Where do you go if you recently handed over the reins to one of the most stressful jobs in the world, have memoirs worth $60 million (£49 million) to write, and have a new-found love of kitesurfing?

For Barack Obama, the answer is French Polynesia. The former US president slipped quietly into Tahiti by private jet yesterday, touching down at Faa’a International Airport near the capital of Papeete at about 3.30pm. He is expected to stay in French Polynesia for the next month, but his initial visit to Tahiti was a short one.