DIY

Planning this trip hasn't been the easiest. We used a variety of resources to determine which islands to visit, how to get to them, and where to stay once we got there. Using a travel agent to book hotels would have saved us a lot of time and headaches, but we would have missed out on good deals, hidden gems, and interesting facts gleaned from hours of online and book research.

I learned during planning my Japan trip that it's best to buy a variety of travel guides to get a variety of view points. My favorites are published by Rough Guide -which always gives the unvarnished truth, Lonely Planet - for the younger, hipper traveler, and Fodor's and Frommer's - both rather stodgy and seemingly targeted at older and more uptight people who are less tolerant of "character" as I call it, but worth a read anyways. My favorite Tahiti guide book by far is written by an American now living in Tahiti named Jan Price. She's lived there for some time now, so she's got real insider knowledge versus some travel writer who spends only a few days or weeks on this islands.

Besides travel books, Tripadvisor.com has been absolutely indispensable. Real travelers just like you and me post their reviews of destinations, hotels, restaurants, and more. I've avoided renting rooms in pensions the books recommend because fellow travelers have posted nightmarish stories of flying cockroaches. However, I recommend you take each review with a grain of salt. Some of the people on the site are much more high maintenance than me and have different ideas of what is and isn't acceptable.

After many hours spent researching, a travel itinerary plan began to form. We (well...uh...more Michael since I was concentrating on the wedding ceremony and reception) began contacting hotels and pensions to book rooms. In addition, he had to work out plane schedules and book tickets. They only leave at certain times and on certain days so it's not an easy thing to coordinate. If you miss your flight, you may be stuck on an island for a few days and miss your hotel reservation. And...the islands aren't like the USA. They are much more laissez faire about time. Sometimes the planes don't fly at all because the pilot "doesn't feel like it" or they come late because Tahiti is on something jokingly referred to as "island time." And now we just found out the ferry we're supposed to take from Tahiti Nui to Moorea cancelled their services for the week we're going to be there and we have to scramble to find an alternative plan! Yikes.