A warm welcome

Sébastien Coquelet and his wife Sophie from Belgium received the best anniversary gift when revisiting their honeymoon destination

My wife Sophie and I honeymooned in French Polynesia and loved it so much we promised to return on our 10th anniversary. At the time, we weren’t H.O.G.^® members, but since joining the Mons Chapter Hainaut Belgium, our passion for these legendary motorcycles has become an important part of our life together.

For us, every trip is an opportunity to discover a new H-D^® dealership, admire the local infrastructure and, above all else, exchange souvenirs, whether that’s pins, badges or other symbolic objects. Before our celebratory trip this year, I got in touch with the Tahiti Harley Riders and its president, Emile, through Facebook.

The warm welcome we’d received a decade ago was reaffirmed as soon as we spoke to Emile. Although our tight schedule meant we couldn’t ride together when we arrived in Tahiti on 15 August, we arranged to meet for breakfast.

When we arrived that morning, we were surprised and delighted to discover that Emile hadn’t come alone. He’d brought Isabelle and Terefina, the club’s secretary and treasurer respectively. But that wasn’t all – Alain, the president of H.O.G. Tahiti Chapter, also joined us. For the past eight months, Alain had been trying to relaunch a club recognised by H.O.G. after the only Harley-Davidson dealership on the island closed due to Covid-19, and he was keen to meet us after hearing about our visit from Emile.

So, it was not one, but two clubs that welcomed us with typical French Polynesian generosity. As soon as we arrived, Isabelle and Terefina placed garlands of fresh flowers around our necks. This symbolic gesture, so central to Polynesian culture, made the meeting all the more special.

After a delicious breakfast, we exchanged badges, T-shirts and other items. Then we immortalised the moment by taking photos in some fabulous settings, surrounded by our new friends and their magnificent motorbikes. What started out as a simple meeting quickly turned into something magical. We thought this particular adventure would end there, but French Polynesia still had a few surprises in store for us.

A few days later, as our stay was drawing to a close, we received messages from Emile and Alain. They were very keen to see us again before we left to say goodbye and “crown” us as friends with shell necklaces, a powerful symbol of friendship in French Polynesia. They also wanted to spend more time with us as we had formed a deep connection in a short time.

So, on our final day, we met at a brasserie for a meal and were surprised to be greeted by three more club members, who were keen to meet us. This simple but sincere event was the high point of our trip.

We took the shuttle to the airport with our hearts full of emotion and our necks laden with shell necklaces as we said goodbye to Tahiti. We never imagined a simple Facebook connection could create such strong bonds in a short space of time. This trip, originally planned to celebrate our wedding anniversary, had turned into a genuine adventure. Thanks to our shared passion for Harley-Davidson^® motorcycles, not only did we achieve our dream, we also made friends for life.