Bit by the travel bug: Moorea

It's no secret that my travel destinations/aspirations are strongly influenced by The Bachelorette, hence the trip to French Polynesia. Although Ali whisked her men away to Tahiti and Bora Bora, I settled for Moorea, which come to find out from the locals, is considered to be the best island and much preferred to Bora Bora. If you are going to French Polynesia, Moorea is the bee's knees. It definitely beats out Tahiti and is much easier to get to than Bora Bora. I really can't find one bad thing to say about the island.

We stayed at the Legends Resort Moorea, a 4 star highly rated resort on the island. It was beautiful. Each villa has a private deck (ours had a partial ocean view), a private hot tub, and covered seating/eating area. PLUS, there was air-conditioning, which made the tropical heat/humidity much easier at night. We figured out that if you keep the bedroom cold the critters won't come in. Better to keep the lizards, millipedes, mosquitos, ants, and other polypedal creatures in the living room and kitchen, where they belong.

Our partial ocean view off the master bedroom

Probably should have taken photos before we spent a week not picking up after ourselves

The only channel in English was world CNN. Plus: being able to follow Weinergate!

Out kitchen had less food, way more ants, and a little more booze.

The resort also had an amazing infinity pool where I captured some decent sunset photos:

to the west, with the private island in the background

to the east, towards Tahiti

I liked the resort, but next time I am going to go for an overwater bungalow so I can just snorkel off the back patio. These villas are pretty pricey and they are only slightly less expensive than the overwater bungalows. I didn't really cook much because groceries were so expensive (and I was LAZY), so I really didn't need the kitchen. And, it is on a hill (rather, the side of the mountain), which got old really fast since we walked everywhere. This resort is a best bet for locals coming from Tahiti on holiday and families who would be making meals for kids anyways.

Biggest thing I realized in my first 24 hours in French Polynesia: I LOVE to travel. This was my first big trip outside of the US (not counting Canada), and I had no idea that traveling abroad would make me feel so liberated and hungry for more. Seeing new places and meeting new people turned out to be more  exciting than it was scary. Extreme lifestyle makeover #1: Go somewhere new, outside of the US, once a year. I am considering setting up a separate savings account just for traveling adventures.