As my current trip in America unfolds on
Instagram, I look back on my previous voyage to the islands of French Polynesia and New Zealand — and can't help but fall in love all over again. The coral-fringed turquoise lagoons are really that blue, and the over-the-water bungalows that punctuate the islands are surrounded by the most brilliant rainforest-covered basaltic peaks.
There's something charming about ribbons of deep blue water and noonday sun, albeit the uneven tan lines, that will be etched in my memory forever. Especially the placid feeling of being on the quietest beach in the middle of the night, nothing is quite as serene.
