They say bad things come in threes. But for us, it came in multiples of much more.

Let me count the ways

1. Initial flight delayed last minute out of YEG by 7 hours, requiring us to cancel and rebook from scratch.
   
2. Our new flight out of Vancouver was delayed by an hour and a half, which resulted in…
   
3. Missing our connecting flight to Tahiti by 10 minutes after running across the entire airport, child in tow, to catch it before the gate closed (which, let me tell you, is the most gut wrenching moment when you see the boarding gates closed and no plane in sight).
   
4. Having to be rebooked on yet another airline with new connecting flights via LAX, which was also delayed by over an hour, followed by…
   
5. A full overnight flight to Tahiti (which I had initially tried to avoid) that had us sitting all over the plane, including M all by herself in a middle seat, which would…
   
6. Put us in at 5:00am – 9 hours and a day later than originally planned, causing us to…
   
7. Miss our non-refundable first night hotel stay and day one of our car rental.

Things weren’t off to a great start. But, we tried to make the best of the situation we were in. A pint of SFO local, a nice airport restaurant dinner on meal vouchers, lots of exercise running from one side of the airport to another multiple times, a touchdown in LAX (a new airport for all of us), and a cockpit tour with our Delta pilots!

M even made a new friend in the LAX airport and they spent the better part of an hour pretending their rolly suitcases were cars, flying around the departures terminal. Would it have been a little annoying for other waiting passengers? Probably, yes. Did I care? Also yes. But were they laughing and having the time of their lives? Yes. Through the universality of play and laughter, she had suddenly become best friends with a little Tahitian girl who didn’t speak a lick of English, nor M, of French. It was too sweet to put my foot down on. And the little girls parents seemed to feel the same way too. So, we watched and smiled (although they looked largely unbothered and carefree whereas my anxiety had me scanning the other passengers in the lounge, watching for signs of increasing annoyance). But a can of rosé seemed to calm my nerves. And the kids kept their craziness under control… mostly.

Before long, after some seat changes that thankfully had us all sitting together, we were finally called go board our Air Tahiti flight to Pape’ete. An almost 9 hour overnight flight across the ocean to the French Polynesia – and technically (or not technically, depending on your definition) my first time on the “continent” of Oceania.

And it was one of the smoothest flights – no delays, an on-time arrival, and only one annoying family in the row ahead of us. But all things considered, it was great. A vibrantly-coloured island plane that lulled M and I to sleep for nearly the entire flight and an early morning arrival into paradise.

HELLO palm trees, turquoise waters, fresh fruit, and prices up the hoo-ha.

But I guess what would paradise be without a price tag? So, maybe it was going to be more like: Hello palm trees, cockroaches, and PB&J sandwiches.

Stay tuned on more from the French Polynesia… On a budget. (If that’s even possible.)