Bora Bora Honeymoon

To Los Angeles
After a fantastic wedding the weekend before, we set off on our honeymoon on Wednesday morning. Jenny's mom dropped us off at the airport in San Jose for our flight to LAX via American Eagle (American Airlines smaller local commuter planes).

When we got to LAX, it was a short ride from the secondary terminal for American Eagle flights to the main terminal, and from there a short walk to Bradley International Terminal where we checked in for our flight aboard Air Tahiti Nui.  

After checking our baggage, Shaun’s dad picked us up and took us to a dim sum brunch in Monterey Park . Good stuff!  

After totally filling up, we returned to the airport to get ready for our flight. Following advice from the forums we read to prepare for the trip (props to TripAdvisor.com French Polynesia forums and Tahiti-Explorer.com forums) we stopped by the Duty Free shop to stock up on some liquor. We aren’t very heavy drinkers, so we decided only on a handle of Malibu rum, great for adding to practically any fruit juice or mixer for that tropical drink vibe. Shaun also picked up a pair of new sunglasses.

 To Tahiti (Papeete)

We found our way to our flight’s terminal and waited. Through the window you could see the Air Tahiti Nui Airbus A340 in bright blue. It was an absolutely beautiful plane and we hoped the bright colors were a sign of what we had in store at the lagoon in Bora Bora .

We had a celebrity on our flight too! If you watch Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. Burke was on our flight (actor’s real name is Isaiah Washington ) with his wife and 3 kids. He was wearing sunglasses the whole time, the celebrity thing to do we suppose. We couldn’t think of his name when we saw him, so we decided not to approach. Nonetheless, an IMDB search when we got home confirmed that he has 3 kids, so it had to be him!

Boarding the flight, the first thing we realized was that these planes were nice! Seating was arranges in a 2+4+2 pattern with enormous overhead luggage bins. We had window and aisle seats. Each seat had its own TV and entertainment system capable of tuning to 7 or so movie and TV channels, as well as games like Tetris, solitaire, poker, Mini Golf, Space Invaders, and interactive games with other passengers like Trivia and Chess. There was also music too, but neither of us listened to it.

The flight was 7.5 hours, and was rather pleasant. We were served one light meal (pizza pocket) and one dinner (salmon pasta or chicken, we both got the salmon). Being accustomed to recent domestic flights where you have to pay $4 for a bag of chips, it was nice to have stuff included like alcoholic drinks. They also gave us a little package that contained booties, eye masks for sleeping, ear-plugs, headphones for the TV, as well as a refreshing wash-nap.  

We arrived at Papeete airport (the main international airport in Tahiti ) at about 10pm. We exited the plane on jet-bridge to an outdoor terminal where we were greeted with leis. The line for customs for passengers from the US was really short (lots of Europeans on our flight), and we picked up our baggage and met with the people from Marama tours, who had our names on a big whiteboard. (We booked our trip through Pleasant Holidays via a AAA travel agent). They welcomed us, took our transfer vouchers, and sent us on our way to a shuttle that would take us to our hotel. Problem was they had out hotel wrong. They thought we were staying at the Sofitel, but we were staying at the Radisson Plaza Resort, which is the farthest resort from the airport. After a little confusion, we were on our way, with a driver who was more than happy to teach us some Polynesian sayings that would be useful our entire trip. Ia orana (Hello), Maururu (Thank you), Nana (Goodbye).

The Radisson Plaza Resort, Tahiti

We got to the Radisson where we checked in around 11:30, asking for a 6:30 wakeup call to get to the airport for our 8am flight.  

The Radisson was a pretty nice hotel. Being honeymooners, we ended up with a Hot-tub suite with an in-door hot tub and a deck overlooking the black sand beach below. Seeing as we were only there for 9 hours, we didn’t really get a chance to enjoy the hot tub or the view, but its nice to know we could have had we stayed later the next morning. The room had a very modern decor, and had been renovated in the last year or two. To the left is the picture of the black sand beach at daybreak from our deck. Beautiful as it was, it was nothing compared to what we had in store.