Waiting to board

We are at the international airport in Samoa.
There is a lounge here but outrageously we can’t get in unless we want to pay $80 Tala each, which I don’t want to do. It looks small and dark and unappealing. Instead I have wandered round the shops and found nothing on which to spend my money so am sitting down to write this.
It’s a lovely new airport I must say. The aircon is definitely appreciated.
Another dreadful nights sleep last night, not sure why? We had the aircon on 25 and the fan going full blast so there was minimal mosquito activity. But I had a headache and I could not get comfortable. Why do we toss and turn at night? You just are overwhelmed with the urge to move, so you do. The new position is bliss for about five seconds, but gradually it loses its appeal and you have to roll over again. Ghastly. Finally dawn broke and eventually we went for breakfast. The restaurant was full of grumpy looking people which should have been a warning to us. It took over an hour for our order to come, and there were several tables who had been waiting long before we arrived. We got dagger stares so ate as fast as we could and snuck out without catching anyone else’s eye.
It was less windy today so I gambled on the water being clearer and went for another snorkel. A forlorn hope. The bottom is sandy at best, and silty at worst, so I suspect visibility is never great here. While I was out, Simon got hounded to leave our fale even though we’d organized a late check out. Simon thinks this resort is still a good one he’d recommend to people, but I wouldn’t. I think he’s been overly influenced by the friendly and skilled bar staff.
A tiny bit of online research last night showed me that the RLS book I’ve read over the last few days was one of his first publications, in 1878, when he would have been 28. The war he referenced was the Franco-Prussian war. There’s an interesting bit towards the end of the book about communications from home spoiling the feeling of being on holiday. What would he think of dealing with work emails while on vacation I wonder?


I remember going to post offices when traveling as a young adult to pick up mail poste restante, because that’s how old I am.