Unanchor Blog: Heart of a Local Travel

When we quit our jobs in 2007 to travel for a couple years, it was fairly simple. Sell the cars, put a few boxes in a friend’s basement, and away we went. Fast forward 15 years to 2022 and that’s just not the case. There’s a career, a dog, a house, a mortgage, insurance, and a perspective benefitting from a decade and a half of additional experience. So while the end result was the same, the path to get there was much different.

Waking up this morning I have a smile on my face.  Last night was one of those nights that I revel in when traveling. Maybe it was the wine gods at work. The connection, the conversation, the merging of cultures, even the language barriers.

A quick 1.5hr flight from Tahiti and the crystal clear blue waters of Fakarava came into view. Reefs popping in and out of the water as we passed over the lagoon. We were greeted by the tiniest of airports.

I’m at a cement table, situated about 20 feet from the shore, feet and legs dangling in the 80+ degree water of the Fakarava lagoon. Belly full of poisson cru, beer in hand, swimming suit wet from a recent dip. I literally just took my camera and filmed a nurse shark swimming by the table, without even moving. It’s surreal. 

Whelp. That went fast. We’re closing out a month here in Tahiti, and it feels like it went in about a split second. Perception of time is odd. The first couple of weeks felt like the world had slowed down as we were adjusting to the new schedule, the new location, a new home, and a friendly reminder that not everyone speaks English so you better dust off that french you’d forgotten in Paris.

Well, here we are again. Kicking off another long adventure into the unknown. I’m sitting on a balcony in Mahina, Tahiti, listening to the waves crash on a black sand beach at 5:17 in the morning. The sunrise is just starting to lighten the water and push out the brilliant moonlight with its yellow hue, highlighting the multiple outrigger canoes in their morning exercise routine. Tahiti is our launch pad for the next Great Trip, and we have another few weeks here before moving along.

Quick thoughts for the day coming at you from Noumea, New Caledonia. It’s 4:41am, and I’m sort of trying to be on the right schedule as I have a meeting tomorrow at 3am local time. It’s not the schedule, though, that has me so worried, as I’ve always been a morning person, but rather the internet connectivity, or rather the lack of it. Frankly, I’m surprised how frustrating it is to be without it.