I’m off to the Cook Islands! The toughest thing about packing for this trip is that 8 hours after I return home, I fly out to Western China, so I’ve had to pack 2 cases of luggage. I know, you hate me. Luckily, I have some a good friend who’s willing to meet me at the airport to swap out luggage.

I’ve uploaded this handy map that shows where the Cook Islands are. They’re a self-governing democracy in free association with New Zealand. Translation: They take NZ Dollars (1 USD = 1 NZD). I’ll be spending a week in Rarotonga, an island with the population of ~15,000 and a circumference of 20 miles(!) or 26 square miles. That’s 5 square miles smaller than the town I grew up in! From what I read on Lonely Planet, the Cook Islands seem to be an affordable man’s French Polynesia. One of my favorite lines from their write up, “Make the most of it while you can – paradise is a pretty tough place to find.”

Total flight time to the Cook Islands: 9 h 45 min from LA. (+1 for the flight from SF to LA).

Time to dust off my dive card, swimmies and sunnies – remote desert island, here I come!