Semi-circumnavigation: Kyiv - Paris - Los Angeles - French Polynesia (Ta
2.000 km from home. The idea to visit the most beautiful island in the world on earth visited me and my wife (or rather me) back in 2008.
Chose hotels and tour as always long and painful. Fortunately, I got a good tour operator advised Che and how. And what is not unimportant, they have already sent tourists to such a distance and there were also people from their employees there - in short, we received adequate descriptions of what we were to see.
When choosing a route, such a long-awaited tour, we were guided by the fact that we were traveling together and just wanted a romantic getaway - therefore, the first city in which we had to stop was Paris. I won’t write about it, I think there are enough reviews.
By the way, except through Paris (AirFrance) to Tahiti, you can also get by JAL via Tokyo - thank God that we didn’t fly like that - just Fukushima was covered by a tsunami.
Yes, and from a practical point of view, this is not so convenient - the fact is that French Polynesia is an overseas territory of France - that is, in fact, the territory of France with a very wide autonomy - well, the metropolis supports its “colonies” in every possible way, which positively affects the ticket price, for example, we it cost about $ 2.300 (economy class) per person - I think for such a distance this is a penny - for comparison, a ticket to the Maldives from Kyiv costs $ 2.500, and the distance is three times less.
So, on May 9.2011, a flight from Kyiv to Paris. There are three days and the first long flight to Los Angeles fly 12 hours. They flew economy because at the most crucial moment there was not enough finance for the business. To my wife, it’s all the same, I have a standard-sized girl 90:60.90. But with a height of two meters and a weight of 110 kg, I thought it would be difficult.
But for what I love non-zhlobsky European airlines - for the fact that there economy is better than business in Ukrainian airlines, which I often use on duty. And the flight went quite normally, there was enough space, the seats recline very well, and not by two centimeters, the plane is very new, there is enough space for the knees and there is a telly there - I even found a couple of Russian films. Although the presence of the iPad was also not unimportant.
May 11.2009 flight from Paris to Los Angeles. We checked in our luggage in Paris straight to Tahiti and in Los Angeles, despite all the fears, we did not have to pick it up for re-registration. Saturday is the longest day of my life, it seemed like it would never end. At 15:00 on Saturday we took off from Paris and after a 12-hour flight at 19:00 on the same Saturday we hit America.
A few words about the airport in Los Angeles - it's a NIGHTMARE for all the checks it takes so long that the plane had to be delayed for two hours because of it. Tip: As soon as you get off the plane, immediately fly to the passport control desk (hereinafter - PC) and, entering the hall of the same PC or even on the plane, grab the blue forms that are needed for transit entry into the United States from countries for which visa entry to the United States is provided. Because on the plane they give out all sorts of different ones and, as a rule, they slip these forms for an EU citizen, but such forms do not suit us. And when you stand in line for an hour or two (if you can't be the first to rush out of the plane to the PC counter) you will be sent to fill out these forms and then pass over to stand in line again.
Finally, we passed this passport control and went up to the waiting room - as always, the pendos were scammed to the fullest - they filmed everything and everything, well, that sort of thing.
However, as elsewhere in Europe, nothing exclusive.
Three hours of Duty Free - which is small and not very good there, and finally we are on the plane to Tahiti and again 11 hours of flight. This time the plane was even better than from Paris, and thanks to this comfort, as well as the fact that in Ukraine at that time it was already late at night, we switched off and woke up on the approach to Tahiti for a couple of hours. We got off the plane and it was only three o'clock in the morning of Sunday - Saturday was really very long))).
And then the most pleasant thing until 7 am had to wait for a transfer to about. Moorea which is located 17 kilometers from Tahiti. It was simply impossible to get to it before! ! ! And it's upsetting.
A local feature of French Polynesia is that after sunset, it seems to die out. Nothing works anywhere, everyone goes to bed at 8 pm. There is no nightlife as such, nowhere to go at night and nowhere to walk.
But it's not scary all the same 12 hours difference from Kyiv. That is, you yourself until 9 pm, when you sit out, you will consider yourself a hero.
about. Moorea
Compared to other resorts in the Dominican Republic, O. Bali, the Maldives, etc. , French Polynesia looks like an absolutely uninhabited country in our understanding of the word “civilization”, and there is very little of it here - it seems to be stuck in the 50s of the last century. Ancient buses, old buildings, and indeed there are very few buildings. Upon arrival at about. Moorea greeted us decorously and invited us to the bus, which took everyone to the hotels. Hotels on Moorea, to put it mildly, are not so hot, and all of which we passed did not shine with their Receptionists. We ourselves rested in the INTERCONTINENTAL RESORT & SPA MOOREA ***** well, uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, and for 5 stars, it’s not that it doesn’t pull 4 * with a big stretch.
Very old - the service is good, the food in the restaurant is ordinary without frills - they say this hotel is the best that is on Moorea, you can say about the beach as such that it is not here at all - there is some kind of puddle - although everything looks so amazing on the pictures. We were settled in villa 507 and in this row from 501 to 510 they were the best villas, they were on the water, on the water where there is depth, and I jumped into the sea from acceleration from the bed. In short, it’s cool - there is immediately a small coral, you can swim, see the fish and just dive who loves - I love it. But whoever comes across those villas that are deeper in the hotel, they are also like on the water, they are not very lucky there, of course, everything is more boring and stupid - you need to go out and go to the beach, but as I said, it is not at all good! Snorkeling on the island Moorea, to be honest, no - if he was in places where he is considered good.
There are excursions, we were only on a few - Tiki Village is an artificially created village of Polynesians where they tell you in accessible English how they lived and live, what they eat and what they produce and a little history, after dinner, incendiary dances. It is very important to book this tour somewhere on the third day of your stay - otherwise you will be at least uncomfortable - the action drags on until 11 am, and at 2.00 you want to sleep so much that you would give everything for a pillow. And it is also very important to take a camera - you are brought to this excursion by the very sunset - and nowhere else have I seen a more beautiful sunset than in Polynesia!
The second excursion - Sharks and Rays - for those who have not swam with them before, like us, for example, is sooooo exciting! You are taken 300 meters along the reef from the hotel and there is a baited place where an experienced guide feeds stingrays and reef sharks. You are given to feed the stingrays and only look at the sharks.
Very cool - they are only one and a half meters in length, but look wonderful. Then you are taken to Motu Island. We booked a half-day excursion there and thank God. There is nothing to do there all day long. They (Otley management) also think the snorkeling is good there - no it's not good it's so-so - I would say.
As for excursions around the island itself, we did not go on them due to the fact that apart from the Belvedere, which we saw and took pictures on the way to the hotel from the airport, there is nothing to see there, according to Russian-speaking tourists - by the way, this was the first and last time when we met Russian-speaking people in Polynesia.
As for eating in the evening and going somewhere to sit. Often, when we met someone in Polynesia (foreigners who came to reap in Polynesia), their stories were varied, but everything consisted in the fact that here they found harmony.
And everyone got married to Tahitian women - probably there are no more normal women in Europe - the Inquisition took them all away. I have not seen beautiful Tahitian women for two weeks. It’s scary to look at them, I’m already silently getting married. At the same time, postcards with beautiful naked girls are sold everywhere, and comparing them with reality, you understand how deceptive advertising is. So about the restaurants - we were in three different restaurants and two of them were, so to speak, a divorce for tourists, the average bill for two with wine is $ 120-150 and the food, well, just lean sucks. But Tata Nuiti (translated as Little Turtle) is just a fairy tale - a paradise for the stomach. There, the chef is French, he, like all French, got married and found harmony, and at the same time he made a restaurant - the dishes are simply amazing! ! ! And all that we have tried, I have nothing better and nowhere to eat! ! ! Romance!
You sit on the terrace by the sea, the sea is illuminated by a searchlight and you can see how stingrays and sharks are splashing from the right, and here you are eating soup from their scallops.
They also bought pearls at a pearl factory - well, this is more interesting for girls. I can say one thing, the choice of a high price too - but you can bargain without problems, I beat 40% percent - although after I found out what artificial pearls are, how they are made and how difficult it is to check the thickness of the mother-of-pearl layer (only under x-rays) I realized that we did it in vain - threw us away.
Summing up the general impressions about Fr. Moorea can say with confidence that you can go there, but not for a long time - only for the sake of Tiki Village and the panorama of sunsets, and in general, who needs anything from life - there are no good hotels there, as I understand it, but for example, we were pleased with where we had to go and see .
about. Bora Bora
After 3 days on about. Moorea finally we were approaching our dream about.
Bora Bora - it is considered the pearl of the Pacific Ocean and I think it is. He's really, really handsome.
We stayed at the INTERCONTINENTAL TALSSO AND SPA ***** - a very good hotel. The rooms (more precisely, villas on the water - there are no others) are wonderful, clean, new, well-groomed, several rooms have everything you need, everything that is missing will be brought at your request. There is a large glass in front of the bed - so, lying on the bed, you can enjoy the view of the lagoon or Mount Otemanu (depending on which villa you have). Moreover, despite the fact that the villas there are all called differently, there is no difference between them - only in appearance! ! ! And the price depends only on the view of the mountain or the lagoon. In the villas there is no difference, but in their location it is very big.
The hotel is built in the shape of two hearts, and if you look at them from above, you should not take villas that are in the left heart, there the villas are located at a very low depth, that is, there is a shallow no more than a meter deep - you walk waist-deep. But those villas that are in the right heart, especially those that are far from the coast there expanse - you can hardly get the bottom at least two meters deep.
The pool is small, about 10 * 10 meters, there are three restaurants and the food in them is also very good and of high quality. All Ala Carta three times a week Buffet - but I have never seen anything like it, they serve so beautifully cut tuna, Mahi Mahi a lot of seafood and everything is very high quality. We took half board breakfasts and dinners - we thought we would go somewhere to sit somewhere in restaurants. No, there was no such thing. The hotel was better, so I advise you to take a fullboard.
The service staff is very accommodating, and consists entirely of Polynesians, only leadership positions are held by the French - the natives have not mastered management. If you need to decide whether to place an order in a restaurant or book a table or where to go on an excursion - contact the French! Then it will be done! I will not go into the details of my communication with Polynesians, but I can say that they understand only French - it is very difficult with English and ordering a non-alcoholic Mojito - turned into a long explanation of what “without alcohol” is ! ! !
The spa at the hotel is wonderful, at an average price of 200-400 dollars, a classic massage is a little expensive, of course, but still!
Internet is paid in all hotels around 25 bucks a day both on Moorea and Bora Bora.
In a hotel on Bora Bora, in order to feel more or less normal and not deny yourself anything, you need to take about 5.000 euros a week for two. This is without souvenirs with which Polynesia strains utter nonsense. If you are on Moorea, buy them better there - they are cheaper there and there is where to get them - on Bora Bora it is a big headache in the hotel, there is a meager choice and crazy prices, and in Vaitapa you need to climb this village, but it in itself is not very pleasant and dirty.
We bought a mango at the market - I have never tried such a cool one anywhere. And well, and most importantly, take Euros with you, don’t take Dollars - bucks are evil - the exchange rate is simply bondage there - especially in hotels you lose about 150 bucks from each piece on a cross-course, and this is the minimum. So if you are scammed and took dollars with you, then change them to Tahiti in banks, while taking your passport - nothing will work without this.
Well, you can still go to Vaitape - this is a powerhouse on Bora Bora - eats a couple of banks and there you can change the currency at a more acceptable rate than in a hotel by at least 10 percent, but still the rate is worse than in Tahiti.
Excursions on about. Bora Bora.
We only went to the main island once - we went to the Bloody Mary restaurant - great menu, cool interior - terrible service! ! ! ! Just nightmare! ! ! But it's worth visiting! By the way, this is the only decent cafe outside the hotels that is on about. Bora Bora. The village of Vaitape itself is, by our standards, a very crowded village - but at the same time there are banks, not savings banks))))) There are no sights as such - churches and that's all, you can still go to the pearl factory there they will tell you in detail and show how and from what it is produced and grown, and then you will understand that artificial pearls are a breeder.
Unfortunately, we did not get on the tour in a mini-submarine - simply because we learned about it upon departure. But if you are lucky enough to visit about. Bora Bora, be sure to try this thing - there are a lot of different fish there and it’s probably very cool to see them in a submarine - the underwater world there is not like the Maldivian one, all the fish are much larger and there are much fewer corals, mostly rocks at the bottom!
We went on excursions Sharks and Stingrays as on about. Moorea - and I want to say that on Bora Bora it is much cooler - sharks come across both reef and large lemon, tiger, sand and all sorts of other different ones - I don’t know the names! The spectacle is breathtaking, when we arrived at the diving site, I saw reef sharks and, as a cool diver (I already swam with them on about.
And then we were taken to the Skats and to the snorkeling point. All wonderful stingrays play, swim near you and seem to be forever hungry. Although the same thing is in the hotel there, a little boy goes to feed the stingrays every day at two in the afternoon and everyone can join him.
But the place for snorkeling is wonderful. I highly recommend! There are two Intercontinental hotels on Bora Bora. One on the main island - it is an old and wretched Intercontinental La Moana and the one in which we rested Talasso Spa. So there is a message between them. There is a schedule and free boats run from one hotel to another. You can come to another InterContinental La Moana hotel to take a kayak there and swim on your own to the same coral reefs that we were taken on excursions to - there are 50 meters from the hotel. There are very cool fish and living creatures in general.
There is also a place for snorkeling in the hotel itself and there are also very wonderful and marvelous fish there, but still, for a change, you can swim on the reef.
The underwater world is very diverse, the guide said that even 10 years ago there were so many Manta rays in the lagoon itself that it was impossible to dive without meeting them, but now they have all gone away because of the many boats ((((
In general, we really liked Bora Bora, the very realization that you are in the middle of the ocean in the farthest place on the planet from your home is very exciting. But when you sit in the evening after sunset in comfortable chairs on the beach and drink French wine while looking at the lagoon and the proclaiming Mount Otemanu, you think about the pirates and adventurers who have been here before you, enjoy the primitive silence and harmony - it's wonderful.
The island itself is a volcano caldera, and although in its middle the depth is no more than 60 meters beyond its border (on the other hand, the hotel is actually) the ocean takes its toll and about twenty meters from the land the depth already exceeds 800 meters - the water there is so blue and clean - this is a magnificent karsote spectacle - a minimum of civilization)))) and that's good. I don’t know if I will ever again visit this wonderful place - but if possible, without thinking, I will break loose. There are many more wonderful places in Polynesia that you can visit and I think it's better to go to Raitea or to some atolls instead of Moorea, or as they call them motu. But Bora Bora must be visited!
And here is the end of the rest at 1.00 we check out from the hotel and go on a plane to the local airport around 2.00 in the evening we are already in Tahiti. Our plane leaves only at 2 am and we had to sit in the restaurant until 22:00 hours, and then go to the airport.
Again, two long flights with a very small connection in the USA and here it is Paris, and then home. (By the way, on the way back, I didn’t have to get my luggage to L. A. and check it in again - damn stupidity) The way back was absolutely not tiring, memories of a wonderful and exciting journey to the ends of the world flickered in my mind. Yes, it is travel because the Maldives, Dominican Republic, Turkey, Egypt are all touristic holidays, but Polynesia is exactly a journey into the recent past and a place where you understand all the greatness of nature.
I can still write about five pages about it, but I don’t have the strength, so whoever is interested in more specific write if I know I will answer, prices, time, flights, etc.