Thanks Guy Betsy, I've misinterpreted your posting on hsi.chang's site. I stand corrected. Good to know that SOTO is allowed in the US, and I hope they don't restrict this in the near future. I also strongly support your comment that "One must remember to originate from that country." This was one of the reasons why CX/AA Tokyo restricted SOTO; some sly travelers issued SEL (Korea) originated OWEs, tore off and threw away the first segment of SEL-x/HKG-NRT and started their journey from NRT, at half price of what they should have paid for a legitimiate NRT originated OWE.

Darren, As for Tahiti, it's a great destination, expensive, but worth it. We visited a small island called Rangiroa for diving, deliberately avoiding the one and only resort hotel on the island and stayed at a ten cottage hotel for one third the price of the resort. We weren't really on a budget, and we simply wanted to stay out of the crowd, but we were completely satisfied with the friendly service, food and surroundings of the small hotel. Most major resorts in Tahiti charge you USD200-300 for a night, but there are very nice petite hotels and guest houses between USD30-100. Don't give up on Tahiti!