In 2014 I first visited China with the main intent to visit the Xinjiang province in far western China. At the time there was a growing separatist movment. I didn’t think that the Chinese government would tolerate it for long. I guess I was prescient as in April 2014 after an attack by Uyghur separatists…
Our flight from Port Vila to Tanna was short and comfortable. While at the airport in PV we met Anthony Deamer, our good friend, Bryn’s brother. Another is a long term pioneer and owner/operator of Unity Airline. Harrison, working for Vanuatu airlines came by and introduced us to other friends. So awesome to have the…
We visited Port Vila two times. The first time we flew from Nadi, Fiji, and were pleasantly surprised to be greeted, with bright smiling faces, hugs and leis, from our very dear spiritual son, with whom we served at the Baha’i World center, Harrison and his three beautiful children, Samira, Salem and Shameem. We checked…
We hope that you have enjoyed tales of our 7 weeks travel in 6 of the many islands in the South Pacific, namely, Viti Levu, Savusavu and Taveuni in Fiji 🇫🇯 , Port Vila and Tanna in Vanuatu 🇻🇺 and Upolu in Samoa 🇼🇸 – see chapters 41-47 We hope that our stories have inspired…
We kept hearing the word, small island, when referencing Samoa and once we got here we realized why? Samoa happens to be pretty small, 2,831 km² compared to Fiji which is 18,274 km²and Vanuatu that is 12,189 km² National Baha’i Center: As soon as the rain stopped, one of our first activities was to walk…
The reason for including the Samoan island of Upolu in our South Pacific travel plans was to fulfill our dream of visiting the eight Continental (Mother Temple) Baha’i House of Worship in our life time. With Samoa we have now visited five with three, Kampala, Uganda, Panama City, Panama and Santiago, Chile https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Baháʼí_Houses_of_Worship We arrived…
Taveuni (pronounced Tah-vee-ew-nee), is the garden island of Fiji, One can fly from Savusavu to Taveuni but we opted to go native by taking the local bus to the ferry and we are so glad we did. Not only did we save a lot of money, we had the pleasure to spend time with the…
Having stayed in the big island -Viti Levu- for 15 days, we decided to explore the second biggest island in Fiji -Vanua Levu -next. There are several ways to get from Nandi to Suvasuva. We opted to fly on an 18 seater, very comfortable propeller plane operated by Fiji air. The one hour flight, with…
After months of planning, by Richard, we left Cary, NC at 11am ET on September 11, took the 15 hour best flight of our lives with Fiji Air from Vancouver, CA to Nadi town, Fiji. As Fiji is 18 hours ahead of eastern time, we arrived at 5am on Wednesday. A short time later we…
Day 1-6:After 20 months of virtual visits we were able to hug and hold our precious brother, oldest sibling and my mentor, Iraj, and shower him with love that he has so admirably earned.The icing on the cake was our stay at the cozy home of Richard’s middle brother and his amazing wife (my 3rd…
With Covid, I, like everyone else wished to begin traveling as soon as possible. We had to cancel a long planned, awesome, family holiday to Bali. There was no way it would last beyond May. But May came. Then we needed to cancel having our much loved grandchildren for an extensive summer visit. Our disappointments…
To the reader: The following are recollections and impressions of my 12 year old granddaughter, recorded by me. To experience the world through the eyes of a 12 year was a true gift. I am grateful to her parents for their trust, my husband, Richard, for his ongoing support and to her brother, for letting…
“The long awaited adventure with my granddaughter” Many moons ago, when my granddaughter was about 4 years old, and fascinated with the Eiffel tower, we casually talked about going to Paris when she was 12. Well, she is 12 and yes, our dream has come true. Today, Sienna and Richard (her travel companion) met up with me…
As planned, I met my travel partners, Andi and Felicia, at our planned rondevue spot – a hotel at the airport and near the car rentals- the evening on May 11th. Andi and I did not want to make the 45 minute bus ride to Edinburgh and decided to brave the hotel restaurant. To our…
A few months back I received an email from my dear friend Andi asking me, and a few other friends, if we want to join her for a few days visit to Scotland. I shared the idea with Richard and of course he says “yes! go! you will love it!” So, right there and then…
“The earth is but one country” 