Ahhhh, Tahiti! You set off a travel obsession in me! Beautiful French Polynesia was the first place I ever traveled to outside of the United States. I was young and naïve, and heading to a study abroad in New Zealand for a semester. I had no idea how to travel. I was scared to death to fly over water anywhere, yet alone somewhere out in the heart of the South Pacific. Looking back, I am so grateful to the travel agent at my university who twisted my arm into adding a couple of stopovers to my airplane ticket. I didn’t know what a stopover was, but she told me it was the way to stretch my ticket into an adventure for an extra $25 per stop. So she added Tahiti, and also Fiji, to my itinerary. Bless her heart!!!
So I planned and prepared for my study abroad. I spent all summer worrying about living in a foreign country and remembering to buy everything I could possibly need to survive (“Do they sell peanut butter in New Zealand?”). I didn’t even think about what to see or do on my stopovers, except to book rooms to stay in for a few days. When the time came to hop on that flight to Tahiti, I said a teary goodbye to my family at LAX. I got on that plane with 4 or 5 of the other travel abroad friends who booked the same stopovers, and off we went. 9 hours of in-flight movies later, we touched down in Papeete in the early morning hours.
We climbed down the aircraft passenger stairs (I didn’t even know they still did that after the 1960’s) and entered the tiny deserted airport. It was 4am, as I recall. No shops, restaurants, or money exchanges were open. My friends and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and said “Now what?” One of my friends had traveled to South America before. She suggested we wait for the money exchange to open so that we could get proper coins to use the payphone, and then call a taxi to get us to our hotel. Why didn’t I think of that??? Oh yeah–I was a novice traveler.
A few hours later, the taxi van came and got us and another friend used her broken French to show the driver the hotel address scribbled on a piece of paper. We drove up to the entrance of the InterContinental Tahiti Resort feeling like we were on a ride at Disneyland, not because of the way the driver drove, but because the entrance to the resort was straight out of the Tiki Room attraction in Adventureland: lush tropical plants, bright flowers, a waterfall, stone tiki statues, and a tall thatched roof. We checked in, found our rooms, threw on our swimsuits, and headed to the pool. I was so enchanted by the beautiful landscaping, the wicker lounge furniture, and the infinity pool with the waterfall cave. Frankly, I didn’t care what we did in Tahiti, as long as I had this memory to savor! I couldn’t believe I was really here, in this tropical paradise, having a surreal travel adventure!
We spent the day getting to know the hotel, the city, and the island. We played around at the resort, checking out activities, browsing the gift shop, and eating lunch at the restaurant. We took a taxi into town and explored the streets of Papeete. We grabbed fresh croissants at a bakery (I had no idea this place was French meets island-style), bought souvenirs, took photos, and wandered the streets. We jumped on a bus that we thought would take us back to our hotel. Turns out it was an express bus that went around the whole island. Once we figured out our mistake halfway around the island, we tried to communicate to the driver that we wanted off, and he reluctantly let us off at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Just jungle, trees, grass, and little homes behind high walls. How to get back?? A family heard us talking outside their gate, and came to our aid. We again used our friend’s broken french to explain that we missed the stop to the hotel and didn’t know how to get back. He called a taxi and saved us! The people in Tahiti are so friendly!
We had a wonderful dinner at the resort. There were dancers, and tiki torches, and a beautiful sunset. Again, I was so charmed with this tropical island paradise. I just couldn’t take enough photos!
Little did I know that the next day was to be the best one ever! It is still on my list of the top three “happy places” my mind goes to when I need to meditate. At my dad’s request, I had booked us a hotel stay on the neighboring island of Moorea. My dad was in the Navy, and traveled around the world a bit, and knew that this was the island in one of his favorite movies “South Pacific.” So before leaving the states, he recommended that we check it out while we were there. We took a ferry across the 11 miles of water to the sister island of Tahiti, Moorea. The view was surreal, with a gorgeous landscape of tall green peaks enshrouded with mist, lush vegetation, pretty rivers, and waterfalls. At Moorea’s port, there were natives dressed in their colorful lava lavas, called pareos, with fresh flowers behind their ears. They were selling fresh fruit. We bought pineapple that was to die for! I don’t even like pineapple, but I closed my eyes, sighed with pleasure, and bought another bag.
A short taxi ride later, we were at the Sofitel Ia Ora Resort. Again, a gorgeorsly landscaped entrance welcomed us. We were lucky that I booked an overwater bungalow for us, just because it looked so unique on the internet. That was the right choice. It was the most amazing lodging experience ever! A dock leads to multiple little huts that are built right over the water or a beautiful white sand beach. Each unit had a little patio with stairs leading down to the water, so you could climb down into the lagoon and go for a swim whenever you wanted. Our bungalow had a glass window in the living room floor, where we could look into the clear water and watch tropical fish swim around beneath you. I mean, how cool is that?!? This was definitely worth the extra money to stay here.
We wandered around the resort, in the light drizzling rain. We hiked a couple of miles to a nearby market and bought some groceries to eat. We stayed up late watching movies, looking at the stars, and chatting as we watched the fish swim underneath our floor. The next day, some of us went on an excursion to go scuba diving with sharks. The rest of us went swimming in the lagoon, snorkeled, and kayaked until the evening. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at the restaurant in the open air. There were dancers and island music. It was magical. I love, love, love Moorea!
I was sad to leave the next day because I had just got a taste of the beauty of these islands. I wish I had planned more days in French Polynesia to explore the green jungles and high waterfalls. There are so many beaches I have yet to walk on, and so many villages I have yet to explore. I met many wonderful, kind people there who went out of their way to make me feel at home. I love the island vibe and the cultural music, food, dress, and dance. I can’t wait to return there someday, hopefully with my husband on a romantic getaway!
So, thank you Tahiti, for opening my eyes to the world of travel and instilling an unquenchable case of wanderlust in me!