When flying from San Francisco to the southwest for about eight hours, you end up in France – but not in Metropolitan France, but rather in French Polynesia.

When you arrive on such a flight as a European, you immediately feel like a VIP, because you can bypass the entire queue of Americans at passport control by taking the empty lane for EU citizens. Unfortunately, you no longer have these advantages when you visit the city the next day, because there are no restrictions for Americans there – and due to the cruise ship anchored in the harbor, there are also quite a few of them. However, I have to admit: The capital of French Polynesia, Papeete, was still not really overcrowded.

Given the temperatures of just under 30 degrees (and – at least partly – bright sunshine), I did not stroll through the city for too long (probably like many of the cruise ship tourists). The town does not have that many sights to offer anyway: a few churches, a few (quite opulent) government buildings, and a beautiful park (the Jardin de Paofai, see cover photo) right on the shore of the Pacific.

In the evening, I tried out a local specialty – more in terms of the type of restaurant than the dish itself: In French Polynesia, so-called “roulottes” (food trucks) are very popular. At such a roulotte, you only need to spend little money (by local standards), but still get a huge portion, for example grilled fish. Even a certain colleague would probably not go hungry here.