Counting it Down – 50 Travel Memories (Part 4)

This post is in continuation with the previous “Counting it Down” posts. Check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for a list of my top 31-50 memories! I am more thrilled as we get closer to the top 10 🙂 But for now, let’s count down travel memories 20-11!

20. Rafting at American River, Lake Tahoe – Summer 2007
I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I am not too fond of water. I say that today, but a few years back, I was petrified of most water activities. So, when a bunch of friends signed me up for a rafting adventure, I was skeptical. While we got our paddling instructions, I prayed not to fall in the river. But half a day of instructions + class 3-4 rafting + not falling in the water = a super happy me and a long lasting memory.

Rafting at American River, Tahoe

19. Crater Lake, Oregon: Bluest of blues – Summer 2009
I had read a lot about Crater Lake being the bluest of all lakes, but my definition of a blue lake changed after our Crater Lake visit in Summer of 2009. As blue as it can get :). What made the trip more memorable was reading up stories of Llao and Skell at each vista to discover how the crater and the lake within were formed along with great hikes, camping and picturesque views.

Wizard island – Crater Lake National Park

18. Seattle, Washington : The emerald city – Spring 2011
We only spent 3 days in Seattle and absolutely loved every bit of our stay. I wish we could have stayed longer. I did not know whether to pick Pike Place Market or engineering marvel at Ballard Locks or views of Seattle downtown from Kerry Park or the underground tour of Seattle’s historic district or colorfully yukky Gum Wall. It was definitely a great vacation!

View of Seattle Downtown from Kerry Park in Queen Anne

17. New York Downtown – Summer 2006
The first time I went to New York was for a 2 day job interview for one of the Big 4’s. 2 days in Times Square and I knew what all the hype about it was. I visited New York again with my family after my graduation and fell in love with the place all over again! Though I do want to visit New York during winter when it is snowing!

Rockefeller Center, New York

Outside UN Building, New York

16. Camping at Lake Huntington, California – Summer 2011
Although I have written this earlier, I have to repeat it. Repetitive reading is good sometimes!

Pitching tents, sleeping in cozy sleeping bags, waking up to birds chirping, experiencing living in the woods surrounded by trees, moonlight strolls, star-gazing under open skies and finding the time to admire the beauty of nature from our busy and technology dominating lives: That’s what is CAMPING FOR ME in a nutshell!

Out of the numerous camping trips I have taken I pick Lake Huntington Camping. Why? A last minute reservation, amazing star gazing, late night hike to a freaky lake and spotting shooting stars (No, I did not have time to make any wishes). I was just in awe that I got to see them!

The joy after building the tent 🙂

Those campfire stories 🙂

15. Off-road Adventure at Canyonlands National Park, Utah – Spring 2008
M likes to off-road and so do a few of my friends! But little did I know that a person like me who absolutely was against the idea of off-roading would end up putting this so high up in the list of travel memories. This makes me believe that the more you explore, the more you discover – Things that you did not know about yourself 🙂

Off-roading at Canyonlands NP, Utah

Poison Spider Trail, Canyonlands NP, Utah

14. San Francisco Walking Tour, California – Sometime in 2010
I have been in the bay area for over 5 years. And every time we have a visitor, we take them to ~~cliched~~ (not for the visitor I assume) touristy places. For once, we signed up for a full day guided San Francisco tour. And that has been one of the best days I have had in the city in all these years :). From Pier 1 Farmer’s Market to Grace Cathedral to Victorian Houses to Sausalito to Muir Woods – trip had it all. I highly recommend this for all bay area locals!

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

Victorian Houses – San Francisco

13. Zip Lining at base of Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii – Thanksgiving 2010
This was my first zip-line adventure. Five courses with each course gradually increasing in length and depth! Whoa what fun 🙂

Zipline adventure tour, Base of Haleakala, Hawaii

12. ATV Adventure (a.k.a Accident) at Pismo Beach, California – Spring 2009
I have visited Pismo Beach multiple times and unfortunately none of those trips have been accident free 😦 Our Spring 2009 trip was memorable because since this was my third time on an ATV, I was more confident (or rather over-confident!!). I tried a jump on one of the sand dunes and had a bad fall with the ATV on my leg! A permanent muscle scar is bound to make such trips memorable! What say?

ATV at Pismo Beach – One of them is probably me 🙂

11. Snorkeling, Multiple places (can’t pick one particular place)
The first time I snorkeled it wasn’t fun. It takes time to get used to the gear and learn the tricks, but once you get the hang of it, it is a lot of fun. We snorkeled in lagoon waters of Tahiti and Moorea almost every day we were there and for a couple of days in ocean waters of Maui, Hawaii. Snorkeling in lagoon waters is quite different from snorkeling in the ocean, but nevertheless, I can’t pick since each trip was memorable for different reasons! I enjoyed all my snorkeling excursions except for the first couple of times!

Snorkeling @ Black Rock – Maui, Hawaii

More Snorkeling

I hope you enjoyed travel memories 20-11 and are looking forward to the top 10. I am surely looking forward 🙂 My half century in the blogging world is coming up soon. Stay tuned!!!

Tahiti and her islands: Exotic French Polynesia

Words cannot do full justice to a place that is apt to be called a paradise on earth and that was the reason I initially did not want to blog about Tahiti and her islands. But, since this is post number 25 and almost a year since I have been blogging, I had to make my silver jubilee post special! Be it the brilliant turquoise lagoons, the colorful marine life and corals, the lush green mountains as a backdrop, or its untouched beauty, the exquisite islands of Tahiti are truly enchanting and magical. So, what better topic than this for my 25th post :). I have been asked by quite a few folks as to how we planned this South Pacific island vacation, so hopefully this post will answer at least the basic questions pertaining to your idyllic Tahiti getaway.

Which islands to visit: There are a lot of islands in French Polynesia (118 in all), but most tourists visit the islands of Moorea and/or Bora Bora along with the main island of Tahiti. You could take a ferry to Moorea from Tahiti or take an inter-island flight. Bora Bora is a little far away from Tahiti, so an inter-island flight saves a lot of time.

First glimpses of Moorea

TAHITI
All international flights fly to Papeete (Tahiti), so you definitely have to visit the main island and spend one night there, if not more since most flights land at night-time. I won’t elaborate but while you are in Tahiti, some of the things that you could do apart from spending time at the resort are:

• A circle island tour that will take you to the only black sand beach in Tahiti, the famous Vaimahuta waterfalls, a tropical garden and caves of Mata Va’a. This works out best if you are not planning to rent a car.
• Visit the Robert Wan Pearl Museum. Tahiti is famous for black pearls and if you are looking for a souvenir, what better than a black pearl
• Take a Le Truck (public transport bus) from your resort to the public market and visit the public market to shop for Faara bags and Pareo (Traditional Tahitian dress for females)

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MOOREA
Only a 30 minute ferry ride from Tahiti, the island of Moorea has one of the nicest lagoons among the Tahitian islands. So if you are not visiting Bora Bora, Moorea would be your next best bet to explore the blue lagoons and its marine life in the French Polynesia. Things that you could do while vacationing at Moorea:

• A lagoon excursion for shark and manta ray feeding. Don’t freak out, there are no killer sharks in the calm waters of Tahiti. And you’ll surely spot lots of dolphins on your excursion.
• Snorkel and enjoy a picnic at a private island (called a motu). Snorkeling at a lagoon is much more easier and fun than snorkeling in the ocean.
• Take an ATV Quad tour that would take you to some of the most amazing vistas including Belvedere point, Mt. Rotui, Magic Mountain View point.
• Check out the pineapple plantations. Moorea is the ONLY island where these plantations are found and they make and sell pineapple wine.
• Rent a car and drive around the island. Moorea has some great public beaches that are not to miss. Cook’s bay and Oponohu bay in Moorea are home to few of the prettiest beaches in the world. The south side of the island has no resorts and hotels so it is even more serene there.

How to get to the Tahitian islands: Air France and Air Tahiti Nui fly from Los Angeles to Papeete (Tahiti’s capital). I am not completely sure of flight options outside the US, but there are flights from Paris, Tokyo and cities in Australia and New Zealand. We flew Air Tahiti Nui – French Polynesia’s flag carrier airline.

Mt. Rotui - Moorea

Currency used: French Pacific Franc (XPF) is the currency used around the islands. Make sure to take local currency cash if you are planning to shop or eat at the local market and for tipping. Finding ATMs can be difficult.

Visa Requirements: Depends on your nationality and French Polynesia visa requirements are different from France so it is best to check with a French Consulate. For Indian citizens, a short stay Schengen visa is required to travel to Tahiti and her islands. There’s a French Consulate in San Francisco, so it worked out well for us. It is advisable to apply for a visa 2-3 months in advance. You do require confirmed flight tickets as well as hotel reservations to obtain a tourist visa, so everything needs to be ready before you start filling out the visa forms.

There is much much more to Tahiti and her islands apart from breath-taking scenery, spectacular landscapes and emerald/blue lagoons. Glimpses of Tahiti are memories that I am going to cherish for a lifetime! And yippeee…25 posts in a year now 🙂 🙂 🙂

Maui: The Valley Isle of Hawai’i – Beaches

Happy New year readers!! Its been over a month since my last blog post. But now that I am back from 2 amazing vacations, I’ll try to make it a point to be a little more active in adding new posts!

We visited Maui, Hawai’i during Thanksgiving 2010 and here’s my take on all the cool stuff you could try out if you ever plan a Maui vacation. We were only there for 6 days, so obviously we couldn’t get enough of this island but I am still going to pen down my experiences at Maui into 3 different blog posts. The first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Hawai’i is beaches and so this blog post will talk about Maui’s beautiful beaches and water activities. A second post on Maui’s volcanic crater and much talked about Road to Hana and a third one on Maui’s dining and shopping are available too, so read on 🙂

Swimming with turtles @ Black Rock in Maui, Hawai'i

We stayed at a resort on Kaanapali beach in West Maui. You will read a lot about Kaanapali being “THE” place to be in Maui. I believe the prime reason for this is its proximity to a lot of places. This gorgeous stretch of white sand beach has a lot to offer from world-class resorts to amazing views of blue water and the distant islands of Molokai and Lanai. Kaanapali was rated as America’s best beach in 2003. Well..that’s a long time back, but it is a still great beach if not the best. If you are staying in West Maui, I highly recommend staying at Kaanapali. If West Maui ain’t your pick, South Maui is also a good option. Pick Wailea for the 5 star resorts or Kihei if you are on a strict budget. But I wouldn’t prefer it over the West Maui any day. Before I go into describing my picks for the best beaches, do want to know the highlight of my trip??? It was SWIMMING with TURTLES 🙂 🙂 :). Let me jump into describing Maui’s snorkeling options first.

SNORKELING: There are a lot snorkeling tour options available but since we had snorkeled before at other places and had all the gear, we decided to visit Black rock (from the Sheraton side) on the first day and see if we really needed to opt for a tour instead. Surprisingly, snorkeling at Black Rock lives up to all the hype. Absolutely delightful and fantastic. It was our first time swimming with the turtles in the ocean though. And I have been bragging about it ever since. But trust me, overcoming the fear of water and swimming with those gentle creatures is truly a memory I will cherish for a lifetime :). Lots of colorful fishes near the rock make it an incredible experience. Check out the slide show below in this blog to view few of our snorkeling photographs. Some tourists don’t get to see so many fishes even if they opt for expensive tours. So, if you have all the a gear and have been snorkeling before, don’t waste too much money on the tours everyday. There are a lot of places close to the beach where you can explorer your snorkeling options. That said, snorkeling at the crescent-shaped Molokini islet is renowned and scuba on the outer side of Molokini is world-famous. Some other options are taking full or half day trips to the distant island of Lanai.

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BEACHES: We did a lot of beach hopping in Maui and here is a list of few of the best beaches in Maui. In West Maui, Kapalua and Napili (north of Kaanapali) are good options. Though Kapalua is an extremely small beach. Kaanapali of course, is good for anything and everything. In South Maui, we started exploring beaches from the town of Kihei. Kama’ole Beach Park I tops the list of great beaches in Kihei. This beach is fabulous for swimming and has reasonable snorkeling options at the 2 ends. The only downside is that there is no shade on this beach, so it can get very hot in the afternoons if you are not in the water. Wailea beach near Fairmont Kea Lani has the most hep crowd. If you just want to read or relax on the beach, this is the beach. But snorkeling and swimming at Wailea were a big flop when we visited the beach. May be it was the wind that day because Wailea is known to be great for swimming. We spent sometime relaxing on Wailea and then headed to further to explore other South Maui beaches. Next stop was Makena Beach State Park or Big Beach. I LOVED LOVED LOVED this beach. Very less crowd and a huge stretch of white/golden sand. Couldn’t get better than that! May be it was the sun or the time of the day we visited the beach, this was the bluest of all beaches I visited in Maui. Makena/Big Beach was my favorite of all Maui beaches we visited.

Sunsets at Maui are definitely not to be missed. Kaanapali beach is probably a good place for an evening stroll and watch the sunset. But my favorite beach to watch sunset was Kahekili Beach Park. Public parking near Westin provides easy access to this beach. On a clear day, you get amazing views of Lanai and Molokai from this beach. We saw sunset from Kapalua beach too, but it was raining slightly on that day and so it was not anything great.

Makena State Beach or Big Beach

Other water activities: Snorkeling and scuba are not the only options you have. There’s everything from a banana boat ride to an aqua submarine ride adventure. Go explore an activity that suits your liking.

Books to read: If you have read my previous posts, I have mentioned that it almost always pays off if you read travel books about your vacation spot beforehand. We did quite a bit of research and here is a list of books we read: Fodors Maui 2009, Frommer’s Maui 2009 and 2011, but a true gem was Maui Revealed: The ultimate guide-book. Please read it and you will not regret it! More posts on Maui COMING SOON!!!