Driving in Samoa

Driving in American Samoa
Like the rest of the United States, American Samoa drives on the right side of the road, and their driver's wheel is on the left side of the car.

Here are the important road rules to know in AMERICAN Samoa:

• Seatbelts for all passengers are mandatory
• Speed limit is 25 MPH on the open road, and 15 MPH in busy areas
• Cannot use your cell phone while driving unless you have a hands free device.
• When approaching an intersection, the car to the left must yield to the car on the right.
• Signs are the same as US signage
• Cant drive on the sidewalk
• No coasting in neutral (to save gas)
• No littering by anyone in the car.
• Some roads traverse streams. You cannot enter a stream if you cannot see the roadbed.
• Night driving can be dangerous and should be avoided. (No street lights)

Driving in Samoa
In 2009, the country of Samoa switched over to driving on the left side of the road, like their close friend and trading partners Australia and New Zealand. The cars in Samoa are a mixture of right-hand-drive and left-hand-drive, although most of the new cars are right-hand-drive.

It is supposed to be a little disorienting, but not too difficult to navigate, as the speed limit is so slow you  get used to it. Here is a picture taken by Rhonda Albom of a typical road in Samoa once your get out of Apia. This is near the Malua Cave Pool, I believe, on the way to Sauniatu.

 You need a Samoan Driver's License, which will be issued by our car rental company. Please bring your local (US) drivers license. You will fill out a form, then pay $21, and you will get your Samoan license on the spot. Our car rental agency in Samoa (Samoana Car Rentals) knows that we are planning on getting 3 drivers licenses and will accommodate our request when we pick up our rental cars.

If you hit a pig or chicken on the road, drive straight on through to the next police station and let them handle it. Do not stop and attempt to negotiate with angry local villagers, but know that a size 2 pig costs WST110 ($50). Yes, you killed their to'onai, but why did they have it running loose? Now you have to pay car rental charges to fix the car. Of course, stop immediately if you hit a pedestrian. Finally, no one cares if you hit a dog. (!)

Speed limit in Samoa is 40 KPH on the open road and 25 KPH in the villages. And don't be doing donuts on the malae during Sa. Sa (evening prayer) happens right as the sun drops over the horizon. If you are driving or walking in a village at this time, stop, sit and murmer quietly in respect.

Here is a vid of driving in Samoa. It's neither busy nor complex.

Informal Road Rules:

• Take caution to avoid the people, children, pigs, dogs, and chickens in the road.
• When approaching a pedestrian (from behind), tap briefly on the horn.
• When passing another automobile, tap once on the horn before proceeding. After completing the pass, tap twice to thank the other driver, and he will respond with a single horn tap.

Car insurance is paid via Val's Visa Credit card which is used to rent the cars.
As a driver, you are responsible to walk all around your car and note any dings or scratches. Do not forget to look underneath the carriage of the car for damage underneath. Take pictures of any damage you see on the car. Then inspect the car daily.

 African Snail Spraying

Prior to driving your car onto the ferry  to Savaii, you must stop at the spray station about 300 yards from the ferry landing at Mulifanua Wharf. You drive slow and they spray your car's undercarriage to prevent the spread of the African snail. This spraying is free.

 

Electricity Needs

This page has good information:
http://www.power-plugs-sockets.com/en-us/samoa/

Basically, you need to know two things:

1. Does your plug physically fit into the electricity receptacle in Samoa? No.

Here is your US appliance cord end:

Here is the Samoan electrical outlet, aka Type I or the "Australian Outlet:"



Not the same. So you know that you need a plug adaptor. This just reconfigures the physical plug to fit into the samoan socket.

2. Is the voltage draw equivalent? Depends.The United States provides the following voltage/currents: 120V, 60 Hz. Samoa provides the following: 230 V, 50 Hz. Will your appliance be able to function on the samoan current? If your appliance says "120V, 60Hz" NO! You will need a voltage converter as well as a plug adaptor.

If the label states 'INPUT: 100-240V, 50/60 Hz' YES! the appliance can be used in all countries in the world. This is common for chargers of tablets/laptops, photo cameras, cell phones, toothbrushes, etc. The good news is that unless your appliance is super old, it probably doesn't need a voltage converter. Really, the only issues are with blow dryers. Check today! 

So before you go,

Throw all the appliances you are planning to packing on your bed. Hair dryers, contact lens sanitizers, hair straighteners, phone chargers, go pro chargers, cameras and ipads. Now take half and take them away. You have too many things. Of the items that are left, contact other trip members and see if you can share appliances. This should get rid of half of what's left. Now carefully check the items left, and determine what needs a converter/plug adaptor combo.

iPhones:
No matter which model iphone you have, you never need a converter, only a plug adaptor. iPhones and iPads work on 100-240 volts and 50-60 Hz. You can plug them in anywhere on earth, as long as you have a plug adaptor to physically connect he

One last thing:
Sometimes some appliances have a physical switch that you have to throw to accept the higher voltage of Samoa. My hairdryer does this. I will post a photo later. Throw the switch before you check in your luggage for your departure flight! I once forgot to throw the switch on my apple computer in Romania, then plugged it in and turned it on. I had to hunt down a computer repair person to fix my fried power supply.

Travel Assignments

Item #6: Trip Responsibilities:

We need volunteers for the following trip responsibilities. You may feel that you are a good match for one of these jobs; you should sign up for it.

1. Itinerary, Budget and Up front expenses: Val

2. Lodging and transport in Hawaii: This person is in charge of procuring transport to and from the airport, and lodging for the out of town people in Hawaii while waiting to depart for Samoa, and while waiting to fly back home after the trip. This person is also in charge of making sure that dad comes from Kahuku safely, and that Dad gets back home to Kahuku safely.

3. Cook: This person checks the itinerary for the next day, and makes sure that picnic breakfasts and picnic lunches are packed for hikes, day trips, and beach swims. This person is in change of boiling, then refrigerating boiled water so everyone has chilled water available. This person will be responsible for collecting the ingredients (like bread, lunch meat, sodas) from the grocery store (but not responsible to pay) and creating grocery lists. 

4. Extra Expenses: This person will be the one to calculate everyone's individual totals at meals and restaurants. For example, after a meal, this person will be in charge of allocating the cost of each entre to each person who ordered it, and that sufficient money has been collected to pay tax and tip. (No tipping in Samoa). Val doesnt want to do this because she doesn't want to get mixed up between the prepaid costs and the extra costs. (She will handle all prepaid costs). This person will coordinate to make sure sufficient small tala bills are available to pay taxi drivers, beach fees, etc.

5. Security and Documentation: This person will be in charge of bringing a waterproof or a lockable backpack for valuables (wallets and phones). This person will coordinate to make sure at least one of us is out of the water at all times to prevent theft. This person will carry an extra copy of airline tickets and car rental agreements and Dad's property deeds, and car insurance coverage, etc. This person will carry airline luggage rules, and passport copies, and visa documentation and will whip it out appropriately. This person is responsible for checking supplies for suntan lotion, bug spray, and does a shoe check to make sure everyone is wearing appropriate footwear, and that everyone is bringing sufficient swimsuit, towels, subglasses, etc. This person will also sweep through each hotel room and rental room before departure to make sure nothing is left.

6. Guide: Each day, this person will study all  maps for the next day, and be prepared to sit in the lead car and negotiate the maps. This person will make sure that each car has a set of physical (paper) maps in the glove compartment, and that at least one person from each car has a set of maps on their phone. This person will stand in line to purchase (but not pay for) the ferry tickets while the others are eating breakfast, etc. This person can be one of the drivers (Sandy Val Alan) but doesnt have to be. This person will use Valeen's phone to call and RSVP to any events prior to the day of the event. This includes hotel reservations and meal reservations.

7. Cleanup: This person will be responsible for making sure that the cars are gassed up and cleaned prior to return. Also that the rental house in Apia is cleaned prior to leaving. This person is also responsible for washing the clothes left in the laundry sack, and hanging them up on the line in a timely manner so that they air dry. (Dryer is to be avoided as much as possible because the energy cost is too high.) This person is responsible for bringing a garbage bag on trips to use for our picnic lunch trash, and also bringing garbage bags to collect rubbish in national parks, a request by the Park.

Again, these 7 responsibilities do not mean that you have to pay for anything-- we are sharing all common costs equally. It just means that you will have to coordinate with others to make sure you have money from the group to buy necessities.

Also a quick note: These assignments are just management of the task. You dont have to do all the cleaning-- all you need to do is be responsible for the job to get done. You can assign out task schedules.