A Warm, Wet, Wonderful Welcome

A first for the Kelly's: our first International Flight in economy! Good news - the flight was not full so we were able to spread out. After an 8 1/2-hr overnight (red-eye) flight on Air Tahiti Nui from LAX, we saw sunrise out the window as we approached Tahiti for our 14-day adventure.


At 9:15 am we stepped off the plane and we were greeted with Lei's and some Tahitian music.

 

Our tour driver was waiting for us as we stepped out of customs. In fact, he had to move the van closer to the terminal as it began raining cats and porpoise's! Man did it come down and strong winds. We boarded the van and within less than a mile, the rain stopped and sun came out. Welcome to Tahiti.

Our driver took us from the a/p to the port where we boarded a large catamaran "shuttle" which took us to the Island of Moorea. We are staying here 2-nights in a gorgeous, panoramic overwater bungalow, at the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort & Spa.


After surveying the property and beach, we were wonderfully surprised and blessed to receive an early check-in (10:30 am). Even the Koi were happy for us!!!



Next stop - our home away from home.

See Karen on our deck. Our unit is nearly the furthest from shore.

We have a glass bottom floor to watch wild life below.
Our over water room is very, very nice and spacious with spectacular ocean views in 3 directions.

The weather here is great for this time of year (the rainy season). We have wonderful ocean breezes, 84 degree temps and a few showers once in awhile - no big deal.

Love the stairs from our patio deck. Wish you could join us - the water is perfect and clear.

Around 3 pm, the Hilton welcomed us with cookies and Champagne. Guess what's for desert tonight?
 
After sunbathing on our deck, we retreated to our room to relax until dinner. The Hilton is not near town or other eating places, but most restaurants provide free pick-up and return. Tonight we ate at the Moorea Beach Café. And yes, Karen had a vegan special.


That's all for today. Time for some sleep after that red eye!
BTW, when we blog it's usually around 9-10 pm and that's 11-12 am CA time. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Unplanned side trip.

Image
Last night we decided to do a 'unplanned side trip', so we studied our AAA France guide book. After some research, we called Hertz and reserved a car. After breakfast it was a short 15-min walk to the agency and in no time, off we went exploring in our little rental. Our near new Fiat 500 for the day. Karen read about this medieval Chàteau about 15-miles from Colmar along the Alsace Wine Route. The drive up to the castle (it's at 2, 500-ft) was very nice through grape vine covered hillsides leading into the forest. As we got close to the castle, there were cars parked along the narrow road for miles. Bill decided we'd go all the way up and see if we might be able to park closer - after all, some peps might be leaving. He was right, and we only had a short walk. Approaching the Castle The Chàteau de Haut Koenigsbourg turns out to be a much-visited castle, looming above the woodlands and countryside below. In fact, it is one of France's most widely v
Read more

Get you own dessert Paul!

Image
We woke up to clouds this morning with 25 mi/hr. wind and a temperature of 46 degrees. Because of the wind, the temperature gauge says it feels like 27…burr! Considering it was near 70 yesterday, this was a dramatic change. But that didn’t stop the Greens or Kellys. But, because of the challenges the Talanians had yesterday, they decided to sleep in and enjoy their morning onboard the Viking Sigrun. Our bus left at 9am for the tulip farm which took us approx. 45-minutes to reach. Although we had a few sprinkles along the way, it had stopped by the time we reached the tulip farm. The farmers wife had set up tables and chairs inside their large covered green house and tractor storage area where they served us coffee, tea, and sweets while she gave us a presentation about the farm. She also had a store with several items for sale. Karen was the only one tempted, so she bought a watercolor reproduction of tulips. The owners wife also had some beautiful murals so we took our pictu
Read more

Discombobulated Day

Image
Late yesterday afternoon (Monday) our Cruise Director got the news that we wouldn’t be able to dock at our planned port, Nijmegan. Our captain got permission to dock there for a short time – long enough to disembark the people who were planning on doing the excursions there. We then sailed away downriver to Emmerich, Germany. We were given many choices as to what we could do about excursions. Our group decided to forgo the excursions in Nijmegan and stay and enjoy the ship as we sailed to Emmerich. We relaxed onboard and when we docked, we had a nice lunch onboard and then decided to stroll around town. Adjacent to our port just a few steps away was St. Martini church and these two interesting statues – a gondolier and an old man watching the river flow by.   It would have been nice in Emmerich except all the stores and restaurants were closed and we were never able to find out why. We enjoyed the walk and beautiful architecture of St. Aldegundis Kirche, who was a Catholic Saint,
Read more