Samoa
The story of the trip to Samoa actually beings in Melbourne. I was travelling to the bank to get some local currency (Tālā, I believe). Although I was told that most places accepted credit cards, I was still quite a nervous traveller at the time, and I wanted a backup should the cards fail me. So I went to the bank to withdraw some cash, which was given to me in the form of paper notes (foreshadowing).
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There were no direct flight to Apia from Melbourne. We had to transfer through New Zealand. About three-and-a-half hours to Auckland, and another three hours to Apia, with about an hour-and-a-half transfer. We landed in the late evening, and after making our way through the airport we piled into a minibus which would take us to our hotel, the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel. The airport, located at Faleolo, was a good 30 minute drive to Apia itself. Not much happened that evening. After checking-in, we pretty much went straight to bed, ready to begin in the morning.
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