Getting to the French Polynesia isn’t too terribly difficult- only about an 8 hour flight out of LA. We flew into LAX that morning, drove around town & had lunch in Marina del Ray, grabbed a quick nap & then headed back to the airport for our midnight flight to paradise.
We landed on the mainland of Tahiti around 5AM, but the local band was there to greet us & we didn’t have to wait long in customs because we’d luckily snagged a seat up front on the enormous plane. We sat around about 2 hours waiting for our connection, but we changed clothes & freshened up, grabbed some cash from an ATM, and got ready for the last flight.
Both the Air Tahiti Nui plane we took from LAX and the smaller plane we flew on to Moorea. The inter-island flight from Moorea to Bora Bora had en even smaller plane. I don’t think this airport gets much traffic, except for a regular Air France flight that brings Europeans.
The Papette airport in Tahiti on the left, and the tiny airport on Moorea (which was mostly shut down). There were only about 20 people on the 7AM flight with us.
The island of Tahiti is very close to Moorea (you can see it in the distance behind H) & many people opt to take a ferry because it’s cheaper, but we already had to buy inter-island air tickets to get to Bora Bora.
We were warmly greeted at our hotel & our room wouldn’t be ready until the afternoon, so we walked around to get our first look at this amazing property as most guests were still sleeping at 7:30. Our room was going to be just off this pontoon where dozens of these black gulls gathered on the ropes all day long.
It didn’t take long for us to be ready to hop into the pool for our first swim & then our first swim out in the lagoon.
The Hilton has an amazing lagoon- beautiful waters, tons of coral, hundreds of fish, and stunning backdrop of the mountains. After a while, we decided to rent a car & drive the island while we were waiting & to pick up some groceries for the room so we could stock our own snack & drink bar.
When we returned our room was ready & we were so ready to settle in for 4 nights after traveling for 30+ hours.
As we sat on our porch the first night, sipping drinks, playing cards & watching the sunset, we knew we were going to be in for an unbelievably wonderful trip.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Getting to celebrate both of the wonderful men in my life that I can dad today!
