Honeymoon : View Experience
Paradise and Adventure: French Polynesia, Mexico
User:
Marchman
Date Created:
August 23rd, 2008
Category:
Locations:
Destinations: French Polynesia (2 weeks) , Mexico (2 weeks), Date: Aug 2003
The idea was to see paradise and visit a place of cultural interest, thus we decided on French Polynesia and a self-drive tour through Mexico. A trusted tour operator, Hotelplan, organized the trip. The flight was long, 26 hrs. We flew Lufthansa from Italy to Papeete, Tahiti. Tip: we mentioned to the gate personnel that it was our honeymoon; they upgraded our seats to business class.
Papeete is interesting, but I recommend any of the other islands. We overnighted and flew on the next day. We stayed a week at Sofitel Bora Bora Beach Resort and a week at Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort. If you can budget it, try the over-water bungalow. It had a section of glass flooring where you could watch fish swimming. The resort had evening entertainment. Snorkelling and diving are supreme. I dove on a reef among 6 big grey sharks. If you are not certified to dive, you can still dive holding a dive master’s hand. Bora Bora is large enough the rent a jeep and venture out, while Tikehau is a small atoll. The airports on the atolls are open air grass thatch structures. Not much different than what you saw on Gilligan’s Island.
Mexico City, this segment of the honeymoon was a rental car, hotel reservations and an itinerary. In 13 nights, we travelled this route: Mexico City, Pueblo, Oaxaca, Tuxtla Guitierrez, San Cristobal, Palenque, Campeche, Uxmal, Merida, Chichen-Itza, and Cancun. The landscape changed from high plains to desert filled with Wiley Coyote cactus, and then lush tropical forest. Memorable are the ancient pyramids ruins and the Chiapas region with the indigenous people. Seeing drying red hot chilli peppers along the street, ladies hand washing clothes at a well, the car breaking speed bumps along main roads. All wonderful!
In summary, 1 month was too long. 3 weeks would have sufficed. The cost of French Polynesia was exorbitant. One can get paradise in Hawaii at half the cost. For the adventurous types, the self drive tour of Mexico rocked!
The idea was to see paradise and visit a place of cultural interest, thus we decided on French Polynesia and a self-drive tour through Mexico. A trusted tour operator, Hotelplan, organized the trip. The flight was long, 26 hrs. We flew Lufthansa from Italy to Papeete, Tahiti. Tip: we mentioned to the gate personnel that it was our honeymoon; they upgraded our seats to business class.
Papeete is interesting, but I recommend any of the other islands. We overnighted and flew on the next day. We stayed a week at Sofitel Bora Bora Beach Resort and a week at Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort. If you can budget it, try the over-water bungalow. It had a section of glass flooring where you could watch fish swimming. The resort had evening entertainment. Snorkelling and diving are supreme. I dove on a reef among 6 big grey sharks. If you are not certified to dive, you can still dive holding a dive master’s hand. Bora Bora is large enough the rent a jeep and venture out, while Tikehau is a small atoll. The airports on the atolls are open air grass thatch structures. Not much different than what you saw on Gilligan’s Island.
Mexico City, this segment of the honeymoon was a rental car, hotel reservations and an itinerary. In 13 nights, we travelled this route: Mexico City, Pueblo, Oaxaca, Tuxtla Guitierrez, San Cristobal, Palenque, Campeche, Uxmal, Merida, Chichen-Itza, and Cancun. The landscape changed from high plains to desert filled with Wiley Coyote cactus, and then lush tropical forest. Memorable are the ancient pyramids ruins and the Chiapas region with the indigenous people. Seeing drying red hot chilli peppers along the street, ladies hand washing clothes at a well, the car breaking speed bumps along main roads. All wonderful!
In summary, 1 month was too long. 3 weeks would have sufficed. The cost of French Polynesia was exorbitant. One can get paradise in Hawaii at half the cost. For the adventurous types, the self drive tour of Mexico rocked!
