ChilLAXing in LAX

ChilLAXing

After a bumpy start this morning (I will explain later), my dear wife and I started our first international adventure of 2013. We have completed the first leg of the journey and I am submitting this blog entry from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

This chapter in our series of adventures takes us back to the South Pacific, where we will begin this trip in Tahiti. We are not crossing the International Dateline this time but the Los Angeles to Papeete leg is still a lengthy trans-ocean flight. We will arrive in the Tahitian capital at about 9:30 p.m. tonight. The sun will have set by then. We will check in to the inter-Continental Hotel tonight and then leave the capital tomorrow to paddle around French Polynesia for a few days.

Now most people would think, “Wow, Tahiti, nice beaches, great reefs and a welcoming Polynesian culture…”. But most people aren’t us. Most people that fly here would check in to a nice resort on one of the many pristine islands, plunk themselves down and have a few cocktails, whilst gazing over their toes at the azure tropical waters stretching out from the warm sandy beaches, to the horizon. Is that what we are going to do? No! As usual, we have an ambitious plan to visit all of Tahiti in a giant amphibious loop and then chart a course due east to visit some of the most isolated, inhabited islands in the world.

Our seaborne adventure will have us experience parts of four different protectorates or countries, on an epic voyage that has us sailing from Tahiti to Peru.  Yes, amazing as it sounds, we only had one-way plane tickets to Tahiti and will sail almost 5000 miles east, at about 12 degree latitude, to Lima, Peru. On the way we stop at the Pitcairn Islands and Easter Island. I will have plenty to write about as we ply the mighty Pacific in what Mrs. Gym hopes will be a mostly flat sea. More on the itinerary in future posts.

The bumpy start I referred to earlier, is one of my typical bone-headed incidents. Our beautiful daughter Nicole, had graciously agreed to drive us to the airport this morning and after dropping us off at the departure level, we breezed through the check-in counter and made our way through to U.S. customs. We had at least 2 hours until boarding. As I stood in the slow-moving line thinking that I would very shortly be able to have a coffee in the airport lounge, I heard a cell-phone ring behind me. It was then that I realized that my Blackberry was sitting on the bedside table in my bedroom at home.

A cold sweat came over me as I realized the significance of this screw-up. I needed the phone. I had to stay connected to the office. So, as the blood drained out of my face and I accepted the fact that I had to face the wrath of Mrs. Gym, I turned to her and admitted my mistake. I was in full panic mode and did not know what to do. Ironically, my dear wife calmly suggested that I should return home in a taxi and retrieve the device. Normally, I am the calm one and here in my time of crises I was at a loss as I followed her back out to the airport entrance. The most surprising thing about the incident was that there was no wrath. We exited the customs hall and I left Linda by the front entrance with all of the luggage and 1.5 hours left to board the plane.

I then snapped out of the fog I was in and sprinted after a Yellow cab that had just dropped some tourist off and jumped in to the front seat. I then calmly told the driver what I needed him to do. At this point, I would like to thank the mayor and city council of Calgary, circa 1970. These fine, forward-thinking civic govenore approved the construction of the Deerfoot Trail. My yellow cabbie did the return trip in 50 minutes and I returned to re-join Mrs. Gym and the luggage, phone-in-hand, with less than 30 minutes to go before departure time. It was still stressful because we had less than 20 minutes to get through customs and security but we made it. We ran up to the gate with minutes to spare and joined the dwindling lineup. 

Amazingly, I had completed three Deerfoot Trail commutes,  two with rush hour traffic and one against it.

We are laughing about it now and chillaxing in LAX. I will send more from French Polynesia.