Cheryl Shops

I don't know exactly when, but several years ago, I decided that I needed to do something big for my 40th birthday, and that something was a trip to Bora Bora, which I'd always wanted to visit. Really, I just wanted to stay in one of those overwater bungalows and wake up every morning and jump right into that warm, aquamarine water. For years, I'd invite everyone who showed even the slightest amount of interst on my trip (which I referred to as #BoraBora2018), so when it came time to actually plan it, I think 20 or 30 people were initially on the invite. Of course, not everyone could make it—we ended up with eight people, which was the perfect number—and after some research, I discovered Bora Bora was rather expensive and I felt uncomfortable asking everybody to spend that much money to celebrate my birthday, so we made some slight modifications to the plan, electing to spend a week all together in Moorea, another island in French Polynesia (my boyfriend and I then went on to Bora Bora, just the two of us, but more on that later). The trip was everything I had hoped for and more. Here's everything we did, saw, ate, and more.