From New York to Fiji

Me, Bree, and Court in the airport, fresh in Fiji

For more Fiji pictues, CLICK HERE

After 15 months of excitment, fun, and learning in New York City, it felt that I was leaving all too soon. I was leaving a city that I had grown to love, brothers I had grown more close to, friends I had grown to love, and independence I had grown to be fond of.

My plane departed Laguaria on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 2:30pm EST in the afternoon and I arrived in Los Angeles that evening at 8:30pm PST. I joined up with the rest of my party, Courtney and Bree, and we boarded our plane to head to Fiji at 11:30pm that evening. I weighed in my travel pack at only 23 pounds. With the items in my carry-on bag and a few items I have acquired from Courtney I will probably be packing around 33 pounds in my bag for now. Not bad, I think as I expected it to weigh about 50 pounds.

We had an 11.5 hour flight to Nadi, Fiji (pronounced "Nandi" ~ yeah, I know it's weird because there's only 1 N but you pronounce 2 of them). With the time difference, we arrived in Fiji at 5:30am on Friday, May 4th at 5:30am. When we got off the plane we had to make a quick stop for Courtney to have a brief confrontation with the large Fijian customs officer who confiscated her two large bags of Beef Jerkey. Obviously you can't bring in animals -- or animal parts to their country. =P We would soon come to realize that Jerkey in Fiji also ran a pretty penny. We saw a bag of Tuna Jerkey for $79.99 in Fijian dollars which is about $50 US. Darn~ that Jerkey could have been smuggled, sold, and used to purchase us some nice souveniors for all of you. Too bad we got caught (lol).

At 5:45am when we stepped outside customs and into the fresh air we were greeted by humitity and temperatures of mid 70 degrees. ~Beautiful~ the sun was just rising and we were excited to start our journey. We were directed to a waiting area for the van that was to arrive to pick us up from the airport and take us to our hostel. We were soon directed to our van along with another backpacker who we would come to find out was Adam and was staying in the hostel next to ours. We laughed on the way to our accommodations at some very funny situations we experienced.
1.) The driver was on the opposite side of the car. Remember they drive on the left hand side of the road and the driver is on the right. We laughed at that but not much as I realized I would be driving in both Australia and New Zealand and so I needed to learn about this new way of driving, not giggle with amuzement. I rented a car that is manual because it was cheaper not realizing that the backward driving would mean that now the gear shifting would also be on the opposite side! I haven't ever shifted a manual car with my left hand, while driving on the right side of the car, on the left hand side of the street, in a country I've never been in!!!! (No -- I'm not worried at all !!)
2.) The driver and his companion stopped at a mini-market on the way to our hostel and did some grocery shopping without explaining to us what was going on. A very comical site.
3.) And last but not least, the passanger of the front seat seemed to hand the driver a bottle of alcohol while he was driving!

We arrived at our hostel, Horizons Backpackers Inn, in one piece. Upon first glance at our hostel we were quite impressed. Open area to a pool table, lounge area, and reception. We dropped our items and headed to the beach to explore a bit to await our check in time. We let our newly acquainted friend, Adam, join us for all of our activities as he was in Fiji for only a day and a half and was alone (traveling through to New Zealand to trek for a month). The beach we were staying on is quite pleasant. Not amazing, but it will suffice. We have been told that Fiji beaches are nice but if you want postcard picturesque beaches you have to take an excursion to one of Fiji's other 350+ islands. Can you believe they have that many islands?! Maybe they'll be willing to sell me one . . . !!

As we walked across the beach we met a local of Suva (the other town we were going to go to). We got some good advice from him and decided that instead of doing our original plan of going around the island of Fiji that we would take a couple of day trips to other islands and visit Nadi town and a couple of waterfalls.

The sun started beating down on us and we realized it was now only 8:30am, still an hour and a half until we could check into our beds. We scared away some crabs, laid on the beach, and explored our neighboring hostels a bit. It was now time for us to check in and my first look and experience of co-ed hostels. There are 14 beds in our room with two bathrooms, two mirrors, and one shower. I was very leery at first about someone taking my things. It would only take me one afternoon to realize that everyone is doing the same thing, Everyone is in the same boat, and everyone 'seems' to be trustworthy. We put our valuables in a locker and left the rest of our items near our beds.

We spent the rest of the day talking to travelers, hearing of amazing adventures, laying out on the beach, playing pool, and talking to the receptionists. We wanted to learn about taking the bus to town but realized that we had arrived in Fiji on a public holiday, Youth Day, and that the buses and a lot of shops were closed. We decided we would walk to the town (they thought it would be about an hour) but as I was grabbing my shoes, one of the workers offered to give us a ride. So, we all piled in and soon were on our way to Nadi town. We had some fun experiences of being led to a back-alley jewelry store, eating lunch for under $7 for 4 people (that was the first and last time that would happen), and touring the city. And instead of spending the $5 for us to take the taxi, we decided to walk. With us all being in sandals and making a stop in McDonald's for a 40 cent ice cream, bathroom break, and water bottle refill, it took us 2 hours to walk back to our hostel. Not the most fun, but very memorable. We met some kids along the way who were catching eels under a bridge and they were excited to show us their prize. It's those little things off the beaten road that are often the most rewarding and the best memories!

Now it is day two and we are soaking up the fun. More stories (in much less detail possibly) at another time. Internet connection isn't free around here!

~ Ni Sa Moce ~

Brooke