Tahiti On The Cheap: Five ways to afford a South Pacific paradise
Kimber Chin writes romance novels based in the business world. She also loves the romance of French Polynesia and wanted to share her tips on how to enjoy Tahiti without breaking the bank. The South Pacific remains a popular destination! As we learned a couple of weeks ago, Moorea is heading there for her honeymoon next spring’¦ she’s been saving up for her Tahiti experience since writing about it awhile back where she warns that none of us should talk ourselves into settling for Hawaii because it’s less expensive. I’m sure Kimber agrees and offers up these five ways to save. These are her words’¦
Okay, I lied in the title. I don’t think it is possible to do Tahiti on the truly cheap. It is one of the most expensive countries I’ve ever traveled to (though Japan was my top budget breaker). I will, however, share my tips on how to save a bit of cash.
Fly Through
The first time we visited Tahiti, we did it as a stop over. We flew from L.A. to Australia via Air Tahiti Nui. Because Tahiti is their hub, the airline offered a free stop over of unlimited length, a perfect way to break up that long trip.
Eating
As Tahiti is a fairly isolated island (even from the rest of French Polynesia), all non-locally grown food has to be imported at great expense. This expense is passed onto travelers. Knowing this, we brought individually wrapped breakfast bars and other goodies from home to help lower costs.
We supplemented this with food found at the Papeete Market (a local market). The stars of the market were the local fruit, pineapple (sweet, sweet pine), banana, and papaya.
Souvenirs
At the same market, we picked up scented oils, the coveted souvenir from Tahiti (we brought it back wrapped in plastic in our packed luggage, not in our carry on). We negotiated gently (a tactful “can you do any better?”) on the price.
Respect
The person we negotiated with was Mahu, a member of the highly respected third sex in Tahiti. A Mahu is a male, often the eldest son, raised as a female. He dresses like a woman and takes on female roles including caring for children.
As we treated him with the reverence and dignity he deserved, this storekeeper took it upon himself to introduce us around the market. He helped us bargain for end of day produce and suggested cooked foods for dinner, talking the cart owners into giving us tastes. By the end of the experience, we felt part of the close-knit community. He, and the other people we met, are the main reasons why Tahiti is special to us.
Tipping
In the States, we might be a bit suspicious when someone is as friendly as the Mahu was to us but this was Tahiti. Tipping is not expected and crime on this small island is almost non-existent so there is no real financial incentive. His actions truly came from his big heart.
Tahiti is one of my favorite places in the world. It is also one of the most expensive. Saving a little bit here and there adds up to make this island a tropical paradise to return to.
More about Kimber Chin
Kimber Chin writes romance novels based in the business world. She also blogs at NoLimitsLadies and spends every spare cent she has traveling.
Thanks Nina!
Don’t get me wrong,
I love Hawaii too
(best way to do that first trip to Hawaii
is by cruise,
you’ll see several islands
and get to watch the lava flows at night
– a wonderful, wonderful experience).
In much Younger Days…College actually…I had this Fantasy of going off to Tahiti and starting a Vanilla Plantation as at that time the worlds best was from the “vanilla tahitiensis” subspecies of the Vanilla Orchid..(I actually had one and a nice collection of other Orchids at the time).
I did a LOT of research into it and for a poor college student it was the 4 to 5 year lead time until the Orchids produced their first seed pods and the need for land with an existing stand of trees to provide shade and support that killed the idea…still have all the books and research papers I got from the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian…Sigh!!!
But anyway concerning the post }:~D…at least back during that time period, and perhaps still true, the reason food was so expensive was that Tahiti (or its proper name French Polynesia) was and still is a “Department” of the French Government..this is similar to being a State in the United States and in order to “protect” those who set up business there..especially Import Business…by Law Locally Grown Food CANNOT be sold for Less than the Cost of the same item Imported from France. So if you want to be a farmer you can do real well in Tahiti as a carrot you grow cannot sell for less than the cost of the same carrot Air Shipped from Paris.
Actually sometime back in the 60’s I believe 3 Americans took over the Hilton Hotel after it had failed again..for something like the 3rd time…in reality since the temperature is around 74 degrees all year you really only need shelter from rain and wild food grows abundantly and you can almost catch fish with your bare hands they have trouble getting enough help.
I believe they still own it and they did it by one partner running the front desk and doing Housekeeping inbetween, Another took over running the restaurant and being the cook, and the last runs the small farm they started so that they could insure a steady supply of the basics…one of the problems under previous ownership was inability to insure enough eggs for breakfast.
For a number of the locals who understand the ultimate in simple living a “job” is not really necessary.
~ Roland