Well, we are back in travel mode after a six month hiatus. As an American right now, our travel options are severely limited to a handful of international destinations. Of these, only Mexico and French Polynesia were realistically feasible due to direct flights from Los Angeles, though Serbia is not to be overlooked. In any event, we found ourselves on an Air Tahiti Nui flight bound for Tahiti. We are not going simply because it is allowed. We have previously considered a trip to the region, but have repeatedly found it to be rather cost prohibitive. If there is any positive to be spun from this dumpster fire of a year, it’s that tourist destinations have dropped their prices considerably. Whereas in the past, we had pretty much resigned ourselves to only going as far as Mo’orea (the nearest and easiest island to get to), Nicole was able to work some magic and got very reasonably priced accommodations on Bora Bora, the most exclusive island of them all. We packed our bathing suits, goggles, flip flops, and several cloth masks. What a time to be alive!
It would also be impossible to ignore the steps we had to take in order to make this all possible; and while we hope to relax once we get to Tahiti, the lead up was far from stress-free. French Polynesia requires a negative result from a Covid test within 72 hours prior to the departure of the aircraft. Since LAX is currently the only airport in North America serving Tahiti, this is actually a much bigger problem for other people than us, but getting a result within 72 hours was still no easy task. My last test took eleven days, so timeliness was obviously important. Secondly, we were given a self-test kit to perform four days after arriving in Tahiti. There have been no recent cases in French Polynesia and they aim to keep it that way.
The flight from LAX to Tahiti was uneventful, albeit uncomfortable. Being around people in any circumstance has just been frustrating as of late, so our emotions were already heightened. Why did the gate agent give us the only seats next to a stranger, when everyone else was spaced about the cabin? Why do people not understand that having their nose dangle out of their mask kind of defeats the purpose? When these people wear pants, do they only pull them up so that their goolies are still dangling out the top as well?
It was still dark when we touched down, and we had about three hours before our inter-island flight to Bora Bora. The boarding process began ten minutes prior to the scheduled departure time and yet we somehow managed to be in the air almost as soon as we had fastened our seatbelts. Air Tahiti (different airline than Air Tahiti Nui) has open seating, so we didn’t have any assigned seats. I had read somewhere that sitting on the left is generally better for views, and we were able to snag a pair of seats together just next to the propeller blade of the ATR-72. As we took off, we banked to fly past Mo’orea. Thirty minutes later, we passed by Taha’a which appeared to be under a rainstorm. I figured this would hold true for Bora Bora as well, but South Pacific weather is schizophrenic. Bora Bora appeared in front of us like the exotic jewel that it is — turquoise water shimmering invitingly toward our aircraft. We banked sharply one last time to land on the small runway which is on its own motu.
After deplaning, we picked up our bags and got on a boat that took us to the Conrad Bora Bora, also on its own motu. About twenty minutes later we arrived at the dock. We were welcomed and shown around the property. Because Nicole is now some sort of fancy pants Hilton Gold member, we were upgraded to an overwater bungalow.
We immediately showered and changed into something more appropriate for the climate and sat on our massive lanai that overlooks the lagoon. More appropriately, I was lying down in some sort of mesh hammock with the blue waters flowing just feet below me. I drifted off to a brief sleep and woke up to look around at the other overwater bungalows around me and it was all very surreal. Given everything that has been going on around the world, and the steps we had to take to get here, I feel like we had accomplished something great. It wasn’t our longest travel day by any means, but for some reason it seemed to have a bit of extra stress and weight to it. As we slip into jetlag’s embrace for the first time in a very long time, we hope that perhaps now on this exotic isle in the middle of the pacific, we can find a way to finally relax.
passports & pepto bismol 