By June Ramli
My trip to Bora Bora was booked at the last minute.
In fact it was done in my hotel room in Papeete by phone.
I chose to go to Bora Bora by plane and not the ferry.
The plane ride to Bora Bora was only 50 minutes long, and the ferry ride was 16 hours to and fro.
Getting to Bora Bora was rather easy, I booked the flight tickets online via Air Tahiti and the hotel on Booking.com.
Once in Bora Bora, I found a rather chatty driver to take me to the Intercontinental Hotel in Bora Bora for a day pass and stayed there the whole day before going back to the mainland to stay at the Royal Bora Bora.
Though the hotel was run down, it was probably the best in terms of the price that I paid.
The best beach for you to check out during your stay in Bora Bora proper would be the Matira Beach where you can see wildlife like stingrays swimming close to the shores.
I had dinner at the Bora Bora beach club and managed to video a stingray swimming close to the shore just to say hello to me!
This is a pro-tip, most dinner reservations come with complimentary taxi service.
If you are booked to have dinner on the island then you’d be stoked to find out that they would send a cab out to you and send you back once your dinner is done.
It comes out as a complimentary service but I am pretty sure it is all included in the bill.
The next day, I swam a bit around the area and then went roaming around to the nearby supermarkets and shops.
Most of the goods sold in the supermarkets are French based and French food is widely available in these supermarkets so if you find the hotel food too expensive then these supermarkets would be your savior.
Don’t do Bora Bora if you are low on the cash.
Do it only if you have some money to spend as Bora Bora is not a cheap destination to visit. Consider yourself warned here.
Next, their shopping center is pathetic so don’t bother checking it out.
I did and regretted it.
The hotel would force you to visit these shopping districts and you have to pay for the transportation.
Instead just stay in your hotel and enjoy the beach.
I couldn’t enjoy the beach because it was the rainy season, so I had very limited time at the beach but nonetheless I was happy because I managed to tick this destination off my bucket list.
I have been wanting to visit this place since 2014.
During my walkabout also, I found pine sized cemeteries of loved ones buried right in front of the local houses.
I was shocked when I saw this but found it a rather sweet gesture that they would do that.
The servers in Bora Bora are rather rude and that is because they have thousands of tourists visiting their island.
You just have to persevere with this but the rest of the country like Papeete and Moorea display really good customer service.
Getting to the airport from the hotel is rather easy.
The driver would send you to the ferry terminal and you can take a complimentary ferry service to the airport.
If I remember correctly that whole ride is about 15 to 20 minutes.
Once you get to the airport, checking in is fast and easy.
You don’t have to worry about immigration, all you need to do is get your pass and check in your luggages and wait for a boarding call.
I made two new acquaintances while waiting for my flight, one was a man from Taiwan who had been working there for several years at the Four Seasons with his brother and the other one was a former Mr Tahiti.
The flight to Papeete from Bora Bora was smooth.
Surprisingly, I got the same cab driver – Wendy to take me back to Hotel Kontiki, Tahiti.
It was hilarious and we both had a good laugh!
If you like this article, don’t forget to check out tomorrow’s write-up on exploring Mooera.
June Ramli is the editor of DailyStraits.com. To stay in touch with June, look her up on Twitter @junesairaramli