Honeymoon heaven: we’ve arrived!

It wasn’t the best start to the honeymoon.

But by the time we landed in Tahiti, we’d forgotten all about the drama at the beginning of the trip. Our fantastic experience on the 8-hour overnight flight from LA had us floating on a champagne and fois gras cloud! I am still in awe of the food served in Air France’s first class section, and how nicely we were treated. They gave us each a little travel bag that contained socks, an eye mask for sleeping, a toothbrush with toothpaste, wrinkle-reducing face lotion, and freshening wipes. I clutched mine like Gollum with The Ring.

As we walked into the airport from the plane, we were greeted by a mini-Polynesian show. Despite being able to sleep pretty much horizontally on the plane, we were feeling foggy. We spent too long at Papeete airport, awaiting our next flight. (I explain the trip and our destination in this post- check it out!) A small propeller plane took us to a smaller island, where we boarded a water taxi to take us to our first destination: Le Taha’a Island Resort and Spa.

I’d been stalking the website for the last couple of weeks, but I was unprepared for the fabulousness. Clear, teal blue water, the thatched-roofed overwater huts, and flowers- flowers EVERYWHERE. We were greeted with a cool towel and lemon water, and then led to our 2-bedroom beachfront villa. We gasped with each door that opened!

Champagne awaited us in the sitting room, so we popped the cork and clinked glasses. We made it! We were married! We were here! We took our time getting settled in, feeling as giddy as children on Christmas morning. After weeks and weeks of travel, hospital time, wedding insanity, and hosting family, we had nothing to do but enjoy each other and this spectacular place. I’ll never forget the sunset on that first night of our honeymoon. It felt like it was painted just for us.

After the sun had bid us adieu for the day, we strolled to the first of many tasty meals we’d have at the resort. I have already shared the magnificent food and drink we enjoyed during our trip (take a look!). The crème brulee is worth another peek (cue drool), as is my coffee-time view each morning. HELLO.

We explored the grounds on that first full day. We were bombarded by color- from the sea, the sky, the trees- and the flowers. Have I mentioned those?

We landed on the other side of the resort at a spot we named, “The Point.” It wasn’t far from the restaurant that served lunch or the poolside bar, and it had a hammock swinging from two palms that literally whispered my name. Somehow, every time we went over to that area, The Point was unoccupied. We claimed it as our own. Can you say PERFECT?

We enjoyed a romantic three-course meal on our own poolside patio at the villa that evening. As we strolled back home from The Point, we saw that another glorious sunset was beginning to light the sky on fire. I began to realize that they are the norm here. Paradise.

Sometimes even Paradise gets a rainstorm. When that happened, we’d settle in with a book or take a nap or even dance in the sea while the raindrops fell all around.

We ate. We drank. We snorkeled. We tanned. We sea kayaked. We stalked fish. We read. We napped. We went to the fitness center so we could eat and drink more. And we smiled at each other every time someone called me “MRS.”

We met a super fun couple from Washington DC, and they told us about a restaurant “off the compound” they’d read about online. We joined them at Chez Louise, where the mother of the best fisherman on Taha’a cooked up the fresh catch of the day and served us scrumptiousness on her own patio! Dear lobster: I love you.

Another special night with amazing food was Polynesian night. If you’ve ever been to a luau in Hawaii, you know what I’m talking about. It’s an awesome show of native music, some dancing, and sometimes a fire show. We got it all- and even John shook his booty!

We were almost a week into our honeymoon, and it had already felt like a month (in a good way). Everything was so perfect- and we still had 10 more days left on the trip!

The stress and strife of the first couple hours of our vacation were now a faded, distant memory. In a place this ideal, nothing could go wrong.

Hmmmm…. Did that sound like foreshadowing?

Next up: The world’s most expensive fish food.