Saturday, 7th February 2026
We were up at 5.00am and got washed, dressed and packed our pyjamas and washbags into our suitcases, which we secured and labelled. It was far too early for the restaurant to be open for breakfast, but there was a little 24-hour coffee bar where we were able to wake ourselves up properly with a cup of freshly ground, strong Americano.
We then waited in the hotel foyer for the minibus to arrive. Another two couples waited with us. It turned up at 5.30am and we all boarded. We weren’t far from the airport at all, maybe a couple of miles, and the minibus dropped us at the front entrance.
Inside, we found the Air France desk and joined the queue to check in. We managed to check our cases right through to Newcastle, then we just made our way through security and along to the departure lounges. One of the ‘lounges’ was set outside in a sunny courtyard, so we went out there to make the most of the early-morning tropical sun. The bar was open, so we each ordered a Hinano beer. 🙂
We then spent some time looking around the shops but didn’t see anything we wanted to buy, apart from some packets of Tahitian sweets to bring back as gifts, as you do. Then the call came over the loudspeaker for all those flying on flight AF0029 to proceed to the departure gate. We baulked at the though of the 27 hours of travelling that we would have to do before arriving back in Newcastle.
We took our seats on the aircraft; Trevor was in the aisle seat while I had the middle seat of three. On my right was a pleasant lady from Belgium, who had had a holiday in Tahiti.
The aircraft took to the skies for the first leg of the journey, an 8-hour flight to Los Angeles. Once we reached cruising height, the refreshments trolley made an appearance, and I was pleased that they were offering complimentary glasses of champagne. Well, it was Air France, after all. 🙂
What can I say? One long-haul flight is pretty much like another long-haul flight; long, tedious and boring. Several times I got up and walked the length of the aircraft to stretch my legs, or stood near the door, where there was a little more space, and did squats or leg bends. There was nothing I particularly wanted to watch on the in-flight entertainment screen, but I just half-heartedly played a couple of games of solitaire or Bejewelled on the screen, before switching to the sky map.
After another in-flight meal and another glass of wine (no champagne this time) we had about an hour or so before we were due to land at LAX. We had already received our boarding passes for the next leg of the journey, and we noticed that not only were we going to be back on this aircraft, but we would keep the same seats as well. We wondered if this meant we would have to remain on the aircraft for the 2¼ hour layover, or whether we’d be allowed to go in the departure lounge as “in-transit” passengers.
When we finally touched down at LAX, the aircraft taxied to the passenger gate and we all disembarked. A large sign said “Paris – In Transit Passengers” and had an arrow indicating which way we were to go. But we were astonished when the staff directed us to “immigration” as we weren’t actually going to be entering the United States; we’d be leaving on the same aircraft that we’d arrived in.
Nevertheless, we had to go through the whole charade. We showed our passports and ESTAs (which we luckily already had, ready for our trip there in April), and had our photographs and fingerprints taken. Then we had the whole farce of going through security again, taking our electronics out of our hand luggage etc. Why?? Since leaving Pape’ete we’d never been anywhere other than on the plane! Then it was back round again to the departure gate, ready to board the aircraft once again and resume our journey to Paris Charles de Gaulle.
What a palaver! The only thing I can think of is that it was a data-gathering exercise, as they now have our passport details, photographs and fingerprints on file.
Back on the aircraft, we now had an 11-hour flight to get through. It was the same plane, so it had the same entertainment. But by now I was really tired after our early start so, despite not being able to sleep sitting up, with the aid of my neck pillow I did manage to doze a little.
Sunday, 8th February 2026
And so the time passed at 37,000 feet, slowly but surely. As we were flying east, we enjoyed an early sunrise and I just spent the time napping, reading and playing games on my phone.
Eventually, around 4.00pm local time (we had had to put our clocks forward 11 hours since leaving Tahiti) we landed at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and made our way into the terminal building. A photo of our aircraft on the tarmac forms the featured image for today – we had spent nearly 20 hours on this aeroplane! 🙂
We had never been to Charles de Gaulle airport before and it was huge. It took us some time to get from the arrivals gate to the bars and restaurants area. We didn’t want anything to eat as we felt we had eaten more than enough on the aircraft (and hadn’t been working it off) but we did think we could use a drink. We found a little café that sold beer, and I had a bottle of Heineken while Trevor liked the look of a strong ginger beer to settle his stomach. It really seemed to do the trick.
Finally it was time to make our way to the departure gate once again for the last leg of our journey, Paris to Newcastle, a flight of less than two hours. It was a much smaller aircraft, with only three seats, the aisle, then another three seats. We were surprised to be offered a snack of a hot ham and cheese wrap (many short-haul flights have stopped doing them) and, in my case, a vin blanc, but we were greatly cheered up by the fact that we were nearly home after a seemingly interminable time flying.
Soon the pitch of the aircraft engine changed the pilot slowed and started his descent towards Newcastle Airport. We could see the lights of the city spread out below us as the aeroplane banked, ready to go out over the North Sea and St. Mary’s Lighthouse at Whitley Bay, turn around, and land into the wind.
Finally, the wheels touched down on the runway at 10.15 pm local time, and we sped along before slowing and taxiing to the arrivals gate. We disembarked the aircraft into the chilly February night air, which was a bit of a shock after the balmy tropical heat of the South Pacific, and made our way to the luggage carousel. At this time of night, ours was the only flight to arrive, and it didn’t take long for our cases to appear on the conveyor belt.
It looked as if it had been raining quite heavily, so I retrieved my cagoule from my rucksack and donned it prior to our exiting for the long-stay car park. However, it wasn’t actually still raining when we went outside, so we just trundled our cases along, avoiding any puddles, until we found our car.
Then we stashed the cases and rucksacks in the boot/back of the car and settled in our seats; Trevor put the car heater on full blast as it was pretty cold having sat in the open-air car park for three weeks in a northern England winter.
We arrived back in the house at 11.25pm, grubby, disoriented, tired and jet-lagged. Our fantastic, bucket list South Pacific cruise was over, but our photos and memories will live forever.
