For whatever reason, I just remembered this site I used years and years ago to write down my bucket list. The idea of the site was to encourage people to complete their life goals, encourage each other. While I never became part of the community, I did write down a list… and today I found that list.
It’s funny how your priorities change so much over time.
On a number of levels, I nailed it:
- Take an American (out west) road trip
- Snorkel in SE Asia
- Do one of those “Round the World” trips
Truth is, I always wanted to travel. And in that sense, I’ve nailed it. I’ve seen India, I’ve flown around the world, I’ve seen the Grand Canyon and most national parks out west.
But there are a few things that are life goals I’ve never done:
- Tibet
- Serengeti Plains
- French Polynesia
Why is it that I haven’t seen 3 of the places I’ve specifically always wanted to go?
Truth is, I would go to the Serengeti Plains tomorrow if there was a points hotel. Which makes me think… While miles and points have obviously and completely changed my life and helped me do nearly all of my bucket list items by the age 26, I’m so stubborn (or dumb, or cheap, or something…) that I avoid places that don’t allow me to see things in the points bubble.
Now don’t take that the wrong way!
I love being off the beaten path. I love going to the North of India when all the tourist books say “Goa”. I love going the back way to Machu Picchu via the tiniest poorest towns. I love hiking in the middle of nowhere. I love going to the side of Bali without the chain hotels.
But even those places feel in reach of miles and points. Points hotels are all over India (even if none of the staff speaks english), Avios get you to Cusco, there are hiking trails that go right past the InterContinental Berchtesgaden, and tons of flights go to Bali and Bali is pretty small.
Plus, these places I venture off to feel cheap and connected. A decent place in Bali is $10 a night. There’s good/decent internet all over India.
But some places feel out of reach… for really no reason. Is it in my head? The Serengeti Plains for example. I don’t want to spend just 1 day there, yet I need internet to work and I need to work every single day. So if there were nice points hotels, I’d go. But there aren’t really… so I haven’t?
My point is Bora Bora!
This new IHG promo provides a big opportunity for me to knock off Bora Bora. (Read about that promotion here).
See, I remember getting my first computer and for whatever reason my desktop background was very important. After all, I had nothing better to do except Myspace and chat on AIM. And there was a rotation for my desktop background and they were phenomenal pictures of French Polynesia.
At the time I had no concept of French Polynesia being the country. I just thought it was really weird that if I google searched French Polyensia, Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora I’d see the same region and a lot of times the same pictures. Well, it must be the same place. Then I “realized” that Tahiti was the country and Moorea was an island… which is closer, I guess.
Truth is, I can’t actually remember or find the exact pictures now. But I remember being wowed over how the sharp mountain came out of such perfect water. And now know that one picture that I favored was actually Bora Bora and not Tahiti.
I actually remember looking on google earth when that first became a thing, and zooming in as far as I could to see Moorea and the other islands… just to see what they looked like.
Should I do Bora Bora?
Getting all sappy and avoiding the point. Put short: hotels are a billion points a night and you still have to pay for flights to Bora Bora.
The opportunity before me is that I have two free nights from our IHG ex-visa card and now, I could have a few free nights from the new IHG Into the Nights promo. I could have a week in free nights, and not only that, right now award nights book directly into overwater bungalows at the IC Thalasso in Bora Bora. We could get the Hilton Reserve for a weekend.
Hotels could be covered.
Also, we have a fair amount of AA miles and Air Tahiti Nui from LAX is wide open for award availability multiple times a week. Therefore, flights to Tahiti could be covered. And Moorea is a short ferry ride away from PPT. No biggie.
Also, if I go, I’m going to pack more food than Bear Grylls’ cameramen. Tons of food.
The only major expense for us would be the flight from Tahiti to Bora Bora and it’s like $450 a person! Yikes. Now $900 for two flights doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but this is a tiny flight and for a short amount of time.
Questions:
Am I wrong to think that this is a great time to knock something off my bucket list? My thinking is that I could be the cheapest cheapskate to Bora Bora ever… at least in per day costs. Who knows.
Is Bora Bora a must? It seems to me that going to French Polynesia and not going to Bora Bora is a lot like going to Easter Island and not seeing the Moai (heads).
Could I just ferry over to Moorea and be happy? Really the difference between all my travel being free and $900 is Bora Bora over Tahiti. So the real question is, is Bora Bora worth $900? Should we see Moorea, Bora Bora or Both?
Is there a cheaper way to get to Bora Bora? Is it just me or does Air Tahiti have a complete monopoly on this janx? For real, there is one flight and it’s with one company and it’s $450 for a flight that’s 300 miles roundtrip!
If anyone has tips on discount flights, ferry, hitchhiking planes or something… I don’t care. If I can get this trip for free free… that would be absolutely amazing. And either way I am considering a trip to French Polyensia in general. The question is what to do, where to go, what hotels, and is Bora Bora worth $900 when Moorea is so beautiful.
Love the line about Bear Grylls’ cameraman! I like to watch him while on flights sometimes, though if it’s a place I’m familiar with I may wonder why he doesn’t just walk a few miles north to where there’s plenty of civilization. That wouldn’t be very compelling TV I suppose.
My problem is that as I tick off items on my “bucket list”, the list just keeps growing. More places, more interests. I guess if you ever complete a bucket list, though, that would be a bad sign.
Bora Bora is on my list too, so I can’t give any advice. Perhaps others have ideas. Heading to the Galapagos first.
That is true. When I first started traveling I had never heard of Krakow. Didn’t know it existed to now I can’t wait to go. So hopefully everyone continues to have more dreams.
I visited Morea with my wife last thanksgiving. It was our last hurrah with Hilton 145k Amex awards (what were they called again ). We didn’t have high expectations after having spent 2 weeks in the cook island a few years earlier, but it turned out to be one of our favorite trips ever. We also packed a lot of food and loaded up at every free Hilton breakfast. We took the bus from the airport to the ferry, which definitely is cheaper than fly to Bora Bora 🙂
Yes, the AXON awards or whatever? Yea, the ferry is more my budget. :-p We did Rarotonga a couple of years ago, and I enjoyed it, but imagine Moorea to overshadow it. High expectations :-p
If you do end up doing this trip, one nice thing about the Hilton on Moorea is that you can upgrade to an Overwater bungalow for about $100/night. We did that and it was sooo worth it. The bungalows on land are lackluster compared to the overwater experience. There really is something magical about an overwater bungalow in the south pacific, and I believe the Hilton Moorea is probably one of the less expensive places to upgrade (PH Maldives wants $400/night).
We enjoyed French Polynesia more than Rarotonga, because it was a little more developed. I’m sure every traveler has their own preferences, but Moorea was the right combination of remote island feel and civilization for us. The french influence gives it a fun flare too.
I’d say go for it! The stars are aligning right now to get you all those free nights at the ICs in Bora Bora. Who knows what will happen to IHG in the future, they may devalue or sell their properties. Hilton used to have a property in PPT and they sold it so you never know. There are ferries to Bora Bora that go overnight and it sounds like you guys would have the time to take them. I used ferries on my very first trip to Bora Bora in the mid-90’s and stayed at a backpacker hostel. In 2009, I went back with my husband, flew and stayed at both ICs. I preferred Le Moana, more Polynesian and more convenient. We got upgraded mostly because my husband could speak to them in their language. Try both ICs and see which one you like best.
PS: The food on Bora Bora is insanely expensive so I hope you guys like ramen noodles!
That’s awesome. I looked at both ICs, and there’s only so much availability on the one, so may have to try both. However, the appeal would be booking straight into the OWB.
Like Ramen noodles? Not really. Am I prepared to live off it? totally.
I visited Moorea and Tahiti many years back and then traveled again to Bora Bora in 2008. Food is very pricey, but I was surprised to find a sandwich stall that has yummy sandwiches for less than $5 US. And the La Roulettes festivities in Pepeete offer lots of dining options if you stay in Tahiti for a night or two.
Personally I loved Moorea. Moreso than Bora Bora. I stayed at the Starwood’s Bora Bora Nui (no longer a Starwood property) and it was quite amazing. But Moorea seemed to offer more to do and was somewhat less pricey. If you are going for romance and want to simply relax at your resort, then Bora Bora is awesome. For more adventure head to Moorea.
Well, both sound great. Why do you say there’s more to do in Moorea? More on land things?
I think you should take this opportunity and go to Bora Bora with your free nights. After IHG sees what many people are doing, I doubt they will make an offer like this again (btw, my husband got the same offer that you did!).
Boy, I hope they do it again. Third Big Win in a row, so that’s a good sign. And they are investing in the website backend. However, you’re right that one should count on that. Take the free nights while you can.
I’ve been pondering the same thing. I like the idea of staying in this tropical paridise, but I dont think i would enjoy it if I’m being nickle and dimed for everything and being charged $50 for a burger. the ihg properties dont have stove do they?
They have a water boiler… for ramen. 😀
Air Tahiti also has air passes that allow multiple hops and should save some $ over buying separate tickets. If you aren’t in a hurry this seems like a decent option to see a few places. I think for boats, it’s basically cargo and cruise ships. Personally, I think the cargo ship would be an interesting experience. But it’s obviously not a quick way of getting around!
Wow. Really interesting.
https://www.airtahiti.com/multiisland-fares
What’s funny is that it’s $505 for BORA BORA PASS: Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Maupiti
which is a little cheaper than a plain roundtrip for Moorea to Bora Bora. I’ll have to look up the other islands and seriously consider this.
OK, this is just for fun –
Because of the Into the Nights promotion people are thinking about completing the five or so tasks and getting two free nights. So the question is, what are those nights worth? In Bora Bora it might be $800 per night or $1600 for two nights right? Well…
A top tier IHG goes for 50,000 points. If you follow the suggestion of this blog you can buy that many points for $350, sometimes even less. So the value of two free nights is $700 max.
To get that most people have to stay 3 nights under the Into the Nights promo. If you are staying anyway, great, but if you have to book nights just to complete this then you have to spend to stay. Three nights might cost $300. So now the net savings is $700 value – $300 cost = $400, not counting time and effort.
So a $400 savings prompts one to fly to Tahiti and arrange a vacation.
Perhaps sign up for a Barclay Arrival which gives a $400 bonus and be in the same place a lot easier.
Hah. Love the math.
The one thing it doesn’t consider is the fact that I get points from the stays on top of the two nights.
But if I go, I’m going for at least a week. So that helps too.
I just found your blog last week and think it’s fantastic. Going to Bora Bora for less than $1,000 (especially while staying in overwater bungalows) is a steal. I managed to go there for about $2,000 (hotel uprgrades, intra-country flights) and thought that was a steal. The food prices will easily cost $50 per person for breakfast and lunch each and $100-200 per person each for dinner. The water taxi to the hotel is also expensive–I managed to take the public water taxi (I believe it was free) to Vaitape and transfer to the hotel’s free ferry into Vaitape.
French Polynesia is truly special–the accommodations and scenery of Bora Bora are amazing! You should go to both Moorea and Bora Bora, if you can swing it. As for the Serengeti, most accommodations are all-inclusive and include game drives. There might be some “affordable” tent (e.g., Asanja) or camping options for your budget, if that is of interest.
Hey $2,000 sounds great for such a trip. Yea, the water taxis are insane, so may have to look into the cheaper options. I’m sure someone details it on FT for each hotel.
Yea, I’m realizing that I need to do Serengeti soon. It just has to happen. So I’ll start investigating.
Hearing you describe your desktop background and your fascination with a place you could barely locate on a map is sounds exactly like my story and how Bora Bora became the number 1 item on my bucket list. No more than 4 weeks ago my wife and I realized that dream thanks to points and miles. I say go for it. It was the most amazing place. Moorea is nice but do not skip Bora Bora. Get the Arrival car to take care of some of the interisland flights. We stayed at the Hilton on both islands but the Thalasso is a very nice property. We packed a bunch of snacks and with the free breakfasts from Hilton we only had to pay for dinner each night. Go for it man.
That’s awesome. Man, that’s a good points about Hilton. May have to get the reserve cards too.
There actually are a few points hotels that will allow you to see the Serengeti plains via the adjacent Masai Mara park.
The first is the Keekorok Lodge, a luxury safari lodge that is bookable for 40k Choice Hotels points per night via the Choice Hotels/Preferred Hotels partnership. To book, go to the Choice Privileges page and click on “Free nights at luxury hotels and resorts”. The cool thing is that if you have the Amtrak credit card with some travel spend on it, Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amtrak points can be transferred to Choice at a 1:3 ratio, so the Keekorok is a pretty good redemption.
The second is the Fairmont Mara Safari Club, a luxury tent camp in Masai Mara. If you have the Fairmont credit card, it is bookable with Fairmont Rewards (35,000 per night), or you can use your free nights from a signup or anniversary bonus to stay there.
Finally, Richard Branson has a private safari tent camp in Masai Mara called Mahali Mzuri. You can redeem 600,000 (!) Virgin Atlantic miles for a three night stay or 500,000 miles for a five night stay.
As far as French Polynesia, the Moorea ferry is really easy and relatively cheap. We chose to forgo Bora Bora and stay on Moorea. If you want to save even more money, grab a seat on one of the “slow” ferries. They only take a few minutes longer to make the crossing, and you’ll get a better feel of the local culture. You may get some weird looks at the ticket booth, though. 🙂
Oops. Make that 600k/800k Virgin Atlanic miles for a 3/5 night stay at Mahali Mzuri. Or… 300k/550k Virgin America miles for a 3/5 night stay. Or… 550k/900k Virgin Australia miles for a 3/5 night stay. All bad redemptions, but hey, it’s technically a “points hotel”.
Wow. I knew about the Fairmont (been eyeing it) and new about the 1:3 with Choice via Amtrak (although Chase to Amtrak has a 25,000 limit), but I never knew about the Keekorok Lodge.
That is a steal of a redemption. Like 13,000 Chase points for a night at a place advertising the cheapest room for $500. This is seriously exciting to me.
However, the time when it would actually work in my schedule (December I could totally work in a stopover), isn’t when the great migration would be there. So that’s a big attraction to me. Not sure what it would look like in December but I’m certainly going to look at this.
What’s the advantage of BOB over the Maldives?
I think you should go for it and look at it as $900 spent on your bucket list as a whole.
To me, Bora Bora looks more beautiful. But I’ve seen neither in person.
Hah. I like it.
Oh, you guys should totally go to Bora Bora. It’s a life goal, right?
Can’t you get the extra airfare covered with one of the cards that covers travel expenses as a category rather than points? My other suggestion is to try to arrange a trip on a sailboat. There are a bunch of sites you can look up to see if you can crew on (honestly, you don’t necessarily need experience).
As for food, I’m sure you guys can be creative. If you can check bags a fishing rod might be really amazing, or similar water-dwelling creature trap. You can take some stoves like MSR international in luggage but problem is the canister, so I don’t know about that. Sterno or esbit stoves might be a good choice, I think you can take them in luggage and they’re hella cheap. I’ve also been looking at lightweight multi-fuel stoves for my trekking/RTW trip next year- usually they can run on wood, esbit, alcohol etc, which could provide more options for you than oatmeal and cup o’ noodles.
If I put $50k on the Arrival+ I could get it reimbursed. Which would be totally possible if my credit limit wasn’t like $5k.
Never heard of crewing. What sites?
Aint worried about food. Heck yes I’ll packing a fishing rod. Fish right off my deck. That would be the funniest site in the world. Cooking my fish on the deck. I don’t think they’d like the blood stains. And honestly, I’ve never done anything like that. But that would be worth it.
I know they have a water boiler. So that’s something.
Drew, take a look at post #18 in this Tripadvisor thread. Someone earlier this year posted a timetable for an overnight cargo ship ride from Papeete to Bora Bora.
The post lists the email address for contacting the boat/ferry company.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294338-i867-k4526968-o10-Ferries_from_Papeete_to_Moorea_and_Bora_Bora-French_Polynesia.html
And here is a trip report in French for the ride… looks like the type of experience that is right up your alley (and mine too).
http://voyage.nat-et-dom.fr/2013/09/08/3111
This site says that the boat can take 12 passengers in 3 cabins. http://www.thetahititraveler.com/island-guide/society-islands/tahiti/ferries/
Oh my gosh. So the information is still unclear to me. Especially booking, but the Cargo ship looks like an adventure. So funny. And the ferry seems just as long but no bed?
Hey Drew, I have a good one flying Air Tahiti PPT-BOB.
If you buy your flight tickets there you get a cheaper price, however, you have a smaller baggage limit. We were looking at $500 initially online, and there we bought a roundtrip ticket for $300 (you pay in their currency).
That was a big saving, especially if you can travel light, and you get an additional 5kg if you have a diver certificate.
If you have more luggage you can either leave at the PPT airport or put it in the Air Tahiti cargo and bring it along (checking your baggage at the cargo is different than checking it at the check-in counter!!)..
And don’t worry about losing a flight or something like that because you’re gonna buy it when you get there, there are so many daily flights to Bora Bora, and also you can buy your ticket for another day and go to Moorea first..
Hope this helps..remember if you can send your miles to Smiles (20k), you’ll spend so much less than with AA miles (37.5k), the Air France flight is so much better than the Air Tahiti Nui one, we tried both already..
Do you think it’s like a last minute discount? Like well, we wouldn’t sell these seats anyways? plus they don’t have to pay expedia and what not.
I imagine we’d have plenty of bags, food and all. Turkish Smiles??? Oh. Or GOL? Will it have fuel surcharges?
GOL Smiles..no fuel surcharges 🙂
It’s not a last minute discount, you pay like a local..you can even try to call them to confirm, but I’m sure of that because I asked myself when I was there..
There are some things that really doesn’t make any sense, another one was when we went to the Maldives this year, the local airlines work with a list that you can only have your name there to board if you book it online (460USD roundtrip to South Ari Atoll) or if you have a reservation in any hotel or lodge there that will write a letter (email) to the airline cia asking to include your names and you pay when you get to the hotel (250USD)..
I tried the Bora Bora trick there and they wanted to charge me the same amount the online one, then I called my hotel and they sent the email and I ended up paying 250..I argued with the manager that this kind of thing didn’t make any reason at all because they are still paying commission..
Let me know if you have questions about Bora Bora, my wife and I spent 2 weeks in Bora Bora only, just diving, enjoying fancy hotels and doing all the activities available there..
If you go there you cannot miss the Shark/Ray feeding, it’s not like Cayman Island feeding tour, in Bora Bora you actually meet with them in a nice sand bank to feed the rays yourself, only your boat there, and they don’t do all that bull**** of picking up the poor animal or anything like that, you just feed it in the middle of the Polynesian ocean, incredible experience..feel free to contact me if you want more tips..
Cheers!
Admittedly it’s been awhile since honeymooning there, and we stayed nowhere near the InterContinental, but we were able to find cheap, good food from local markets – fresh French bread, cheese, fruit, etc., for breakfast and lunch. Some dinners were expensive, but not ridiculously so, and were good enough to remember years later. I liked Moorea at least as much as Bora Bora, if not more, but would have regretted it if we did not go to Bora Bora.
Yea, thanks for commenting. Carrie reminded me of my regret minimization concept. Would I regret it if I didn’t go, is the question. Probably.
You have to ask yourself if you’re just visiting all the destinations just to check off the bucket list. Bali can be had for $10 a night but to really so anything useful there requires much more money. Unless you want to be like those backpackers who show up and hang out in one place all day just to say they’ve been there. Same is true with any cheap place I’ve been to, like Peru or Thailand, etc
There’s just no way to travel and fully experience any destination, even the cheap ones, without either wasting a lot of time trying to pinch a few pennies or spending decent amounts of money and having a good time.
Why are you going to bora bora? It’s a boring honeymoon retreat and juding by your constant complaining about every $10 you’ll be in for an uncomfortable experience.
I’m sure the Serengeti can in principle be done cheap but any good safari will cost you since there’s a lot of rich people who pay big money for that kind of travel experience and drive up prices.
I was in Moorea two years ago and loved it. We decided not to go to Bora Bora, and I didn’t get a feeling that I missed out. Not even a little. I would go back to French Polynesia any day.
Bora Bora is a must do. I went to Moorea and Bora Bora and you should skip Moorea and Tahiti and go to Bora Bora directly. Seems like alot of people like to go to Moorea and use Hilton points at the Hilton Moorea. While the Hilton Moorea is nice and gets you an overwater bungalow, it really pales in comparison to Bora Bora. I think Bora Bora is the quintessential South Pacific experience. It really looks like the screen saver on your computer! Hawaiian air also flies to PPT from HNL.
My wife and I went to Tahiti and Moorea as part of a RTW trip last year — we used Hawaiian miles to get to PPT from HNL. We considered going to Bora Bora, but I decided against it, primarily because of the cost of the extra flight.
I am personally fine with that decision because we had a great time on Moorea. However, Bora Bora wasn’t a must see destination for either of us personally. If it is specifically on your bucket list, I’d say that could change things for you, personally. It’s more like is the additional $1k worth crossing off for you. Or which would make you happier, having an additional $1k (or doing other travel-related things with that money) or spending a few days in Bora Bora.
Either way, making this decision is a nice problem to have. 🙂
Go to Bora Bora! The cargo ship probably won’t work out, only the locals (Polynesians, not French) get to take the cargo ship. I did extensive research and talked to everyone I could in French Polynesia about this before arriving in April and while there. Try findacrew.net for a sailboat you can join as crew – just be prepared to wait for the boat to arrive as timing can be challenging to predict. You can also try going to the marina in Tahiti and talking to captains/skippers to see who will take you and Carrie as crew to the other islands but this also could mean hanging around Tahiti for a while. If you fly to BOB, take the free Air Tahiti ferry to Vaitape, hitchhike to IC Le Moana, then take the free IC boat to Thalasso. Bora Bora is incredibly beautiful and to go as far as Moorea (also worth a visit) and NOT go to Bora Bora would be crazy, in my opinion. For what it’s worth, we did a quick post on doing Bora Bora on a budget (chasingtheunknown.com/bora-bora-budget) – we had numerous under $25 days there.
My wife and I spent our honeymoon in French Polynesia back in 2005. We visited Huahine (nice, uncrowded, remote atmosphere), Bora Bora (beautiful scenery, but expensive with a general soak the honeymooner’s for every cent attitude), Rangiroa (secluded coral atoll, not much to do other than be lazy and enjoy the calm, clear water) and Moorea. We booked through a local travel agent who arranged all the flights using the Air Tahiti air pass. All in all, it’s a beautiful spot to go and see and you’ll enjoy the time exploring the islands and the gorgeous water, but expensive all over.
As a comparison, we also visited Rarotonga and Aitutaki a couple summers ago and found similar beautiful scenery with a much more relaxed vibe.
bora bora is a must! i have been there twice and loved it – jet skiing over the seven shades of blue water, manta rays, swimming with the lemon sharks and black tipped reef sharks, sting rays, etc. I like moorea but bora bora is even more beautiful, and worth every penny on a bucket list trip. yes, hotel food is expensive but you can take the shuttle boats into town and stop by the market for cheap, delicious baguettes to make sandwiches with, fresh fruit, juices and snacks. Also in town are some reasonably priced restaurants and food trucks (roulottes) where you can get a great steak frites, chicken or stir fry for about $12 for dinner. bring your own snorkel gear and enjoy!
My wife and I were just out of college when we redeemed award tickets to PPT. There weren’t blogs back then, or even internet, so travel information was much harder to come by. Still, we quickly realized that the ferry to Moorea was cheap, and that the flight to Bora Bora — and the accommodations we’d find there — was expensive. So no Bora Bora.
We had a fantastic time, and I’ve never regretted not making it to Bora Bora. We’d like to return (the only reason we haven’t is that there are so many places you can travel in the world, and Tahiti is one of the few places that has actually gotten more difficult to get to in the past 25 years). If we did, I’d certainly consider a stop in Bora Bora, but I wouldn’t pay $450/person for that short hop. I honestly don’t think it would be worth it, especially since you’d then have to deal with the hassle of higher-than-normal expenses on Bora Bora.
BTW, this is the same reason I’m not rushing to get to the Maldives like most fancy pants bloggers: the expense on the ground doesn’t seem to justify the trip.
FWIW, I have been to Easter Island, and I would submit that skipping Bora Bora is NOT like going to Easter Island and skipping the moai. Think of Bora Bora as just an add on; an interesting place to visit, but not at a crazy price.
Yes, Bora Bora is a must! Spent a week there this summer and already can’t wait to go back!
This may be late reply, but for what is worth, I just returned from Bora Bora and all I can say is you MUST go if you’re in it’s vicinity!! We found Paradise on Earth and the people are just amazingly kind and polite. We spent two days on Tahiti island and toured around. It was nice, but nothing compares to Bora Bora! We heard people like Moorea as well, but again……Bora Bora will steal your heart. It did ours <3 <3