A Plan Comes Together

Thursday, August 2
Jim and I both arrived in Los Angeles yesterday. Yes, we began this adventure travelling separately as we often do. It has something to do with booking airmiles flights and I always think that 'free' is a good price to pay even if it means long layovers and non-direct flights. Last year, Jim got me a membership in the airline lounges so at least I get to wait in comfort and style. Jim purchases his ticket and accumulates airmiles and I use the airmiles to get around. In this case, literally around the world ... not a bad way to go for a couple of retirees.
For the remainder of this trip, though, all our flights have been booked together and I am very happy about that. We will board our first 'together' leg of this journey in about 5 hours and presto, 8 hours later we will land in Papeete, Tahiti.
The planning for this trip began about 5 years ago. We made an agreement with two other couples in Australia that, in 2012, when all the men turned 65, we would all meet somewhere in the world to celebrate the occasion. The only rule was that it had to be somewhere that none of us has ever been before. All avid travellers, that limited the options but we were able to settle on Tahiti as a place that is of interest and met the criterion.
Susan and David Morgan are already in Papeete awaiting our arrival and enjoying the palm trees in the meantime. They travelled from Australia through Thursday and back to Wednesday to arrive there yesterday (you have to love the international dateline). They will stop for a while in New Zealand on their way back home. Barbara and John Hurst, also from Australia, have been to Europe and are currently in Seattle to visit their son. They will join us in Tahiti in a few days, having already almost circumnavigated the globe. So, you can see that we all saw this as an opportunity to not only go to Tahiti but also to explore other parts of the world as well.
We are all very excited about seeing one another in Tahiti and creating some new memories together. After years of preparation, the time has arrived for this plan to come together!! We can hardly wait to get there!!