Last updated on January 18th, 2017 at 08:09 am
I know it has been a while since I last posted, and that is mainly due to two things: Not a lot of Internet available in the Cook Islands and a lot of relaxation taking the place of the Internet. One could say that both of these things are ideal for a vacation yet torturous for a travel blogger.
It has actually felt pretty great to unplug and just enjoy my surroundings. I did so many interesting things that I never would have dreamed of doing and even stepped out of my comfort zone a few times along the way. For example, I am not a licensed driver in the Cook Islands.
Since the Internet here is quite poor, I will not be able to post a lot of photos or videos, even though I am working on compiling several of both. Instead, I’ll give you a brief update of what’s happened so far.
One Night in Papeete at the Le Meridien Papeete
This is a nice hotel with decent sized guest rooms and a few overwater bungalows. It’s about a 25 minute cab ride from the PPT airport and was an ideal place to stay after we got into Tahiti late on our first night.
International Flight from French Polynesia to the Cook Islands
After almost no time in Tahiti we flew to the Cook Islands and landed at the main island of Rarotonga to spend 2 nights at the Palm Grove hotel. This hotel was a decent accommodation with a lot of charm and great food. While on the island we rented a motor bike to get around the island, which is about 40KM around and takes 50 minutes to go full circle. In order to ride motorbikes, we each had to pass a driving test that involved driving through cones on the Motorbike. It wasn’t overly difficult, but the speech he gave was pretty nerve wracking (you are surely going to die if you drive a bike too fast. If you drink and drive, you will go to jail for a year without a trial). That was interesting…
Rarotonga was a beautiful island and it might be worth staying more than two nights if we go back.
Domestic Flight from Rarotonga to Aitutaki
This was a quick flight that only took 25 minutes in the air. Check in was so easy that they didn’t even ask us to show ID. We simply said our name and they gave us a boarding pass. Pretty amazing contrast to what we normally have to endure in the United States.
Aitutaki is the place that I was most interested in visiting on our trip, because it looks so beautiful in pictures. The entire island is an Atoll (or at least very close to being an atoll) and surrounded by a coral reef which blocks most waves from hitting the island. It looks beautiful from up above, and also looks great from the beach. I was fortunate enough to get a seat on the plane that allowed me to take a photo of our descent onto Aitutaki. Even the photos hardly do it justice.
Our hotel here is beautiful and outside of the weather being rainy the past few days, we have had a great time. I even managed to take a few fun photos during our time on the beach. Here are some of the photos I posted to Instagram after having the upload fail at least 10 times per photo.
My First Video Blog Post
During a rainy day I recorded my first video blog post and I’m excited to post it once I get to a more stable Internet connection. While it’s not the greatest lighting or sound, I think it’s a decent first attempt. Glad to finally put my video production degree to use 10 years after graduating college!
I really do hope you enjoy the video post and that it helps more people engage with my travels. It is so beautiful in the Cook Islands that I feel some videos will really help people see the true view.
