Irma and I got back from the honeymoon last night. For those of you that don't know, we went to Bora Bora, Moorea, and Tahiti- all islands in French Polynesia. We got back to the house at midnight last night. One more day off today, and then it's back to work tomorrow.
Anyway, since I missed the post about my wedding, I'll start there. My highlights were watching Irma and Alex walk down the aisle, plus actually getting married. And the lasso and coins were pretty neat, too. BTW, those were what the minister was talking about when he said he'd never done this before.
The reception was a lot of fun. Irma downed a glass of wine like a shot as soon as we got to the table (she was a little stressed). Rick- great job on the toast. Thanks to whoever got that picture of Alex running around in her dress. I thought she looked cute as hell doing that. Just to let you know, there was still a keg left by the time most of the guests had left (I don't remember what time), and it still got finished. So good job, guys. I noticed that by the end of the reception, it was basically Maryland alumni sticking around.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun, and thanks to everyone who came out to the wedding, or who sent gifts even though they couldn't make it. Irma and I really appreciated it.
On to the honeymoon- there was actually a little bit of a delay between the wedding and the actual honeymoon. The next morning, me and Irma came back to the house, met up with a bunch of family/friends to say goodbye, and packed for the trip. We went down to Ft. Worth to see Alex one last time before we left (she was staying with Irma's sister). As we drove away, me and Irma were getting all watery-eyed and missing Alex, but when we asked Irma's sister about it, Alex didn't care at all- she just went back to playing. We spend the night in Dallas at a pretty good hotel- they advertise in the elevator that room service will deliver pizza and beer to your room. Nice. Then, the next day buying a few more things for the trip, and then leaving.
We had to go to L.A. to transfer to the Air Tahiti flight to Tahiti. The Air Tahiti flight was partnered with Quantas, and went on to Auckland after that. So, of course, my luggage also went on to Auckland. It took them a day and a half to get it back to me. Luckily, I had a change of clothes from the hotel the night before, so I wasn't completely screwed. From Tahiti, we took a puddle jumper straight to Bora Bora. Our view from our room in Bora Bora was awesome. We were in a bungalow right on the beach, looking out over the lagoon. We could see the small islands that encircle the main island, and then another big island off in the distance. And we got the sea breeze every day so we didn't need air conditioning. Awesome. Probably the highlight from Bora Bora was taking a snorkeling trip to go feed sharks and sting rays, swimming right in the water with them. One of Irma's highlights was watching me get pulled into a Tiki show and having to dance and pick up a big rock (180 lbs)
From Bora Bora we flew to Moorea. Even though the hotel was supposed to be better, we didn't like it as much. The hotel had its own mini lagoon, and our room was on the inner side of it, so our view was other rooms on the other side of the lagoon. Plus, the hotel on Bora Bora was smaller, so it felt a little cozer, and you got to know everybody. The highlight on Moorea was going to a Tiki village, and watching a real tiki show (as opposed to the hotel tiki show in Bora Bora).
We left Moorea in the morning so that we could spend a day in Tahiti before our flight left. We rented a car and drove around the island. We went to a big market, and got to see some really tall waterfalls.
One random comment- food is expensive as hell over there. Even at grocery stores, the cheapest beer was over a dollar a can/bottle. Bars were even worse. So, we went to a little grocery store each morning to buy a loaf of bread, some fresh fruit, and some cheese, and that was our breakfast and lunch most every day. We thought ahead enough to take over some liquor with us, so we had rum and cokes in our hotel room instead of going to the hotel bar every night. (A bottle of jack was $40 over there.)
Anyway, it was a hell of a lot of fun. I'll have pictures up once we get them all developed.
Posted by Fatboy at June 17, 2004 02:17 PMFatboy made a mistake, a bottle of Jack is 60.00 and a bottle of Malibu rum (us $18.00) was 40.00 over there. Beer was $3 for a corona in a grocery store and was $6.50 at the hotel. Their local beer Hinano was also $18.00 a six pack. Food was VERY expensive about $150 for dinner for 2. Thank goodness we had a couple of dinners and excursions included with our honeymoon package. Since I am now married to Fatboy, I took the liberty of correcting him. If anybody remembers, ask him what his new name for a hard liquor drink is.....Thanks to everybody that came to the wedding, I enjoyed meeting all of you and hope to meet the rest of you guys soon........Mrs. Fatboy.
Posted by: Mrs. Fatboy at June 17, 2004 06:44 PMWord to Mrs. Fatboy for keeping Mr. Fatboy in line. Now I want to know, was that rock he picked up really 180 lbs?
Posted by: John at June 18, 2004 12:34 AMEnough about alcohol and dinners: how much were dippy eggs?
Posted by: Chris at June 20, 2004 02:46 PMTwo dippy eggs, some bacon and sausage, and a buffet for fruit, bread, and cheese, cost $40. Hence the reason for buying our own breakfasts at the supermarket. Actually, it was the same price for any type of eggs, not just dippy. But most places served them that way, over easy, or fried to the point where the yokes were hard. Not a lot of scrambled eggs.
Posted by: Fatboy at June 21, 2004 12:16 PM