Pitufa.at

Getting from the Gambier via Tahiti, Los Angeles, Paris and Vienna to my Mom’s home in Upper Austria is a tiring journey even when all connections work out perfectly, but with the friendly help of the US government it turned into a 6 day odyssey.
In Tahiti the Air France personnel didn’t let me check in due to a problem with my ESTA visa (necessary for the stopover in L.A.) so on Sunday morning I had to watch the plane leave without me, knowing that my mom was waiting for me in Austria. The next morning the ladies at the Air france office in Papeete were apologetic and helpful, but there was no seat available before Wednesday–and that one only to Paris. Steve and Lili were great and supportive and let me stay on Liward for 4 nights instead of one and tried to cheer me up–I wasn’t a happy smurf…

On Wednesday I took the plane to Paris, spent a night there and finally arrived in Austria on Friday… Now I’m acting as a second and third hand for my temporarily single-handed Mom who is still black and blue from the fall and has her left arm immobilised in a sling to give the operated shoulder time to heal.

In the meantime Christian’s a single-hander (supported by 4 paws) in the Gambier Islands…