Tahiti calls (but not loudly enough)

Some days are just plain weird.  I checked my emails this morning to find a last minute invitation to present a paper at a meeting in Tahiti (all expenses paid).  Sadly, the dates they wanted me (or, really to be honest, I was about their 31st choice, so the dates they wanted anyone who knows the vaguest thing about islands!!) were impossible - 2 days before I am due to leave here to return to the UK.  I must confess I did look at flights from LAX to Papeete just to see if it was vaguely possible.  At lunch I visited the 'Images of the artist' exhibition at the Getty Museum (bear with me, this honestly is relevant...) and found the most beautiful drawing below by Paul Gauguin called 'Head of a Tahitian woman'. How likely is one to be drawn to thinking about Tahiti twice in one day?  If anyone wants to go to Tahiti and deliver a paper on the geomorphology of atolls let me know and I'll put them in touch with the organisers!

Head of a Tahitian woman, Paul Gauguin, 1892, charcoal.