Moon Tahiti [Paperback]

It is a comprehensive guide on what to see, where to eat, how to get around and where to stay (for all budgets), which is what you expect from a good guidebook - but it's David's personal stamp that makes it so rewarding. It's informative, honest, and sometimes opinionated with a deep understanding of Polynesian history, culture and lifestyle. There are excellent practical tips on things like health & safety, where to get internet access and even toilets where you should take your own paper - but it's more the personal tips on how to make the transition from 'tourist' to 'traveler' that I appreciated...
"A wise traveler soon graduates from hearing and seeing to listening and observing. Speaking is good for the ego and listening is good for the soul."

This book is a shortcut on the road to becoming a wise traveler. This doesn't mean it is all about getting off the beaten track. Tracks become beaten because there are worthwhile things to experience and they should be taken. David provides the 'must see' highlights as well as information for those willing to explore further. Being a wise traveler is more about attitude than itinerary. As David says, "If things work differently than they do back home, give thanks - that's why you've come. Take an interest in local customs, values, languages, challenges and successes."

Another undercurrent is David's realism and commitment to the environment. He pulls no punches, whether they are aimed at the countries who used this region for nuclear testing (particularly the French) or at those who pillage the Pacific for piscatorial pleasure - "spearfishing (is) like shooting a cow with a handgun."

Allow a few extra dollars in your travel budget for this book and it will be an investment. The reward you will gain from your travels to this wonderful part of the world will be enhanced immeasurably.

All superlative adjectives are deficient in describing this book. It is a bible, a self-contained encyclopedia of information about Tahiti for the visitor to the islands.

This is the fifth edition, and author David Stanley and the Moon Handbooks editors have refined it to perfection, unless a volcano necessitates a new island chapter.

A list of categories of information it provides would be endless. One can only write that it covers every category imaginable, including the basics of transportation, lodging, activities, and personal caretaking. Radio stations, yup. Language glossary, yup. Metric conversion, yup. Comprehensive coverage.

Mere examples of some of the details, each expounded in detail, provided in this book would be email access, ferry schedules, dolphin-watching...and illustrations of the Tahitian dance movements for "perfumed" and the essential "to love." The Tahitian dance movement for "to love" is "here," which is appropriate to such a paradise, although if you travel to Tahiti you may come to apply "to love" to "this handbook."

The typeface is small but readable, which enables such an information-laden volume to be compact and lightweight for your pack or purse. Organization and presentation could not be any better, and I have copyedited more than one hundred books, so my opinion is meaningful.

Searching the Internet for information about Tahiti is both inefficient and deficient, drastically, compared to using this handbook as a guide.

Rob Kay's foreword states that Stanley has been visiting French Polynesia for more than twenty years. The "About the Author" section reveals an important point, that he does his "research" (oh, if all jobs entailed such labor) incognito, not identifying himself as a travel writer--to avoid atypical treatment--when he visits restaurants, hotels and hostels, tour operators, etc. This approach serves his readers--us--rather than serving the vendors and himself. Other travel writers should give up their gimmick of getting special service and strive for such professional honor.

Consider the retail price to be one-third of what you actually pay, because you will use it thrice. Once to plan your trip. Once as a traveling companion which has answers to all the questions that arise during your vacation. Finally, as a guide to your memories when you have returned home and want to regale others or yourself with descriptions of the paradise that is Tahiti.

I'd give this book one hundred stars if I could. It's all you need. Look no further for information about Tahiti.