We left for Tuvalu that morning on a turbo-prop. Tuvalu is a bit like Kiribati: a small atoll in the middle of the ocean. It is a fair bit smaller though, and the airport dominates the available land. Being so central the runway is not fenced and is completely open to foot and road traffic. People cross it as part of their daily routine. The airport sounds a siren when a plane is inbound in order to clear the runway, but sometimes there are stragglers and go-arounds are actually quite common. We had to go-around during our approach.
We landed and arrived the terminal building. And I must say, we’ve arrived at some pretty small airports as part of this mission, but this was the smallest. It was basically a building with four rooms, each one probably 6 or 7 square metres, laid out on a two-by-two grid with doors between each one. The rooms are configured based on whether the passengers are arriving or departing. After leaving the plane, we entered the first one, which was immigration, then directed to the next one to pick up our luggage, then the third which was customs, and finally the forth which I think was a waiting area. Not that there was much stopping anyone from just leaving the plane in any direction (there was airport staff around, and I guess if you wanted to get your bags…)
We left the terminal building and walked to our hotel, the Funafuti Lagoon Hotel. Particularly for our purposes, there was no need for a car and it was probably a 10 minute walk from the airport to the hotel.
The hotel itself which was very basic. We made our bookings a little late, so I think our rooms were some of the older ones. I got the family suite, which featured a couple of beds in a large, unfurnished room, a rundown bathroom, and a rundown kitchen with a broken propane stove.
I didn’t use the kitchen at all, except maybe to boil water in the kettle to make it potable (I can’t remember if there was one, but I think there was). The bathroom wasn’t much fun to use either. I couldn’t get the hot water to work in the shower, and the toilet didn’t have a seat, so let’s just stay I ignore calls to the “office” from numbers that required me to sit down. I was not doing my bowels any favours during my stay.
And look, it wasn’t stellar but I don’t want to diss the accomodation. Tuvalu is a poor nation, and it was nice to have somewhere to rest that was air conditioned. The fact of the matter is, the beds were clean and comfortable, which is all I need. Looking at the photos in Google Maps, it looks like many of the rooms are much nicer now.