# midwest to french polynesia



## rynker (Nov 2, 2008)

My goal is to book somwhere in the french poynesia for summer of 2010. We'll be leaving out of Chicago.  Is it best to stop in Hawaii for a week before  continuing to the french poly, or should you just endure the long flights and get there?  Any advice and expertise about the islands and where to stay and how to get there will be appreciated!


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## Mimi39 (Nov 4, 2008)

A good and inexpensive fare with a connection through HNL seems unlikely.  The best bet would be to book with a connection through LAX from Chicago. Of course the airfare will be high in any case.

We used Sunspots to go to Fiji with a good price and excellant service: http://www.sunspotsintl.com/


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## Poobah (Nov 4, 2008)

*Getting to French Polynesia*

From Chicago to Papetee is a bit of a jaunt. The only airline that flies to Papetee from HNL is Hawaiian Air and then only on Saturday. The connection is not that convienent arriving at 9:45 in the evening so you are stuck in Papetee for a night. It returns, leaving at 11:45PM. 

Both Air France and Air Tahiti Nui fly from LAX (~ 8 hours). Both airlines fly wide bodies. Last March we flew Air France out of LA and the flight and service was quite nice. You fly at night so you can get a little sleep. You get in early in the AM so you can catch the flights to the other islands.

We tried to plan the trip to spend two weeks in Fr. Polynesia and then a week in Kauai on the way back at our timeshare. It got into the too hard category.  If the flight from the mainland is late and you miss the HA flight, it is over. You pretty much have to fly to HNL the day before, or stay in islands for a few days before heading to Fr Polynesia

If you fly inter-island be aware that you are limited to ONE bag each. Each bag can weigh no more than 20 kilos (44 pounds). Packing is a challenge

Fr. Polynesia is very expensive, very expensive. 

We did three weeks: one week on Bora Bora (Le Maitai), one week on a catamaran (Crossiers), and one week on Moorea (Club Bali Hai). It was the trip of a lifetime. The catamaran was the highlight of the trip.:whoopie: 

Cheers,

Paul


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