I don’t care much for vacationing in Hawaii, and destinations such as Cancun are lower on my bucket list than many people’s. And yet, I much looked forward to Bora Bora. What’s the difference? A coworker asked when I mentioned our spring break plans. I thought it should’ve been obvious, but started second guessing when
Articles for April 2023
PF 2023 (9/10) – Bora Bora: Bora Bora Water World
When planning our trip to Bora Bora, a few businesses were constantly in our face on Google Maps. Among them were several excursions, of which the Bora Bora Water World seemed feasible for the family. To be clear, we weren’t looking for excursions and would have been perfectly fine just hanging out at the resort.
PF 2023 (8/10) – Bora Bora: Vaitape
Vaitape is the town on the main island of Bora Bora. In this part of the world where most of development is owned by major hotel groups, Vaitape is pretty much the only public place a tourist can visit. While still definitely not cheap, the restaurants and shops here are far more wallet-friendly than their
PF 2023 (7/10) – Bora Bora: Food at the Resort
Dining at Conrad Bora Bora Nui was a tale of two meals… breakfast, and non-breakfast. I’ll start with the latter. Lunch or Dinner Although we came mentally prepared for the high price tags, it was still difficult to order $30 California rolls or $49 cheeseburgers with a straight face. It didn’t matter that there was
PF 2023 (6/10) – Bora Bora: The Bungalow
With a vacation at a fancy resort in a tropical paradise, it’s impossible to pinpoint a single best thing. That said, this entire trip originated from the desire to stay in an over-water bungalow. I’m happy to report that it more than beat expectations. Booking this particular bungalow was a slippery-slope decision making experience. It
PF 2023 (5/10) – Bora Bora: Conrad Bora Bora Nui
We returned a couple days later to PPT, a dinky airport that was no fun to hangout at. Air Tahiti Nui, like Southwest Airlines, had a free-for-all seating policy. As such, close to 100% of the passengers had already formed a line 20 minutes prior to boarding. Just as we begrudgingly made our way to
PF 2023 (4/10) – Bora Bora: Expenses
Everyone knows that stuff is expensive in Hawaii because everything has to be imported from an ocean away. Tahiti is the same, just even less populated and further from a major port. And then Bora Bora is like Tahiti’s Hawaii. While getting there isn’t so difficult, spending any time in this paradise is bound to
PF 2023 (3/10) – Tahiti: Hilton Tahiti Resort
From Saturday evening to Monday morning, we had a great time at Hilton Tahiti. It was a great way to use up our free night certificates, both because the cash price was high and because it was simply a very nice resort. I was surprised by the resort’s lack of beach access. In my naïve
PF 2023 (2/10) – Tahiti: Papeete and Faa’a
After an easy 9-hour hop from SFO, we landed in Tahiti’s Papeete / Faa’a airport (PPT). This was our family’s first time visiting the southern hemisphere, and first time flying so far west without crossing the International Date Line. French Polynesia is part of Polynesia, and at the same time unmistakably French. It’s a European-owned
PF 2023 (1/10) – A French Polynesian Spring Break
For spring break this year, we upped the game a little… by going to Tahiti and Bora Bora. Staying in an over-water bungalow had been on our bucket list for some time. Hong made a map of all such resorts in the world, though most of the options were never serious contenders next to the