Welcome to paradise

The first stop on our trip is the main island of Tahiti. This is where the international airport is so we decided to stay a few days here. Getting here is a little bit of a nightmare if you don't sleep well on planes. We left Springfield about 1:00 Friday. Then we flew to Dallas, and then to LA. Sadly, because we had to change airlines we needed to collect our bags, wait an hour for our ticket station to open, wait in line to check in again, repeat security (which is a much longer line in LA than in Springfield where there was no line) and then wait for our midnight flight.

The Air Tahiti gates at LAX are kind of in the basement and when it's time to board they bus you way out of the main terminal to where you hope there is a plane and not the beginning of a kidnapping of a bunch of very disappointed people. But there was a plane and we must give kudos to Air Tahiti who not only didn't charge for checked bags but provided a number of amenities at no charge including dinner and breakfast on the flight over. As I said the flight was at midnight and is 8 hours, giving us an arrival time in Tahiti at 6:00 AM local time for a full day of adventure. But if you did not sleep well on the plane, it can be a bit rough for that full day of adventure. 

However, despite the 22 hours of travel, it was worth it. This is the view from the lobby of our resort. 

We stayed at the Intercontinental Tahiti and it really is amazing. The resort is beautiful and natural and surprisingly quiet and uncrowded. Plenty of open chairs and pools have never been crowded. There is even a lagoonarium for fish viewing and snorkeling. And everyone is very friendly and helpful. 

Yesterday morning and early afternoon we spent in the main town shopping and looking around. It's not big, but there is a market of local crafts and foods and a pearl shop on every corner. The pearls are stunning, but so are the price tags! Yes, you can get one that is inexpensive, but it will not be the ones they show in the brochures. Some of the necklaces we looked at were more expensive than our trip! But I did find something to my liking in an acceptable price range. The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed the pools and watched the sun set.  

Today we had planned a little scenic hiking but the place we were going is closed for landslides. So we have opted to just enjoy the beautiful resort all day instead. 

Here are a few photos from our phones and iPad. I have many more good ones on the actual camera and will post those when we get home. 

We splurged a bit here and chose the overwater bungalow. This is not ours but was taken from our deck. It's really neat, if you go here you must spend at least one night doing this. Although the lagoon here is not as clear and calm as some of the other islands this worked into our schedule better. 

Sand bottom pool

Same pool with swim-up bar