Bora Bora, Travel

Honey, My Parents are Coming on our Honeymoon…!

So…a little background on our trip…

As I mentioned before, we booked through Costco Travel for one of their dual island deals at the Intercontinental–3 nights in Moorea, 5 nights in Bora Bora (Le Moana). It was definitely a deal because it was advertised as “8 nights for the price of 5.” For Tahiti, that’s quite a chunk of savings. At first, hubby saw the price per person and nearly cried. Then he asked me, “Do we really need to stay for 8 nights?!” And when he was done bemoaning the hole that was Bora Bora burning into our wallets and added up the prices of the hotels without the deal, he finally gave in.

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After the trip, I asked hubby if 8 nights were enough. He sheepishly said he could stay a year. Yup. That’s what I thought. Wifey knows best. But who can really afford to stay here for a year? (Don’t answer that.)

 

We had also just returned from Maui a month ago and were partially distracted by our upcoming 2-week Asia trip the following month, so I think the finances stung a little more when we were scrambling to book Bora Bora. Because we booked so late (maybe 2 weeks after the deal started), when I talked to the Costco Travel agent, she said there were only 2 rooms left in the entire hotel (!!!).

The Costco deal came with horizon view bungalows, but only lagoon views were left. I was relieved to hear that there were rooms left because when I looked at the hotel website, it said there was only ONE more room left for the dates I wanted. And I was panicking a little, because I actually was looking to book two rooms. Why two rooms?

Well, as it turned out, even though Bora Bora was intended to be another honeymoon trip, my parents also really, really wanted to go. Bora Bora was our bucket list honeymoon spot, and I flinched a little thinking we’d have to share the trip. I know, I know–woe is me, I’m taking yet another honeymoon vacation, oh boo hoo. So I stopped myself from first-world-probleming.

First off, my parents don’t really know how to do resort-style relaxing vacations. Correction: They don’t do resorts and beaches–usually vacations are just go, go, go. For reasons I don’t want to delve into, it wasn’t a simple “book hotel/flight/sit on a beach and do nothing” sort of deal to them. They were quite baffled how to do plan it (even though in my head I thought there really was not a ton of planning to do!). They really wanted ME to help them book everything so they could just tag along.

Wah wah, the third wheeling flickered across my mind repeatedly. My mom could tell that was bothering me, so she assured me, “Oh, we would get our OWN room, of course!”

Ha…I SURE HOPE SO!!

At the end of the day, as much as I would have preferred to travel with just my husband, it was also really hard for me to say “no” as well. How could I be so selfish to deny the two human beings who raised me their absolute dream trip? I couldn’t say no to the people who fed me, clothed me, supported me, put me through years of private university/grad school so I could even afford this trip on my own! How ungrateful would I have to be?

Luckily, my husband was a really good sport about it, even though I knew the third wheeling crossed his mind a little too. “Oh, we’d have our OWN room, of course!” I said. He rolled his eyes at me, which so clearly screamed “Uh, we better.”

So…ta da! My parents crashed my honeymoon! Just kiddingggg! It actually worked out quite nicely that we went in a group we did. (Seriously, mom. Kidding! Please don’t take offense.)

Asians (hubby) taking pictures of Asians (me) taking pictures of Asians (dad) taking pictures of everything (mom).

Fast forward to a month before our final payment was due. I got a phone call from Costco Travel. What could they possibly be calling about?! I was so nervous that perhaps they really didn’t have enough rooms at the IC Le Moana. And sure enough! They had OVERBOOKED. *insert face palm* But I think because our order contained two bungalows, they could not fit both of us there.

“Miss, you have one of two options. You either 1) Cancel your trip [WHAT?!] and we’ll refund you all the money OR 2) Upgrade to the IC Thalasso in an Emerald Overwater Bungalow Suite.”

UH. Of course I’ll take the UPGRADE. Isn’t this a no-brainer? Who in their right mind would have taken option 1 right now? Don’t you dare cancel my dream vacation!!

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HOORAY FOR FREE UPGRADES! Meaning I got to stare at Mt. Otemanu all day e’ry day!

 

And so that is how we ended up at the IC Thalasso due to an oversight on the travel agency’s fault. Plus they gave us a $60/day resort credit due to renovations at the hotel (that I did not once hear or really even see). And honestly, I probably should thank my parents for going with us because I’m prettyyyy sure we would have gotten that last lagoon bungalow at Le Moana, and this whole upgrading thing would not have ensued.

While I maintain I would have been happy at Le Moana, too, I gotta be honest here: I kind of like my luxury hotels. πŸ˜€  In addition, when we got to IC Thalasso, they upgraded us again and gave us Sapphire Overwater Bungalow Suites which have the ocean views instead of lagoon. Hey, I’ll take it! Win-win for everyone!

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My parents chilling at the infinity pool.

Plus, how freaking adorable is this? They learned to relax a little and not always have a jam-packed planned out day on this trip. Happily married for over 30 years…now that’s something to aspire to πŸ™‚

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The first of many beautiful sunsets we saw in Bora Bora.

And another plus–my parents were constantly, eagerly, insistently offering to help us take couple pictures, including this beaut. Can’t beat that Bora Bora sunset! <3

Traveling with my parents also paid off when we did a private island tour together. The price for one couple would have been way too much for me to swallow, but with two couples, it was much less per couple than the other comparable private tours we saw listed at the hotel concierge. So…moral of the story: there are definitely advantages to traveling with another couple! (…Even if they happen to be your parents…haha!) πŸ™‚

2 thoughts on “Honey, My Parents are Coming on our Honeymoon…!

    1. Hahah thanks Cynthia!! πŸ˜€ you should definitely utilize your honeymoon status to get upgrades as much as you can now πŸ˜‰

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