Another day, another posh hotel in Tahiti

Knowing that we had nothing much planned for the day, we’d decided to sleep in. And woke up before seven.

Andy checked his email. Nothing. No News.

This meant – probably – that we would not be leaving French Polynesia today.

We went to breakfast and then checked with reception. Flights had resumed this morning but they’d had no news from the airport about our flight either, and… they were very sorry but they were full today so we couldn’t stay here another night. On that note, Andy phoned Air New Zealand to get some sort of update. On Booking.com, I found us a (relatively) affordable room at Le Meridien.

Andy came back with news. We were booked on the early evening flight tomorrow (Tuesday), and we’ll be getting to Auckland at 22.25. He’d also managed to get them to re-arrange our internal flight booked for tomorrow evening to Thursday morning free of charge Knowing that check-in at Le Meridien wasn’t until 2pm, we didn’t rush there but instead spent an hour contacting the AirBnBs and hotels we’d booked for tonight and tomorrow night, as well as the excursion we’d booked to try and re-arrange things. So we arranged, de-arranged, planned and re-planned.

We got a taxi to Le Meridien, and I have to say that by now, it feels like we’re people who travel from hotel to hotel to review them. So here it is. The ultimate guide to posh hotels in Papeete (I know some people get paid to review hotels, our review is just based on our humble thoughts):

• In last place, the InterContinental Tahiti Resort and Spa. I didn’t like it at all. The staff were friendly (especially the barman who gave me a generous helping of rum in my cocktail) but it is too big. And with one restaurant and one pool closed for renovation, everyone was packed like sardines around the other pool. Our room (not the most expensive I know but still not cheap) was dated and dingy
• In second place, the Manava Suite Resort Tahiti. The infinity pool and pool bar looked great but we didn’t have a chance to use the facilities as we had to check out by 11:00. The room was good and the staff were nice. It was an improvement on the previous hotel, but definitely not as good as the Manava in Moorea
• In first place, Le Meridien Tahiti. The pool is great, the room is great (and it’s only a basic one) and there is a beach. The staff are friendly and super helpful. They’re the first to truly understand that we’re not supposed to be here and they made sure that everything was perfect for us. We’d definitely come back to this one on our next venture in French Polynesia

We still had to wait an hour or so for our room to be ready, so we explored the complex (lovely!) and walked to the supermarket a few minutes away to get some supplies. By then, I was feeling like we hadn’t done much these last few days. The rain in Bora Bora; getting ready to leave for New Zealand; changing hotels constantly and not being able to enjoy our time in each of them and make the most of the facilities. Anyway, just to say that it’s the little things that matter. We got a bottle of Tahitian white, some iced tea, lovely cheese and bread, a quinoa chickpea and mint salad, and some local pastries. By now, we should have been in our AirBnB in Auckland having some control over our food.

So we had it all sorted. We had lunch and breakfast for tomorrow. We’d planned to have dinner at the informal restaurant by the ocean to treat ourselves – our last night in French Polynesia. They have three very tasty vegetarian options.

Once we got into our room, we checked the activities available for tomorrow morning. With our flight late afternoon, we’d decided to see some of Tahiti. We went down to reception to book our excursion. Andy’s phone buzzed. Air New Zealand were now offering us a flight at 4.10 tomorrow morning. Talk about timing!

We decided to go for it. More rain is forecast here over the next few days, and we do have things to do in Auckland. So… our taxi to the airport is booked for 1:30.

With the rest of the afternoon free, I went swimming in the pool and read my book in the sunshine. Andy went snorkelling off the beach.

We’ll be having our breakfast for dinner in a few minutes and go to bed early.

The frustration over the last few days is down to not knowing what would happen when. So a lot of time was wasted. And then some news came and we had to plan around it, and then a different update. The flash flood on Sunday seriously inconvenienced us and our itinerary. We’ve had to fork out a fair amount of money for two hotels here and one in Auckland. We have lost three nights in Auckland – all non-refundable. We have insurance (the best one we’ve ever had) but… insurance has small print. And yet you see… this is all immaterial. Someone lost their life as a result of the heavy rain on Sunday, and that put everything into perspective.