the epic first couple of days.

Sorry for the delayed update in blogging. We are already on Fiji time :) We have been exhausted since the time our trip truly began at 9:30 am on Tuesday (US Time). For our readers, Fiji is 19 hours ahead of the US. We actually lost a day on our flight over here because we crossed over the international date line, meaning we took off on Tuesday and landed in Fiji on Thursday. So I am writing you from THE FUTURE! Here, it is Friday, July 24 at 9:15 am. But let’s get back to the recap of the last 2 days…

After staying up all night packing, worrying about what exactly to bring, or in Jeffrey’s case playing with fake teeth, we woke up Tuesday morning scrambling around with last minute arrangements. Jimmy dropped all of us off at the airport where we sweat bullets hoping our bags were underweight (they were). We checked in and headed off to LA. There were very few people on the flight so we were able to spread out and relax. When we landed in LA we headed to the international terminal to change our money. After a lot of calculations and the help of Robb’s iPhone our wallets were full of the multicolored Fiji dollars. We took the shuttle to the Hilton where we had planned to spend the day relaxing by the pool and preparing us for the flight to come. We walked to Togo’s for lunch, back by my old stomping grounds of LMU, came back and visited with Shaheen. Finally, it was time to head to the airport to check in for our flight. We made our way through the international terminal and were greeted by a hearty “Bula!” We checked our bags and made our way to our gate…3 hours early. Robb had hoped to satisfy his last craving for Starbucks before his greatest testament of will of all time, 2 weeks without his Grande 6 pump no water nonfat Chai. But fate is a cruel mistress and as we walked through the international terminal, not a Starbucks was in sight. Robb is still weeping in the corner as we speak. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle George, Lisa, Brandon, Lindsay and Alyssa met us at the gate before our flight and we all boarded the plane together. We took our seats only to find that Uncle George, Lisa and Alyssa were seated on the opposite side of the plane from us. We spent the next 10 hours trying to sleep, entertain ourselves or in my case ogling Zac Efron. I mean seriously, I would be willing to endure another 10 hour flight AND lose a day of my life again just for the chance to watch “17 Again” twice. Guh.

We never went upstairs...

The announcement was finally made that we were landing in Nadi. Much to Grandma’s delight the landing was smooth and the whole flight uneventful. As we stepped off the plane we were greeted by muggy air with the smell of wet lumber lingering. It was very reminiscent of stepping off the plane in Iquitos (the Amazon) and I turned to Dad knowing that he would be thinking the same thing. We made our way through customs and immigration, stopped off at Duty Free to buy a few things and then went to rent our car. We had arranged to rent a 10-passenger van to get us around while we were here. We knew that the first trip would be packed because of all of our luggage. The van that we were greeted with…well I’ll just post a picture and you can make your own judgments.

Gpa chilling with the van. Gangsta.

So now imagine all 12 of us loading into this van with our luggage in the back but also in the aisles. Now imagine us driving down the opposite side of the road, spewing black smoke and driving on tires that look like the should have been replaced in 1986 and then pulling into a Nadi gas station filled with locals, Americans spewing out of the car or else gagging in the back seat from the smell of diesel fumes. And here I thought I wouldn’t have a lot to write about on this blog…
Making our way around was quite an adventure due to the absence of road signs here. We had to stop several times and ask people walking by for directions. One time Uncle George almost had us in a ditch to the point where Katlyn was scrambling over me to rebalance the car.
We finally made it to our resort. It seemed like a ghost town when we arrived but then again it was 7am. We made our way to our rooms and found out that the groceries we had ordered hadn’t come. So we walked to the store and fruit stand here at the resort and did a little shopping. Of course this was in addition to the convenience store-like amount of snacks that we had packed with us from the states.

The resort

After getting settled in the room we all changed and headed out to the pool. We staked our prime real estate and soaked up the sun. Our resort is home to the largest pool in the South Pacific and it has a swim up bar. There are a million activities going on here and every hour a pounding drum can be heard signaling the start of something new. Today we have all vowed to try the water aerobics. Brandon, Katlyn and Robb and I took a walk down the beach to explore. Robb and Brandon found a coconut and in a testosterone fest decided to open it. When they were successful all they were greeted with was green moldy milk inside. Yum. Mom and Dad met us down the beach in a kayak from the resort. We ate lunch at the restaurant here at the resort and had a drink at the swim up bar. Va is the bartender there and she is very friendly. All of the people are here. Everywhere you walk you are greeted with a “Bula!” and a smile.
Since we were all running on energy fumes we decided to take a nap before happy hour and dinner. We met over at Grandma’s place later that night for a spread of snacks and some drinks before piling into the van to head to the port for dinner.
The port is the touristier, populated place here. There is a Hard Rock Café there and far too much neon lighting for any shopping center in my opinion. We ate at a little pizza place that was delicious, but poor Brandon ended up getting sick. We headed home tired but full and made our way back to our respective places to pass out.
It was an eventful couple of first days. I look forward to what the trip has to hold in the coming ones. But for now…the pool calls me.

This is only half of the pool!

Bula!