Matt and I have made it to Samoa. 
After informing friends and family in New Zealand that we were ‘popping over to Samoa for a six weeks,’ frantically organising ourselves over seven days with travel necessities, and managing to over pack (who would have thought that togs and lava lavas weighed so much?) we set off down the elusive international departures gangway to find our seats to Samoa.
On arrival, we disembarked the plane and into a humid night. After squelching our way across the tarmac in jandals (thanks to the 80% humidity) we ambled into the customs arena where two police officers stood looking official in their Police shirts and matching blue lava lavas – brilliant! Welcome to Samoa!
After making our way through customs completely last, we passed the welcoming string band and began the scramble to catch our bags as the trundled along on the conveyor belt. Finally making it out of customs, we met with Dennis and Mate (pronounced ‘Marty’), and it was on to SWAP headquarters.
Our first few days were spent acclimatising to the humidity and the daily temperatures of 30 degrees plus. We are getting used to waking up sweaty, drinking bucket loads of water, accomplishing the art of being on ‘island time’ and are slowly mastering small pieces of the Samoan language.
We are looking forward to the challenge of exploring this new culture and discovering the real Samoa.