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Arrived home

John and I are home on our boats now

After reading the air ticket saga you will know We were given tickets and $500 to get to LAX to connect to our next part of the Journey home
Max and Rachael (owners) came and met us and went over the boat as they were preparing to go on holiday on the boat a week after we left
Sitting talking to them was really interesting as Max is designing a smaller space rocket which will take small satellites up to space and what makes it even more of a challenge is their team is using 3D printers to achieve results and seem to be winning
Rachael works for the government helping bring innovative improvements into public transport systems and was really interesting to talk to as well

Rachael and Max helped us arranging for the USA customs and immigrations officials to come to us and stamp us into the country and they were really accommodating and when John was presented with a USD 500 fine for entering on an ESTA entry permit instead of a B1/B2 visa Max just paid the fine for him. The two officers came and met us in the park and did all the formalities there and because we had already done 14 days sailing quarantine and we had tests showing we were clear when we left Grenada they didnt impose any further restrictions on us for confinement.

Well after we met them and handed the boat over they went back to New York and we were free to move around Rhode Island and i must sat I found it very pretty and very opulent.
Because there is a lot of history in that area it was good to visit their historic sites and see some of the places I have read about when following up on the history of the early USA
On the 2nd we were picked up near the Yacht and driven to Boston and dropped at the airport and our uber driver was a 74 year old lady who really loved talking so much it interfered with her driving so eventually i told her I was going quiet to make sure she concentrated on the road

On arrival in LA we were supposed to get a car but Johns Drivers Licence details didnt correlate with his credit card so we had to be diverted to another place and the cost of hiring a car suddenly went up from $140 for 3 days to $480 for the same 3 days booked into a Motel and shared a room which was really expensive so needless to say the whole Surprise given to us by Max was used up before we left

Max also booked and paid for us to be tested for Covid as it was a requirement to be able to board the flight to Papeete in Tahiti and we had to travel 70km to find a laboratory who would process the test and issue the results in 24 hours so we met the requirements for flying. Well all went well and we had our test at 9am in the LAB and had our results by 1 pm and the people in the Lab were great to us

Then we went touring LA and surrounds and I got to eat some awesome Thai food on hollwood boulevard

So on the night we were leaving I had all my papers ready and we were very early at the airport which was full to the brim of eastern people moving around the states or going home as though there was nothing wrong and only the Air Tahiti Nui queue being checked and if papers werent correct then they were simply turned away
Well I got to the counter and they took my passport and then asked me for My CDS(one year visa)and it was due to expire in 24 days so they disappeared with both documents and about 20 mins later they came out and told me to wait in another place while they contacted the authorities and find out if I can still enter with it based on covid rules
THat hour and a half was tiring but eventually they came back and said all was good and I was issued with my boarding pass

Arriving in Papeete was great and because John had arranged his accommodation with BEV we were in separate B&B places and he disappeared and I went looking for him and even security didnt help. I searched for around two hours before giving up and finding out that he had looked for me as well and we didnt find each other
Then I put my big bags in the lockup storage and walked towards the Post office as I needed a Revenue stamp to make a contract out of the application to stay an extra year in the region
I walked for half an hour and found the Queue was already 100m long and it was only 15 minutes before opening time and I was hot because i had longs on and a long sleeve shirt as well
Now is when the fun began because while i was in the queue at opening time the security guard came out and took all the old people forward in the line so they could be served first and guess who he chose MWAH me and all i did was smile and accept the generosity of all those in the queue
I too 5 minutes and I was out again and then was walking to the High Commissioner to lodge my application for extension

I got lost twice but the people were really helpful and eventually i walked into the offices of the commissioner and the lady assistant again was very welcoming and helpful and we reviewed my papers and was pleased with how well they were presented and when I dropped a valid Covid free test result he stamped my paper immediately and I left smiling

I walked down the road a short way and who did I bump into but John so we walked around for a while and then he was meeting friends of his for beers so I left to walk back to the Airport and then to find the B&B i was booked into and also I needed to book a flight for the next morning to Nuku Hiva which was easy. I had been told in no uncertain terms the plane was booked but when I told them I was local flying home they made me welcome

Anyway the next day we flew out together and arrived at the Jetty with Bev waiting for John and looking really happy to have him back

and Now all the work has begun to clean up and make sure my Mrs Opela is happy to have me back

What I found will be the story of another update

Kevin

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