Papeete to Maui

In the South Pacific many non-residents have become familiar with the term the Indonesians use called "Rubber Time"  Rubber time refers to that culture's rather laid-back attitude about appointments, schedules and deadlines.  While not as wide spread in many of the other South Pacific Islands, we can vouch that the Tahitians have adopted at least their own version of Rubber Time.

We first encountered it in the Intercontinental Hotel where there really appeared to be no real effort to speed up the check-in/check-out process.  But we did face it head on in the airport.

Fa'a'ā International Airport requires that passengers arrive at the airport three hours in advance of international flights.  We now know why.  The check-in process is Rubber Time.  Simple tasks like checking luggage takes at least twice as long for an attendant to perform than on any airline we have ever seen (except maybe Bolivia).  If a passenger needs a wheel chair, the desk attendant leaves his/her station, goes out into the lobby and looks for a chair.  Once located, they return, place the passenger in the chair and wheel them over security.  They then return to the desk to assist the next passengers. Every time an attendant leaves their desk for the lobby, they must use their electronic key to go out of a locked door and they must do the same thing when they return.  The locked door has no wall on one side. Attendants, and passengers for that matter, can simply bypass the door by walking around it.  However, all of the attendants, accept for one, used their keys to get into the area via the door.  One attendant reached around the door to unlock it from the inside and then proceed to go through the door. 

We then got to go through "slow motion" security to our gate where we greeted by the same attendants who had checked us in.  We then moved like snails through the boarding process and finally walked outside in the pouring rain to board the plane.

The actual flight was fine and we arrived around 6:00 am at the Honolulu airport where we transferred to a short flight to Maui.  Ralph and Donna stayed in Honolulu to visit Pearl Harbor and arrived on Maui later in the day.   We checked into the Andaz Maui Wailea Resort, spent the afternoon shopping and were both asleep by 7:00 pm.