Moorea: A honeymoon just like a postcard

I never cared much about big wedding plans ... My big plans were always for MY honeymoon and they did not include beaches and palm trees. My hubby and I were going to fly to Finland and spend a week doing nothing at all in an igloo hotel and then spend a week exploring Lapland and chasing the Northern Lights. But then the time came to fly to Finland and even I, miss travelblogger and flight attendant, was too tired to fly from Los Angeles to New York to Helsinki for a total of 20 hours followed by a long 12 hour drive to Lapland. Plus, it wasn't really his dream and this thing called marriage is apparently about two people making decisions together and not just me deciding what I want to do ... Who knew? -:) 

So the search began for somewhere relaxing, not too far from LA, preferably a direct flight, and voila, in between googling the Maldives and the Fiji overwater bungalows, I stumbled into BEAUTIFUL French Polynesia. 

I can go on and describe how gorgeous the water was, how cute the blacktop reef sharks were, how romantic this tiny island is, but you really have to see it to believe it and be there to experience it, so my advice is just GO.

We live in LA, so we caught a last minute overnight flight from LAX on Air Tahiti Nui, and 7 hours and a half later, we landed in Fa’a’a Airport, grabbed a 15 minute cab ride to the marina, followed by a short 45 minute ferry ride, and that was it. We were at our final destination: MOOREA, a little island best described as paradise. 

The water went from pretty deep blue to pretty green blue to pretty turquoise and so on …Basically pretty pretty pretty! We literally could see our feet at all times, and you know, here and there, a few colorful fish, dozens of  sharks and a couple of sting rays; no big deal, right? 

We didn’t stay in an overwater bungalow ’cause you know,   overwater bungalows are super trendy, and I like to do things differently when I travel …. Also they were all sold out 😁 

But we found this amazing little boutique hotel and snagged the last room and that might have been even better than the overwater bungalow in a way because Eileen the owner was  super sweet, the views from the room and the common areas were terrific and literally the only thing standing between us and swimming with sharks and sting rays was a 20 minute free kayak ride. We were also welcomed with beautiful cocktails and French Polynesian lei and breakfast was served to us as if we were royalty. 

The Fenua Mataoia Boutique hotel 

Free kayak ride from the hotel 

Free welcome drinks and French Polynesian leis 

Breakfast isn't free :) but well worth it

Its not a honeymoon if you don't have cheesy t-shirts with your name on them, right - Special Thanks to Souad for this awesome gift 

Beautiful sunrise 

Eileen the owner 

Eileen owns and runs The Fenua Mataioa Boutique Hotel  and even though it is so small and cozy that it almost feels like you are staying at a friend's home, the 5 star service and very attentive staff made us truly feel like we were on a luxurious vacation. Literally, after checking in, while we were having our welcome drinks, the staff arranged all our clothes and reorganized the room for us. Who else out there can make a hotel room look like a disaster in less then 5 minutes? I know I am a pro ... 

Seriously our only regret was that the TRIP WAS TOO SHORT … See you soon Moorea ... we will be back! 

EAT WELL, TRAVEL OFTEN, TAKE PICTURES 

SARA