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Fantastic Moorea

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Rising out of the aquamarine ocean looms rock that has been sculpted into tall, spiky pinnacles covered in emerald green vegetation.  This was our first glimpse of Moorea on the ferry from Papeete.  This Polynesian island, close to Tahiti, could easily have been reached with a seven minute flight, but we had elected the local (i.e. cheaper) method.

Moorea from the air, as we were flying into Tahiti.
Moorea from the air, as we were flying into Tahiti.

After loading our bags into metal crates that were forklifted onto the ship, we joined the other riders, for a smooth sail across the bay to Tahiti’s little sister.moorea1

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Under the Tahitian moon

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After landing in Papeete, Tahiti, at 12:40am, and being welcomed by a Polynesian band, our eyes heavy, we sought a place to sleep.  Tahiti is quite expensive, and as we had no desire to spend $350 for 6 hours at a hotel, we settled down for the evening on a very uncomfortable bench.  tahiti12That bench must’ve been made of teak, because it was harder than anything else I have ever laid on.  But at least we were off the ground, since the airport has open sides, and any number of tropical critters can get in.  Surprisingly the airport actually closed for an hour, but no one made us move.  It was incredibly humid, and there was no AC, however we managed to get a couple of hours of shut eye before the sun rose and the terminal became packed with travelers.

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How we did a $7500 trip to Bora Bora for $1300

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I’ve alluded to the fact that we used frequent flyer miles and hotel points to get free flights and free nights during our round the world trip, but I’ve never gone into detail about how we accomplished that.  I figured our recent trip to Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora deserved a post explaining how we use miles and points to travel frequently, at a fraction of the cost.

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Atauro Island

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Timorese have a saying, “close, but a little far”.  If you ask where a restaurant is, you may get the response “close, but a little far,” so you never quite know just how long it will take to get somewhere.  This phrase perfectly describes Atauro, a large island 26km off the coast of Dili.

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Timor-Leste

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Paul, his sister Lindsay, and I recently returned from a week on a tropical island with pristine beaches, friendly locals, and superb scuba diving.  Was this Fiji?  Hawaii??  Tahiti???  No.  It was East Timor. [Read more…] about Timor-Leste

What to do with 8 hours in Bali

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On on our way to East Timor, we overnighted in Bali, Indonesia, but since our flight landed after dark, we didn’t see much more than our hotel and the backs of our eyelids.  But, on the return flight, we had a long layover, and found ourselves with 8hr to explore Bali.  Except that Sriwijaya Air changed our flight time without notifying us, so in the end, we only had 6hr to spare. [Read more…] about What to do with 8 hours in Bali