I don’t remember how old I was when I first saw a photo of Bora Bora, likely one of the famous overwater bungalows that depicted a version of paradise—but it stuck with me and I made a promise to myself to go there one day (a bucket list item indeed). As the years went by, it almost seemed more out of reach. Life was busy and full—finishing degrees, raising kids, and just trying to navigate and keep up with the demands of life.

As I entered my 40s, and began getting mammograms, new fears came into play. My second-ever mammo revealed some concerns, which eventually led to a lumpectomy, but came back negative for cancer thankfully. Not much more than a year later, another screening showed cause for another biopsy. I began to realize that my dense breasts were always going to be a cause for concern and an area of health that I’d need to be diligent about. It was around this time that I decided to stop waiting around and just book trips that I wanted to. Not wait around for “the right time” or for retirement. My life is now, so I went on and booked flights to Tahiti & Bora Bora. I gave myself 9 months to plan out everything, so I had lots of time for my very elaborate style of research and preparation.

Fast forward to July 2023—I completed my bucket list trip. Family & some close friends may be aware, but after returning to Jersey, less than 48 hours later we had a life-threatening event occur with a family member. Nine months later and at times we are still reeling from this trauma. I often feel like my once-in-a-lifetime trip was a blur, yet it was one of the few trips that I’ve been on where I felt moments of just being completely at peace with life. So, upon returning home and being thrust back into the normal chaos of the real world, I felt like I never fully processed my trip.

So, this is me doing that :-) PROCESSING & SHARING my thoughts from an extraordinary trip…and not necessarily for the reasons you might think. I’ve been waiting to get this out for a while, so please excuse any word vomit haha.

BORA BORA…on a teacher’s salary:

Total expenses for 6 nights were under $5000 - and those that know me, might even recognize that this is very high for me. Full transparency, this includes a pair of pearl earrings from Tahiti and handmade dress from Bora Bora—my normal souvenir is a single shell that I find from each trip to collect and bring back to my home collection, so I went a little bit crazy and said f— it, it’s a once in a lifetime trip.

I was able to find cheap airfare to Tahiti and then also Bora Bora for a total of $1700. Definitely the most I’ve ever paid to get anywhere. BUT I am a frugal traveler and did well with the food component.

When I arrived in Bora Bora, Tehei (my host’s brother) swung by the only real grocery store on the island and I picked up the following:

*1 jar of peanut butter

*1 bag of apples

*1 loaf of locally baked bread

*a 4-pack of the local branded ramen noodles

My mornings consisted of waking up in the dark, eating a PB sandwich and an apple, then photographing the sunrise from some part of the island. Often I could just enjoy this from my personal dock on the Fannui Bay—truly one of the most peaceful elements of my stay. As you can see from the pics below, I had a couple of friends that stayed hanging out with me LOL. The cat was a constant purr machine.

My favorite restaurant on the island was the Bora Bora Beach Club. I splurged for a couple of vegetarian lunches here (one could breathe in the serenity of this place) and then was back to eating ramen noodles for dinner, with hot tea using my tea bags I’d brought from home. If you click the link above to check out the restaurant, you might be put off by the number of people in the pictures—not my experience at all. Each time I went (this was in July) there was only a handful of people eating, which was awesome. Check out the video below, my view from a late lunch one day.

I did venture into the fancy Vini Vini Restaurant, which is the part of the Intercontinental Bora Bora Le Moana Resort - I couldn’t afford to stay here, but decided to splurge on an $8 scoop of passion fruit ice cream. I honestly just wanted to experience the luxury. So, I pretended I belonged and it was a beautiful experience, while I slowly savored my sorbet and watched the rich and famous, as they meandered about.

Places like the above mentioned range from anywhere to 1-2 thousand a night or more. My Airbnb was about $225 a night, and despite the fact that when I arrived it had not been cleaned (a whole other adventure & story) - after finally getting things situated, I learned to love that little place. The open-air kitchen and bathroom were an adjustment, and ants were unfortunately around, because well, it was the outdoors—BUT taking showers under the stars each night became one of the highlights of my trip. It became therapeutic to say the least after a long day of exploring, swimming, etc.

Nights in Tahiti were even cheaper, with both places I stayed being under $150 each night, and both right on the water.

Probably my biggest splurge on the island was a rental car - first time I’d ever needed to do this, as I usually WALK everywhere. Bora Bora is small, 6 x 2 miles - the road that loops around the island is about 20 miles long, and I wanted to see everything. UNLIKE, Tahiti, where I bussed everywhere, there are no public buses in Bora Bora. I looped around the island about 4-5 times during my stay at all times of day to make sure I could see every angle possible. A few photos below that showcase my drives…

Between my patience with finding the cheapest airfare possible, along with not-so-extravagant accommodations, and frugal eating all throughout—this was a very affordable bucket list trip!

Lastly, my obvious photographer perspective had me spending my days exploring and taking pictures, NOT blowing money on all the overly priced excursions that are available. That being said, I made sure that I allowed myself to spend time swimming and snorkeling, hiking, kayaking, and paddle boarding—none of which I paid for.

The snorkeling was incredibly beautiful yet slightly scary, the paddleboarding was meditative despite the fact that I thought I might drift out to sea if not careful (definitely more work getting myself back to my dock on that experiment), and the kayaking was both exhilarating and relaxing somehow at the same time (no life jackets available and I was in the ocean in Tahiti). SO much of what I loved about the trip was new experiences in this new place and not being scared to try things. Below is me after several hours of snorkeling, and using for the first time, an underwater camera. Worn out, but so relaxed LOL - and boy are those fish fast. The actual colors were so vibrant, almost like I was watching Finding Nemo. My cheap little camera did the best it could to catch them, and I got a workout from all the swimming.