Helping you and your family save money on your vacations to Disney and beyond
For our six night stay in Bora Bora, we spent the entire time at the Intercontinental Thalasso – all with points earned from credit card bonuses and purchased points (detailed here). Considering our room was retailing for over $1000/night the week we were there, we ended up saving a boat load of money. After checking in, it was time to see our Emerald Overwater suite. We were not disappointed.
So, once you arrive in Tahiti (Papeete, to be exact), you still aren’t in Bora Bora yet. Most people don’t stay on the island of Tahiti, instead they go to one of the neighboring islands where the water is more picturesque, though I hear Tahiti has some nice cultural aspects to explore. With the exception of Moorea which you can reach by ferry and island cruises, you need to fly Air Tahiti, not to be confused with Air Tahiti Nui which we took from LAX, to get from island to island. It’s not cheap: the cost was $400 round trip per person to and from Bora Bora. Air Tahiti definitely has the monopoly thing down pat. This post will discuss our Air Tahiti flights and getting into and checking in at the Intercontinental Thalasso.
The only way to get directly from North America to Tahiti is via Air Tahiti Nui – an airline that has a fleet of five Airbus 340s. Three of the five planes have remodeled cabins with new seats in both business class and economy – but it’s pretty much luck of the draw which cabin you get. After three totally kind of annoying domestic connections on US Airways and an hour at the new Tom Bradley International Terminal in LAX, Jess and I were ready for our flight to the South Pacific. Unfortunately, we drew the short straw and ended up on one of Air Tahiti Nui’s old business class – better than coach but a far cry from some of the newer international business class cabins out there. Apologies in advance, I didn’t take too many pictures – I was so exhausted by that point I just needed to relax!
Last month Jess and I left Baby M at home with her grandparents and took a week long trip to Bora Bora to celebrate our five year anniversary. Due to our anxiety about leaving the baby for too long, we ended up postponing our flights by a day (you can change award ticket dates for free on AA). This was great for our family but made for an annoying routing that was compounded by some bad weather – leading to some stress on the domestic legs! I wanted to share some thoughts since it was my first time flying cross country on US Airways in domestic first and also my first taste of the new Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
Jess and I spent one week in Bora Bora celebrating our 5 year anniversary. It was an amazing trip – and we got to really relax because Baby M stayed at home with her grandparents. Still, I’d argue it was more stressful preparing to travel without her than with her. For any parents considering traveling without their infant, I thought I’d put together some of the things we did to prepare Baby M, her guardians, and ourselves before we left. Hopefully it’s helpful to some of you out there!