10 on Tuesday the 17th. We were met on landing by Rory West, a very
interesting guide. He was American from
Oklahoma and moved to the island in 1980 to marry a local girl he met in
college in San Francisco. He had a
wealth of knowledge that he passed on to us.
In 1898 Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States
were locked in dispute over who should have control over the Samoa Islands
which resulted in the Samoa Tripartite Convention. The Convention gave control of the islands
west of 171 degrees west longitude to Germany, (later known as Western Samoa), containing
Upolu and Savaii (the current Samoa) and other adjoining islands. These islands became known as German Samoa. The United States accepted the eastern islands
of Tutuila and Manu'a, (present-day American Samoa). In exchange for United Kingdom ceding claims
in Samoa, Germany transferred their protectorates in the North Solomon Islands
and other territories in West Africa.
During World War I New Zealand took control over German
Samoa and after the war Germany gave up claims to the islands. The International Date Line should sit on the
180º line of longitude but it bends to include all of Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga
and Tokelau in the Eastern Hemisphere to align with Fiji, New Zealand and
Australia which those islands have close ties.
Thus American Samoa is in the Western Hemisphere is a day earlier than
Samoa although the time is the same.
Very confusing to people traveling between the two and GPS based
location devices in smart cameras, cell phones and watches. The dates on my camera were very confused by
the shift.
Pago Pago was on Tutuila is the largest of the seven islands
that comprise American Samoa. The harbor
considered one of the finest in the South Pacific, was the main reason for
American interest at the turn of the century.
During many years it was administered by the US Navy and during WWII
served as a training base for US Army and Marines.
Physically the island is beautiful and entirely South
Pacific. The entire eastern half is
crowded with rugged jungle-clad mountains that continue westward into a high
broken plateau. It is pitted with lush
green craters of extinct volcanoes.
Fjord like Pago Pago harbor, nearly bisecting the island is a submerged
crater. Tutuila is at the eastern end of
the Samoa archipelago, about midway between the larger islands of Samoa and the
smaller Manu'a group. In 1988 the US
Congress created the National Park of American Samoa, (the most remote of the
U.S. Park Service locations), which includes part of Tutuila, and Ofu and Tau
in the Manu'a group. Its population was
estimated at a little fewer than 200,000 in the last census.
Rory drove us along the coast from the airport to the center
of Pago Pago. The coast had some
stunning small islands which we stopped to photograph and I then noticed they
were the symbol on the license plates.
When we reached town we stopped at the Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center
for presentations and displays of the reef and coral formations throughout the
islands. The Center provided outstanding
displays and presentations. It rained
very hard while we were in the Center but it stopped before we exited.
Leaving the Center Rory drove us over a mountain range to an
inlet. Along the way he described the
damage that occurred on the island by the 2009 earthquake and resulting
tsunami. Thirty four people lost their
life. He showed us areas that were still
damaged and described the problems and corruption that took place in rebuilding
the destroyed and damaged areas.
Throughout our tour we saw new buildings and homes mixed with abandoned
buildings. Many of the islands schools
were on the low level and were hit by the waves.
One of the places we stopped to take pictures was near a new
hotel that had no customers. It was
built with FEMA money under the provision it would be low cost houses but was
manipulated to build the hotel.
We rode past the tuna canneries and saw a large statue of
Charlie Tuna. They are the major
employer on the island. One of the
canneries is now owned by a Korean firm.
The US Army has a Reserve unit on the island and Rory said
there was talked that the US military presence was going to increase for jungle
training.
Our next stop was the National Park of American Samoa
Visitor Center. It was up a flight of
stairs and had some great displays of the park’s scenery and exhibits. Bob got a stamp to put in his National Park
Passport.
It was then time for lunch and we stopped at the Goat Island
Café where I had a delicious fish and chips lunch. After lunch we visited the museum. It had some nice displays and descriptions of
the islands history.
Driving back to the airport we stopped at a memorial for a
crew that crash in April 1980. In the
1970's American Samoa operated a cable car from Solo Hill above Utulei Beach
Park to the top of Mount Alava to supply a research station on Mount Alava. The cable car was the scene of a horrific
accident on April 17, 1980 when seven American military servicemen and one
civilian were killed during an airshow for the 80th anniversary of American
Samoa as a US territory. Their aircraft
involved in the airshow clipped the cable for the tram and crashed into the Rainmaker
Hotel. Two tourists staying in the hotel
also died in the crash on Pago Pago Harbor.
Our next stop was at Tia Seu Lupe (pigeon catching
mound). A plaque describes the mounds as
follows:
Tia
(mounds) were once scattered across the Tafuna plain and today are found on
many ridge tops throughout Samoa. The
often have a star like shape with rays or ‘arms’ projecting from a central
mound area. Many people believe that
star mounds were used for the chiefly sport of pigeon catching as recently as
100 to 250 years ago.
We continued on to the airport. There we were told we were supposed to be on
the 15:00 back to Samoa and the staff at Samoa had neglected to inform us when
we checked in. There was room on the
next flight and we departed at 16:40 and landed back in Samoa on the 18th
at 17:10.
When we exited the terminal after clearing Immigration and
Customs (same guy doing both jobs) I was greeted by a taxi coordinator. I told him we were a party of four and he
assigned a van driver to take us back to the hotel. He took a more direct route and we were at
the hotel in less than 15 minutes. I
paid him 20 Tala.
We had dinner at 19:00 and retired early to catch up on our
sleep.
Thursday, June, 19, 2014: Tour Apia, Samoa and then fly to
Auckland, New Zealand
We slept a little later since our tour was not scheduled
until 09:30. After sleeping eight hours
I got up and took a shower and then Bob got up.
We went to breakfast at 07:30. It
was a buffet but I had pretty much the same breakfast as every morning on the
trip: Eggs, bacon, beans, toast, fruit, juice and tea.
As we were leaving the dining room Lynn and Mary
arrived. Bob and I returned to our room,
packed and wrote in our journals. Lynn
and Mary moved their luggage to our room.
Hotel check out was 10:00 but we paid extra to extend the room to 18:00
so the four of us could share the room and the cost after our tour.
At 09:15 we went to the lobby and Lynn and Mary checked
out. When 09:30 passed and the tour bus
had not arrived I checked the voucher and discovered it was for a 10:30 pick
up. We returned to the room and I
continued writing. Lynn and Mary joined
us in our room. About 10:10 Bob left to
wait in the lobby and soon returned to inform us the bus had arrived. I shut down the laptop and proceeded to the
lobby.
The tour started along the same route we had ridden to the
ferry and the airport. This time the
driver/guide named Tom told us a little about the buildings we were passing
including the Parliament House. One of
the most impressive buildings was the new Catholic Cathedral which was just
completed the previous month. It was a
massive white with blue trim structure and was built is 18 months to replace
the cathedral that had been damaged in the 2009 tsunami.
We turned off the highway and rode up the mountain past the
area of Embassies, and wealthy people’s homes to Vailima, the Robert Louis
Stevenson Museum. There we turned up a
long driveway lined with flowering trees and bushes to large area of grass with
an imposing two story poached mansion at the back of the green lawn area. The bus stopped at the front stairs. The landscaping had been very cleaver with
small square stones embedded in the lawn so the vehicle tire marks don’t kill
the grass and until you look very close there is no trace of vehicles driving
across the lawn. It was a beautiful
setting.
At the top of the stairs was a gift shop where we could
purchase tickets to take a guided tour of the house. Bob and I bought the tour and had to remove
our shoes. Lynn and Mary decided to skip
the tour.
We had an enthusiastic guide. She started out describing a wood panel room
with a fire place that was designed as the parlor. The museum had attempted to furnish the room
as it looked in photographs but only the fireplace was original although never
used because of the warm climate it was built to remind the family of their
Scotland and Northern California background.
The room had photographs taken on Stevenson’s birthday with his family
and servants gathered on the front steps of the house. Robert Louis Stevenson never had any children
but his wife had a son and daughter from a previous marriage and a grandson
living in Samoa. The step son had his
own cottage in back of the main house.
The daughter, son and Robert Louis Stevenson’s mother lived in the
house. The daughter’s husband left Samoa
after a short period and divorced the step daughter.
We then moved to the dining room with more pictures on the
walls documenting his life, portraits of Robert Louis Stevenson, and a piano
his mother played. The stairs to the
second floor was at the end of the room and at the head of the stairs was
Robert Louis Stevenson’s sick room with a bed and cabinet of medicines. Our guide sang a song with the words from
Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem about death.
She had a beautiful voice but got very emotional singing and taking about
his sickness and his death. Next to his room were rooms for his wife, grandson,
step-daughter and a suite for his mother.
She had a sitting room with a view of the harbor. Trees have grown up to block the view.
His study with a bed, his desk, and library were next to his
wife’s room. In the study were more
pictures documenting his life a museum collection of his books printed in
various foreign language. One of the
pictures I liked was Robert Louis Stevenson sitting on a park bench with Mark
Twain in Washington Square, New York City.
The tour took almost an hour so we left as soon as it was
over although we could have tour the house on our own once we had taken the
official tour. Not very many locals take
the tour. After Robert Louis Stevenson
died his wife sold the home to a German merchant who added a wing on the right
side to balance the look of the building.
When the Germans ruled the island the German High Commissioner lived in
the house. Later other High
Commissioners and leaders lived in the house.
One leader forbade anyone to set foot on the grounds without permission
or they would be fined a $1,000. So even
today locals are not sure they can visit the museum.
The house was in disrepair when a wealthy Mormon
ex-missionary who was a big Robert Louis Stevenson fan decided to fund the
museum. Three Mormon Missionaries form
the museum’s oversight. It was in
excellent condition when we were there and there was even a crew repainting
parts of the balcony.
From the museum we rode up a hill to the Shrine of the Three
Hearts Church where we stopped to see the panoramic view of the town below and
toured the interior of the church which had beautiful stained glass
windows. From that church and view point
we rode even further up the hill to stop at Moamoa Theological College. There we toured their St. Anthony Church
which had even more beautiful stained glass windows than the Three Hearts
Church. The outside of the windows were
protected from Cyclone weather by heavy screens. The church ceiling had an interesting blue
and white design.
Our next stop was to be at the University of the South
Pacific Agricultural Campus where cross breeding of varieties of crops are
experimented with. When we arrived on
the Campus we encountered a ‘No Entrance Exams In Progress’ sign and had to
turn around.
We returned to the township passing the large Mormon Temple
and stopped for pictures at the Parliament House, Independence Monument, and
Lands & Titles Court, to finish our tour.
Back at the hotel we ate lunch and returned to our
room. Bob and I wrote in our journals
while Lynn and Mary watched TV and snoozed.
We had to check out at 18:00. Just as I had done in Kiribati I had to
analyze each line item in the bill to determine a fair split with Bob. My calculations balanced and everyone was
happy. We had to sit in the open sided
reception area to wait for our transfer to the airport which was scheduled for
19:10. The bus arrived early and we were
on our way. The driver was also a tour
guide and he asked us if Tom had told us much about village life on our tour
earlier in the day. When we told him Tom
hadn’t told us very much about village life, he proceeded to describe the
village structure in greater detail than Tom had told us during the morning
tour. It killed the time during the
forty five minute drive to the airport.
He told us there were three structures in each village:
- · The chiefs’ council which is comprised of the village chief and a chief from each family in the village. They met to discuss and decide issues affecting the village. They can hand out punishment including banishing a resident from the village for life. When that happens the offender’s family has to leave with him. The Police are only called in when it is a capital crime and the chiefs can still handout rulings in addition or instead of the court system.
- · The women’s council which are usually the chief’s wives. They establish a lot of the organization in the village. Our driver told us he could tell by visiting a village if the woman got along or back stabbed each other by just the look of the village.
- · The workers. He had a name for it but I didn’t understand what he said. He included himself in that group. He said they did all the heavy lifting, the farming and gathering of food for their families. What surprised me is they also do the cooking (not the women) and serve themselves last.
When we reached the airport I helped the driver unload the
bags through a window in the back of the bus.
I had the group’s revised ticket numbers in an email from Cathy on my
cell phone so we all checked in together.
When we got our boarding pass Mary handed out tags for our
carry-ons. I asked for two and put one
on my laptop carry on and then looked around to put one on my day pack. It wasn’t there and I realized that I had
left it on the bus. I panicked and went
around the terminal to find a representative from the tour company. As I was looking in the arrival end of the
terminal Bob called out that Mary had found a representative. Across from the terminal there was a row of
buses from the company and one of the drivers was the one that had picked us up
when we had flown in on the 17th. I walked over and he called the driver but got
no answer. He told me that he was at
Aggie Grey’s Resort near the airport waiting to transport the crew to the
airport. After a few minutes they
connected and the driver reported he had found my bag. They then had me get in a van and I was
driven out to the resort and retrieved my bag and returned to the airport. It was a close call!
Our aircraft was a little late arriving so we were late
boarding. I was in row 19 and they had
rows 1 to 15 board using the front stairs and the rest the back stairs. I was the first one to board the rear
stairs. I settled in after a woman sat
in the window seat. I wanted to take my
evening pills and needed water so I was waiting for the aisle to clear when a
flight attendant came down the aisle with large bottles of water and handed
some to a couple of flight attendants that were dead heading on the
flight. As she approached me I asked her
if I could have a bottle and she said “sure Happy Birthday” and gave me
one. I took my pills and put on my sun
glasses and tried to sleep.
We took off at 23:00 and when we reached altitude a flight
attendant came down the aisle with a cart full of iPads. Virgin Australia B-737-800 aircraft are
configured with Wi-Fi and transmit the inflight entertainment via Wi-Fi. I had thought of using my smart phone to
watch a movie but when I saw the list I didn’t see a movie I really wanted to
see so I shut my smart phone off. When
the flight attendant got to my seat she handed me an iPad I told her I didn’t
need it and she said it was free for me and put it on my tray. I turned in on and decided to watch a TV
comedy before the service. When they
wheeled the service cart down the aisle they handed me a sandwich but didn’t
give one to the others in the group. I
think they had me mixed up with one of their Frequent Flyers. It was a ham and cheese wrap. They then wanted to give me a drink but I
already had the large bottle of water and stuck with that. I watched another TV show as I ate and then when
they picked up the trash I shut down the iPad and went to sleep.
I had achieved my goal of visiting every UN country but
there was a lot more places in the world to visit and experience so I continued
on to visit two islands rarely visited b Americans: Niue and Wallis &
Futuna.
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