October-November 2018

Paradise.

French Polynesia is THE planet's paradise. The beaches, deserted isalnds, palms, verdant mountains, and warm waters are unparalleled. It's also wonderully under-developed outside of a few main islands. There are tens of thousands of tiny islands making up the atolls of the Tuamotus, and many mountainous islands in the Societies. 

It's also reputed to be incredibly expensive. We went for five weeks, and paid $320 for our flights from San Francisco on French Bee Airlines. Once there, we camped and met and stayed with locals. We also hitchhiked literally everywhere. In summary, we never paid for any road transportation, and paid for accomodation a total of four out of our 36 nights in French Polynesia. It doesn't have to be expensive!

We spent several weeks in the Tuamotu Archipelago on our Polynesian Desert Island Survival Expedition. We also spent several weeks in Tahiti and Moorea, trekking across Tahiti (four days), climbing Mt. Aorai (two days), and learning how to prepare carpaccio (raw tropical fish) with a woman we met in town. Along the way, we had numerous encounters with reef sharks, giant centipedes (including one in our tent!), and learned to spearfish and open coconuts.

My reflective thoughts on this trip largely center around this being my favorite place on earth. It's a wonderful place for the traveller, the best in my opinion, and there's more here to see and do than any single trip could accomplish. There are millions of shades of paradise here, and most travellers return for more. I, too, hope to return someday.