Cris and I decided to do something fun for our 15 year anniversary this year. We opted for a kid free 10 day vacation to Fiji. The decision to go there wasn't to hard since my parents built a home on Taveuni a few years ago and they had been urging us to go use it. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to go since we basically just had to pay for plane tickets, and the bonus of my mom offering to watch the kids. We had a blast!! As much as I love my kids, it was great to get away, and just be us for a while. No one crying at the bathroom door wanting in, I got to shower in peace, meals were a breeze, and we didn't have to be up to get kids to school, or make sure everyone was at their designated practices, or games. My poor mom got to do all that, and remember what it was like to have young kids again. When we got back she said she would watch the kids any time we'd want to go again, so I guess they didn't run her too ragged.
I'm starting this off with day one as traveling. And boy was it "fun". We drove to LA to save us a little bit of money. Next time we will be spending the extra to fly out of PHX. The drive down wasn't bad, but we didn't fly out until 11:30 at night, and had to be out of the hotel by noon. We decided that since my parents were just coming home from Fiji and they had a small layover in LA the same day we flew out that we would meet in the airport. They flew in at 2pm, so Cris and I were in the LA airport for 9 hours. This was 9 hours of pure fun torture. It was fun to meet up with my mom and dad for a few hours but the rest of it was quite boring.
Before check in.
We had an almost 11 hour flight, and touched down in Nadi at 6am. We had a small problem with customs coming into the country, and when we left. I guess someone has the same name as me or similar that couldn't leave the country of Fiji, and so when mine was scanned my name was also flagged. We had to be passed by a border control agent before they would let us through. It was kinda nerve racking.
We had a 8 hour layover before our flight from there to Taveuni. The airport had a area where you could leave your luggage, so you wouldn't have to haul it around with you for the duration of your layover. We left the luggage and went to downtown Nadi to do some souvenir shopping since the island we were going wouldn't have much.
Cris after our long, uncomfortable flight.
This was downtown Nadi. I thought I may die several times on our taxi ride. There was so much traffic, and everyone thought they had the right away, so there was lots of honking involved.
In Fiji, you will find East Indians, along with the Fijians. We visited a Indian temple while we were in Nadi since we has so much time. The colors were so vibrant! I think the best part was when Cris was told he had to wear a skirt. :)
The Nadi airport was pretty small, and I don't think it had air conditioning in the domestic terminal. By this time, my hair was not agreeing with the humidity, and was starting its frizzy, uncontrollable stage.
Looking back at the Nadi airport from our small puddle jumper plane.
After another long day within a airport we finally got more excited to be in Fiji when we got to board our little plane. I was a bit nervous, I hate small planes, but this one wasn't that bad, and the flight was pretty smooth. We flew in on a cloudy day so we only got peek-a-boo scenery on the flight, but what we did see was beautiful!
A view of one of the many islands, and a beautiful reef from the plane.
It was so nice to finally land and say we made it! My parents friend Patrick met us at the airport with a taxi. We took a quick tour of the area near the house, and then went up to the house itself.
This was to be our home, and view for the next 8 days.
Our first adventure was to crack open a freshly fallen coconut, and drink the coconut water. The fresh water was way better than any of the kind you get here.
Our second adventure included taking an old fashion shower of dumping a bucket of water onto each other. There had been a water pump that had gone out in the main city, and they were waiting for parts for it, and also they hadn't received any rain in the past 3 weeks to fill up the water reserves. Since the water has to come up a hill, in only 1 inch pipes, the water was usually out by noon. Luckily enough they either got the pump fixed, or the rain that Cris and I brought with us made it so we only had to take a bucket shower the first night we were there. The 3 weeks my parents had been their previously they had to fill their water bottles, do any wash, and if you wanted a real shower they had to do it in the mornings. Although the cool bucket of water was welcoming when you were dying of heat.
