Tahiti (French Polynesia 2019)

Tahiti (French Polynesia 2019)

***This is a very image heavy post***

(Links to the other two islands:  Moorea & Bora Bora)

A few months ago my wife emailed me about a deal to French Polynesia.  Admittedly I had no idea where geographically this was.  I of course had heard of Tahiti and Bora Bora before.  We actually had been watching a show that was based out of French Polynesia and I thought how gorgeous it was.  On a whim, I though “why not?” and we booked the trip.

After doing some research, I learned this set of islands was in the south Pacific (essentially directly south of Hawaii) and only an 8 hour flight from LA (not bad!). So a few months later in the middle of May we made our way to these tiny islands by way of LAX (stopped to see some family before).

 

Unfortunately our trip there (and back) were both redeye flights and I’m terrible at sleeping on airplanes.  We had moved seats to the bulkhead thinking we’d have more legspace but in reality I couldn’t extend my legs fully and it was uncomfortable.  I ended up sleeping maybe 30-60 minutes total and arrived exhausted.   We landed around 5 am when it was still dark out.  Luckily going through customs was smooth and our baggage came out quickly.  They did have a small band set up as you walked to customs (they were just setting up when we deplaned).

IMG_20190515_075153
Tahiti in the early AM
MVIMG_20190515_080326
Right before customs

Continue reading “Tahiti (French Polynesia 2019)”

Cruise – Day 13 (Bergen, Norway)

Cruise – Day 13 (Bergen, Norway)

Our last port of call was Bergen, which is also located on the west coast of Norway.  This is the second largest city in the country.  The forecast for this day called for intermittent rain.  For the most part during our entire trip, we had mostly decent days of minimal rain.  Luckily our dock was a short walk to the city center (I counted at least 3 or 4 other cruise ships in port the same time that we were there).

IMG_20180817_081809IMG_20180817_081817IMG_20180817_090826IMG_20180817_091533

Continue reading “Cruise – Day 13 (Bergen, Norway)”

Cruise – Day 12 (Ålesund, Norway)

Cruise – Day 12 (Ålesund, Norway)

Day 11 of the cruise was a sea day.  Not too much exciting stuff happened on the boat…mostly just relaxing and eating and exercising.

Our cruise had 2 stops in Norway.  I didn’t realize how narrow the country actually is.  It’s kind of interesting though that it has such an extensive coastline heading toward the north pole.  Since we were cruising, the two stop were both port cities.  Our first stop of Ålesund is on the mid-western coast of the nation.  This city is known for its German art nouveau architecture.  I didn’t realize there were different types of art nouveau.  Many of the sights again required driving of some sort but we decided to just hoof it on foot and explore the small town.

IMG_20180816_110223IMG_20180816_110237IMG_20180816_110242IMG_20180816_110405IMG_20180816_110424IMG_20180816_110440

Upon arrival it was overcast and started to rain when we disembarked.  Luckily the rain was intermittent throughout the day so much of it was just gloomy and gray (I actually like this kind of weather).

IMG_20180816_101230.jpg

Continue reading “Cruise – Day 12 (Ålesund, Norway)”

Cruise – Day 10 (Akureyri, Iceland)

Cruise – Day 10 (Akureyri, Iceland)

I ran out of steam with my previous posting and took a long break from any new posts.  Hopefully I can get back on track and finish our trip, which now was over 3 months ago.  Here’s hoping!

—-

I’m starting to sound like a broken record but we again decided to rent a car for our last port in Akureyri.  Akureyri is at the base of Eyjafjörður Fjord in northern Iceland.  Luckily I was able to make a car reservation from my phone before we left Ísafjörður.  The water was fairly active on the way to Akureyri but turned foggy upon arrival in port.

IMG_20180813_194654_1IMG_20180814_074027

They do like their hatchbacks in Iceland (and Europe).  Here’s our little Kia that we used to traipse around the countryside.

The town of Akureyri was actually a decent size but again most of the sights recommended required a decent drive outta town.  We did end up having some time to explore Akureyri after we returned from our road trip. Continue reading “Cruise – Day 10 (Akureyri, Iceland)”

Cruise – Day 9 (Ísafjörður, Iceland)

Cruise – Day 9 (Ísafjörður, Iceland)

We arrived in Ísafjörður (I just loved saying it “issa-fyord-or”) in the morning.  Initially we didn’t have any specific plans – no excursion, no independent tour.  Since it had been easy to drive around Reykjavik, I thought maybe we’d be able to rent a car and tour the area (the actual town is very small and most of the cruise excursions involved traveling to other parts of the northwest fjords of Iceland).  We first stopped at the visitor center to see if we could maybe book a last-minute tour (bus) but they were all full.  The person at the counter suggested trying the nearby hotel as they sometimes have car rentals.  I had never really heard of this but thought it couldn’t hurt.

IMG_20180813_085628IMG_20180813_085632IMG_20180813_085638IMG_20180813_090430 Continue reading “Cruise – Day 9 (Ísafjörður, Iceland)”