Travel day - headed to Bora Bora

 Today was our last day in an Overwater Bungalow ☹️

Enjoyed every last minute of our time at the Hilton Moorea.  We continued to watch the fish and even saw a Stingray!

We received a really nice shell necklace when we checked out.

We made our way to the ferry dock.  As an FYI - we had to buy new ferry tickets on another line as our original ferry “was out for service”. Not a big deal but we did discover that we came over on the ‘local yokel’ ferry 😂😂  Our new ride seemed to cater to the tourist segment.  Here we are waiting 

Yes we were glistening and it was lightly raining.  The ride was very smooth and we whisked onward to the airport for our inter-island flight.   Made it through security - had to take our shoes off (we are spoiled with pre-check) and get a thorough pat down since neither of us can go through the metal detector thingy.

Then it was time to board - boy was that a crazy ordeal!  There were just 4 passengers and they put us in rows 15-17 in the back of the plane.  The captain didn’t bother with the welcome message over the intercom, he just walked back and had a casual chat with us.  The other 2 passengers were locals. 

So here starts a ton of pictures - hang on

Empty plane

Views we had

Bora Bora landing, airport, and private boat from the Conrad to take us to the resort

This is the luggage pick up - can’t call it a carousel 

On the boat - we again received leis made out of the Tiara flower - which is kin to the gardenia

Just had to take this snapshot from Life360 showing we were boating near the South Pacific!

Now for the next photo dump of the Conrad.  Initial thoughts - much higher class, soothing and very beautiful.

Perks - they will come pick you up and take you anywhere on the resort.  Having dinner and too full to walk?  a golf cart is Johnny-on-the-spot to take you back to your room/hut.

A little info about our room.  It has a living room, separate bedroom, luxurious bathroom.  Now outside we have a covered area with a sofa table and 2 chairs, then 2 lounge chairs, and our own private plunge pool that looks out toward the water.  Super nice - even nicer than the place I stayed at in St. Barth’s years ago.

We are the last hut on the right - which is what Tiffany thought my address would be when I lived in the British Virgin Islands,

This band is our waterproof room key.  It does feel like you have a hair band or scrunchie on your wrist.

We have had dinner and are relaxing - neither of us can hardly wait to get in the pool tomorrow!

Last Day in Moorea

 Here we are wrapping up our last day in Moorea.  The sun actually came out a little bit today, so we went for a swim! 

We each took a turn swimming under the hut to the fish viewing window.  **Warning** the following are the only pictures you will ever see of these two old ladies in bathing suites. 

While this may look fun at first glance, it was challenging to fight the current back to the steps.  Wasn't sure we were going to make it but don't worry, we had a "plan".  If one floated off, the other was gonna jump in and laugh about floating off.  Fortunately for us, the current went straight to the beach so at worst we would have beached ourselves for everyone to see!!  Always have a plan!!

After the almost beaching, we laid low and stared at the waves and fish the rest of the day. 

We headed out for dinner and a show.  Dinner was great for most people but since we are both selective eaters (I won't say picky), we managed to find a few items deemed suitable.  During dinner we enjoyed music and traditional Polynesian dancing.  We were also treated to a beachside fire dance or "Ailao Afi".  Now I know why the men here do not have any chest or leg hair!! It reminded us of our time on the flag corps and rifle guard in high school. Can you imagine missy with a fire rifle!!

Good Night, Off to Bora Bora tomorrow!!

It’s my birthday

 What a wonderful view to wake up to

I’ve always wanted to visit French Polynesia - had hoped to come after I finished Grad School but it didn’t happen

So happy to be here for my 60th birthday - wow - I’m getting old!

Almost Monday

 Monday; Monday - it was such a rainy and windy one.  No eating outside - as it was just too rainy and windy.

Now it was less rainy at times and we ALMOST

• Got in the water
• Went snorkeling
• Took a nap
• Went into the village to shop
• Got blown off the boardwalk

But we didn’t accomplish any of that 

What we accomplished:

•  Missy got drenched coming back from breakfast - did not have an umbrella (Shan made it back before the floor fell out)
• We did get soaking wet going to and from lunch
• We did have umbrellas and staff ran beach towels to us and anyone else nearby.
• We did watch fish in our room
• We did sit and just enjoy the view
• We watched 2 brave souls kayak and ride the waves
• We did watch a few episodes of a Tv Show
• We did order room service for dinner

Follow the yellow line from the red “X”.  That’s the distance to food!

Had to put all the wet stuff in the tub

Why yes…

 Guess the number of times Shan and I have been asked if we are twins in the last 24 hours

Answer: 2

As of Tuesday the answer is: 3

We have decided to just start replying. “Why yes, we ARE twins”

We will try to update the number over the course of our trip so we don’t keep everyone in suspense 

Travel Day

 So our travel day started as extra long day.  We were able to get a day room at our hotel in Los Angeles so we did not have to check out till 8 PM. Our flight was at 10:45 PM. So that made for a very very very long day of hanging out in a hotel.

We were able to get a day room at our hotel in Los Angeles so we did not have to check out till 8 PM. Our flight was at 10:45 PM. So that made for a very very very long day of hanging out in a hotel.

The most amazing thing happened - when we arrived at LAX, we had to wait like 45 minutes before air Tahiti move opened for check-in. When they finally opened, we quickly noticed the premium economy. Check-in line had no one in it. We scooted as fast as we could to the front of that area and we probably waited on. But wait, that wasn’t the amazing part yet. So we moved on up the escalator through the TSA checkpoint through security through everything in under two minutes. We were shocked we were surprised we pondered. How could we possibly get through security at LAX that quickly. But we didn’t question too much. We were just happy and thrilled that we got through with no problems.

So then we finally boarded the flight as stated earlier we flew premium economy. 

We do not like premium economy. 

We missed business class immensely.

However, it was a nice flight easy there was room to move around and change seats if you wanted because it was not a packed flight.

So then morning came, we woke up to a basic breakfast nothing fancy French toast and applesauce and maybe some cheese I’m not sure but but never nevertheless we were awake at 4 AM. The plane landed at 4:45. Finally - we have made it to French Polynesia!!!

We got off the plane in long pants, sweatshirts, and jackets and promptly started sweating our butts off. So as soon as we got our luggage, we went to the bathroom and changed into cooler clothes.

So now it’s 5:30 in the morning and we don’t check into our hotel till 2 o’clock. The ferry doesn’t run until 715 so we’re just hanging out at the airport and finally make our way to the ferry terminal.

.

We did have a wonderful taxi driver that brought us from the ferry station in Mora to the Hilton Mora, where we are staying, he was chatty. He was sharing all sorts of information and where we should go eat and what we should go do and it was just lovely. It’s always nice to meet people that are proud of where they’re from and want to share their history.

At this point it’s 830 at the hotel. Of course our room is not ready, of course there’s other people that were likely on the same flight and same ferry as us checking in and their rooms weren’t ready. It was time to explore the resort and grab something to eat

Now for the weather report: 

Overcast

Windy

Rainy (at times)

But we don’t care!  We are in Tahiti !!!

These are our very fragrant leis made of Tahitian gardenias we received at the hotel

Our exploring unfortunately did not take 6 hours.   So back to the lobby area we went - tired, sleepy, ready to get in the room. Shan fell asleep as did this guy

Finally we got into our room - well worth the wait

Now we are relaxing and loving the view.  TV options are CNN in English or everything else in French.

Say this in the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode way - No TV for you!

With the rain and wind we thought to order room service - pizza; crème brûlée, and some sort of lime tart.

Missy and her speech issues had a hard time conveying the last item.  So we are waiting to see what surprise we get - will it be a yummy dessert or what I fear we’ll get- some weird ass cocktail!

Here’s what we tried to order

Tahiti 1st leg

 Finally!! The trip is on!! Why did I state it that way??

Well, when we booked our flight, we didn't want to connect through Chicago (esp since it's January), so we booked the connect through DFW and thought our chances were good. 

Then on Monday we saw a winter storm targeting Dallas and knew we had to change our connection to LAX to beat the crowds since DFW is an American Airlines hub.  We were able to change our flight to connect through Phoenix and on to LAX.  All was well, until the fires near LAX started and now we didn't know if we would make it at all. 

Fortunately, LAX didn't close and we landed last night.  Now, we a just waiting for our flight to Tahiti this evening. 

From our hotel rooftop, we can see one of the wildfires.