Now that we’ve been away from Rarotonga for a couple of days, I can reflect on a few things.

The island: The island itself is about 24 km in circumference and is completely surrounded by a lagoon that is great for snorkeling in most places. We went out twice in the area right outside of our hostel and found lots of different fish, eels, starfish, etc. The water is cooler than I expected; definitely not Bay Area cold, but Continue reading “Impressions of Rarotonga” →

July 19

California Shuttle Bus only cost $24 for both of us to ride down to LA where our plane was to take off. We decided to go to LA a day early just in case anything went wrong. Well, if you’re riding California Shuttle Bus, I would recommend that you do the same. We started our journey at 11:00 with my parents driving us to the San Leandro Bart station to be picked up. The bus was supposed to arrive at 1:00, but not knowing what might happen along the way, we left early and got there a little before 12:00. As we waited for an hour, we watched the homeless man drooling on the bench next to me (he was courteously keeping it contained in a handkerchief), the aspiring young hip hop artist who danced and rapped for the benefit of his fellow bus riders, and several women with chests so large I was uncertain how they remained upright. At 1:15 one of the other passengers called to see what time the already late bus might be arriving. We were told another half hour. So we waited until 2:00 when a not very apologetic man arrived giving us some bullshit about the other bus breaking down. So into the bus we piled. Continue reading “The Story So Far…” →