Sunday, November 27, 2011

Preparing for the Pacific

Using my Australian Vodafone SIM card instructions and a water glass, I carefully removed the giant brown spider from my shower this morning. I temporarily left him in the trash, where he hung out until I finished showering. I then placed him back where I'd found him, leaving the decision on what to do with the spider up to the hotel.

Or maybe he just crawled back down the drain he'd presumably come up from.

I didn't want to smush him. For one thing, he'd leave a huge gooey blob. But for another, in Australia, you're supposed to stand back and admire scary animals. Put a snake in between an American and an Australian, and the American will be searching for a shovel to decapitate the snake while the Australian says "Crikey, that's a beautiful incredibly poisonous snake" while looking for a camera.

I headed out to the front of the hotel five minutes before my airport shuttle was due, and there it was, ready to spirit me off to the Sydney Airport's international terminal.


What a great time I'd had. I've always had a great time in Sydney—even the time I was savaged by bedbugs at the Y in 2003. Old pal Sean had taken my friends Amanda and Doug and I out night after night, and he'd even gone underwear shopping with me on Saturday. He learned quickly not to agree to do that again. One man told him to "Go in and help her, mate" once he got bored and took to waiting outside. Sean had to defend himself. "She's only in town for one day, not my responsibility."

The big airplane carried me to Auckland, where I called the hotel shuttle to transport me to the hotel I'd booked with points. I asked if I could get a lift to the nearby supermarket the next time the shuttle went, and after a false start where it was suggested I go to the bar to wait ("I don't drink"), then to the pool to relax ("I don't relax"), I got there and spent an hour trying to sort out what to buy.

My goal is this: Tahiti is really expensive. Easter Island is too. But at least in Tahiti they have decent supermarkets and food trucks. In Easter Island, there's not a lot of choice. I'd read on websites that I should take food along to Easter Island. They have bakeries and bananas, but I could take the guts of the sandwiches along and take a picnic during the day as I went to see the big heads and whatever else is on offer. But I can only buy stuff at the Auckland Airport supermarket that doesn't need to be refrigerated, and I can't buy anything too heavy.

Plus, I needed shampoo and soap to last me to the end—I'm going to be on a ship for two weeks of December.

I did a pretty poor job on the food front, I'm afraid. I'll be clean, at least, but I'll be eating salami sandwiches and nuts for a the entire week I'm on Easter Island.

Clearly, between not squishing scary-looking spiders and purchasing non-perishable food like a novice, I'd be poorly prepared in the event of a real zombie invasion.

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