Photo: Nico Guilis1/17“From the plane, everywhere you look is incredibly blue. The flight attendants on Air Tahiti Nui all had flowers in their hair and wore the most beautiful floral dresses. I want one! It’s like you’re already in Tahiti when you get on the plane. You land at the tiniest little airport in Bora Bora, where you are picked up by a water taxi. I had never done that before. I was smiling ear to ear and was so excited to be back there.”
Photo: Nico Guilis2/17“This is Moorea. We put our boards in a car to meet a guide who took us to a surf spot on his boat. We found a left and a right break next to each other that we got to by jumping right off of the boat. Later, our guide took us to swim with stingrays and sharks. I’ve never done that before. I was honestly terrified, but everyone did it so I had to toughen up.”
Photo: Nico Guilis3/17“I couldn’t contain my excitement when we got to the Conrad. I think I was shaking when we drove by our little huts on the water. It’s the first new hotel in Bora Bora in something like ten years. It felt like a dream.”
Photo: Nico Guilis4/17“One day while we were checking waves on Moorea, we found a really cute Tahitian neighborhood with these pretty little houses. They’ve been there a long time—you could tell. I like seeing how people live in a place outside of a hotel. It’s nice to experience both.”
Photo: Nico Guilis5/17“We drove a car around Moorea and explored the island. There were fisherman everywhere—these are their buoys. We found a local café right on the beach and had an espresso shot and homemade tarte tatin. It’s so awesome to eat French food on the beach.”
Photo: Nico Guilis6/17“We pulled over to one of the fruit stands on Moorea and got fresh coconut water and passion fruit. I love fruit stands—I may or may not have OD’d on fruit on this trip, but I wish I was eating it now. We had coconut all of the time—even our hotel had boxes of fresh coconut chips.”
Photo: Nico Guilis7/17“I’m not the best skater, but I do like to cruise around. We got around everywhere at the hotel by skating and riding bikes. Easy, fast transportation.”
Photo: Nico Guilis8/17“I jumped right off of my hut’s deck. I spent the majority of my time in Bora Bora in the water. Why wouldn’t you want to be in that warm blue water? And I love this swimsuit. I’m into one-pieces right now.”
Photo: Nico Guilis9/17“The woman who ran the fruit stand was so happy to have us there that she gave each of us a hibiscus flower. You can just tell how happy I am to be there in this photo. The simple life.”
Photo: Nico Guilis10/17“After a full day of Jet Skiing we came home to the most beautiful sunset. I was barefoot, in a bikini or a sarong, the entire time I was in Tahiti.”
Photo: Nico Guilis11/17“This is the wave in Moorea. I am regular foot, so I was dying to surf a right. Even though the waves were small, they were super-fun. They have so much more power than the waves at home.”
Photo: Nico Guilis12/17“A lot of lounging went on on that deck. You can see some fish in the water in front of me. There were so many fish there—striped ones, bright ones, I even saw stingrays with yellow polka dots on them. It was so cool. There was wildlife everywhere.”
Photo: Nico Guilis13/17“We walked up to the top of the property before breakfast one morning to take in the view. There were so many wildflowers.”
Photo: Nico Guilis14/17“Everywhere we went people gave us leis. I love that flower crown. It smelled so good. Plumerias are my favorite.”
Photo: Nico Guilis15/17“I want to wrap my hair up all summer. This is in between our rooms, where we would jump into the water and swim home when we forgot our room keys.”
Photo: Nico Guilis16/17“Nothing better than eating french fries, drinking French wine, and watching the sun set.”
Photo: Nico Guilis17/17“I think this is just after I finished breakfast—fruit and croissants. We found this hat in Moorea on a little exploration adventure. That hat went everywhere.”
