Day 1 - Tahiti

Day One: 9 September, 2010 - Bon Voyage! Alabama to Tahiti

4:30 am - "beep beep beep" the alarm sounds and it's time to start celebrating our 11th anniversary "with a trip off our bucket list".  The Polynesian Islands (Papeete Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora) and a bonus overnight stay with best friends in LA.

Early, but we got a home wake up call @ 3:30

Ready to depart from Huntsville...

Red Eye!

Were off!!  Puffy eyed (but SUPER excited) leaving HSV on the 6:30a.m. flight to Memphis with a two hour lay over there, then to LAX where we had a 4 hour layover.

Early, but lovin' it

Stop 1- Memphis: Hurry up and wait.

Out the window at Memphis

On the MEM to LA flight we were seated next a very special (and entertaining) person, Shannon from HSV that helped pass the time with interesting conversations and he also taught us how to play Texas Hold-'em on "Full Tilt" via Delta's in flight Wi-Fi.  Gotta love the Mac's battery life! 

Our new friend, Shannon

Time Eater - Full Tilt, Texas Hold 'em

When we arrived in LA our friend Jan Pokk picked us up for lunch. We meet her husband "Bad" Andy at a Mediterrean restaurant (gyros) Petit Cafe in El Segundo.

Los Angeles Int'l Airport







Paula & Jan

Off into the sunset on to our 8hr 20min flight to Tahiti aboard the 295 passenger Air Tahiti Nui AirBus.

Amazing sunset at 39,000 feet

The flight went by with a few movies (The Jones's, Sex in the City 2 and a half a season worth of Six Feet Under (Kroner). They served us two meals one a chicken or fish and our 2nd was a turkey and cheese sandwich and all the drinks that you want:)))). We also did some Duty free shopping in the airport, just to discover that is is cheaper on the plane, Doh!

When we arrived at the Faa'a airport on the main island of Tahiti, the process through customs was extremely easy. Once out of the terminal we were greeted by a tour group Marma (Marma Intitive , aka Lost :-) ) and after 21 hours of flying and layovers we finally got Lei'd with flowers (tiare or tahitian gardenia) which smelled so beautiful.

Airport Marquee

Just got lei'd with tiare

Our first night in Tahiti we stayed at the beautiful Tahiti Intercontinental Resort, which faces the ocean and overlooks the neighboring island (motu) of Moorea. We explored a bit after we checked in but both agreed we needed rest despite us being able to set the times on our watches 5 hours earlier.