January 2009
Newark to Beijing, Japan to Newark
Economy Class

Food & Drink: I can't even remember what they fed us, so it must not have been that memorable or good. But this was the first time I've ever been given a cheeseburger and icecream for a snack, which was definitely a welcome little meal. The cheeseburgers were pretty hefty and who doesn't love Haagen Daaz, right? The biggest grievance for Babe, however, was the fact that alcohol cost money. Not only that, but you had to purchase some ridiculous card BEFORE you boarded so they could swipe it on-board. What is this nonsense about 1, charging your long distance flight customers for ANYTHING and 2, a pre-paid card?! Ridiculous. Never heard of such penny pinching.

Attendants: Were friendly, in that American-I-Have-To-Be sort of way. This was also the first flight I've been on where there were 3 rows sectioned off in the back for the attendants to rest. We've flown overseas many times, on Cathay, EVA, China Air, Northwest, United... and I've never seen this before. Apparently Continental attendants are lazy.

Check-in: We had no major issues.

Flight Time: Was on time for the most part. But it didn't matter much to us since we were going direct.

Amenities: Free ear phones.

Side Note: The only reason we chose to fly Continental, and out of Newark (since it's such a hassle for us from Queens) is that they were the only ones that flew direct to Beijing and back from Japan. There was no way I was spending a big part of my trip in the airports transferring, especially on the way home. Our flight home, however, was the most uncomfortable flights to date. There was turbulence during 12 of the 13 hours we flew. It got me so sick I couldn't eat or sleep. I'm not sure if turbulence is something the pilot can control, but I'm pretty sure it's something he can try to avoid or at least fly over/under? This was a really bad experience for both of us and we probably will stay away from Continental for long-haul flights in the future.

This past January, we spent a week in Beijing (and then a week in Japan). It was one of the coldest vacations we've ever taken, and we are not cold weather loving people :( so it was quite an ordeal, but definitely a memorable trip.

I always knew that we would goto Tahiti for our honeymoon; we didn't know what the venue would be for the wedding and in fact, hadn't even set the date yet, but I knew for sure that I wanted to splurge on a trip to Tahiti. I mean, when else do you get an excuse to blow tens of thousands on a mere trip?

Planning for this trip was exhausting and time consuming, but with each tidbit of information that I gathered in my anal-retentive way, I was hyping myself up for an amazing time. I hope that this mini guide can help others as well. Please note that all information is current as of our June 2008 honeymoon.

Islands: The first question you must ask yourself is, which islands do you want to visit? Tahiti is comprised of many many beautiful islands, some developed, some not. We chose to stay with the more developed islands of Moorea and Bora Bora, mainly for it's range of activities (Moorea) and beauty (Bora Bora).

Flights: I did a lot of comparison shopping with flights from different companies. I first visited Liberty Travel to find out what my options were. The two main airlines that fly to Tahiti are Air Tahiti Nui (ATN) and Qantas, and what made sense for us was ATN. They offered direct flights from NYC only once a week, whereas a direct flight departed LAX on a daily basis. With this in mind, I decided that we would stay overnight in LA for one night and then fly to Tahiti from there, but return to NYC on a direct flight. My decision to stay overnight in LA stems from the fact that I am forever fearful of flight delays that may result in missing our connecting flight, and with an itinerary that depended on an airline that only flew once a day, I did not want to take that chance. After shopping online on various websites (Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia, Air Tahiti Nui website), I decided to purchase from Expedia because the rates were practically identical and I am used to Expedia's format.

Now comes my nightmare. I booked my flights - NYC to LAX, LAX to Tahiti, Tahiti to NYC, along with interisland flights (Papeete to Moorea, Moorea to Bora Bora, Bora Bora back to Papeete). Everything seemed confirmed and my credit card was fully charged, as was noted on the website. I went back to the My Itinerary page to check the flights and print out a copy, which is when I noticed that it did not display my interisland flights and noted for me to call Expedia. When I finally got a customer service rep on the phone, I was told that due to a delayed update of the site by the interisland airline, the flights I wanted to book were already cancelled and that I did not have any interisland flights booked at all. If I were to try booking yet again, I may still run into this same problem. There was nothing Expedia could do at this point. I only have the flight into Tahiti and no interisland flights.

I scrambled to find an agency that would book interisland flights for me, and please note that many, many agencies will not book them for you because you did not book an international flight with them. They usually do it as a package deal, where they will book your international flights as well as the interisland flights. I was panicking, but finally found an operator in California who felt compassionate to my situation and went ahead and booked my tickets. In fact, the interisland tickets he booked for me were much cheaper than the price I had originally booked them at on Expedia, so it was a win-win (aside from the minor heart attack I almost had).

I high recommend John, from Travel Portfolio
John Bell, Travel Portfolio
4345 Van Nuys Blvd
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
818-907-7981

Hotels: How did I go about picking the hotels that I wanted to stay in? This is one of the most important questions when planning for a Tahiti honeymoon, because where you stay, and what accomodations you choose within that property, will dictate just how many zeros you add to the end of your honeymoond budget. There was no doubt in my mind that if we were travelling all the way out there, we'd splurge for an overwater bungalow. There is no point in going to Tahiti if you are not going to live in one of those beautiful little huts that they are so famous for. You might as well just goto Hawai'i.

We are part of the Starwood Preferred Guest program, where we get points for amounts charged on our credit card, so I decided to stay within the Starwood family for our stay in Papeete and Moorea. We were able to use points for a free night in Sheraton in Tahiti (Papeete) and use points for a few nights stay at the Sheraton in Moorea. However, please note that the Sheraton in Moorea is also very well-known for its amazing snorkeling and after seeing it first hand myself, I would have to agree 110%.

For Bora Bora, I searched long and hard, debating between somewhere luxurious and new (St. Regis) or something that was a little more dated, but always within the top 3 for best hotels in the South Pacific (Hotel Bora Bora). After a discussion with the hubby, we decided to stick with Hotel Bora Bora, and it definitely didn't disappoint. Yes, it's dated; their bungalows are older, not as luxurious, less amenities (there is no television, no fridge) but it has such charm and beauty, not to mention the staff is top notch. (Picture on the left depicts their activities center, with the amazing view). Each staff member remembered our name, the activities desk would remind us each day of what we had planned, the food was simply AMAZING and out of this world.

Next entry: Activities, Food and Sightseeing in Tahiti

I've always admired Morimoto on the Food Network; he was such an amazing and inventive chef, yet he was just so humble.

I had visited the first Morimoto restaurant in Philly a few years ago but did not get to meet the chef himself. On a special occasion two months ago, we got to visit his NYC location.

We were seated promptly even though we had arrived 15 minutes after our reservation time.

Ambiance: There was a very clean feel to this restaurant. If you are looking for old school Tokyo, then you will be disappointed. All the staff are dressed in black and there is a lot of white in the restaurant, with dim lighting and special pink/purple/blue lighting effects. There is an area that is quiet (which is where we were seated), and then there is a more "happening" area towards the middle of the restaurant and into the lower level, where there is a bar.

Food: We had originally planned to order one omakase and then an appetizer and entree to share (which is what we did for Nobu). It just doesn't make sense to order two of the same things. However, we were told that in order to get the omakase, the whole table had to order it, which we ended up doing. I didn't particularly like this, since when I was in Philly, we had one person order the omakase while the rest ordered their own entrees.

November 2007
New York to Detroit to Shanghai, China
Business Class

Seating: On this flight, the Business Class seating were divided between the first part of the lower cabin, and an upper cabin. I chose to sit on the upper cabin. This had it's advantages and disadvantages. It was very quiet in the upper cabin and there were very few other passengers there; the seat next to mine was empty. The main disadvantage was that when disembarking, you didn't get to leave first as with the lower cabin; by the time you came down to the lower cabin, most of the economy class people were pushing and shoving already.

Food & Drink: Being in Business Class, meals were a luxury. The flight attendants would supply a tablecloth (yes, a TABLECLOTH for your folding table) and serve food on real plates with real silverware. The meals included things like steak and seafood and each was pretty good. There was also top shelf liquor offered after each meal. Snacks included sandwiches and cup o' noodles and even ice cream.

Attendants: Were friendly and very helpful.

Check-in: Was a breeze but of course, this was Business Class. I was given a pass into the lounge, which had pastries and drinks, along with ports for your laptop and TV's to watch.

Flight Time: We flew relatively on-time, considering that we had one layover in Detroit (Northwest's hub)

Amenities: We were given slippers, and a small amenities bag which included chapstick, a pen, eye-mask and ear plugs all in a small Northwest pouch.