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 you to visit one or more of these enchanted & genuinely happy islands.

Here are some practical information that may be of help to you.

Travel

We live in the south east of the United States. Clever Richard scored a wonderful ticket for direct flight on Fiji air from Vancouver, Canada to Nadi, Fiji. We took American Airlines to Vancouver and easily transferred to Fiji air.

Our direct flight from Vancouver to Nadi was 15 hours. The Fiji air direct flight fron Los Angeles to Nadi is 10 hours ONLY!

Almost all our other flight – total of 13-were on Fiji air or Vanuatu air (partners with Fiji air.) All of our flights – even those on small 18 seaters- were on time, comfortable and beautifully navigated. We had a few women pilots — yay!!

We recommend that you try and fly between islands. The buses and ferries are fine but could be long – many stops- or encounter the rough seas.

We did take a local bus from the resort in Savusavu to the ferry to Taveuni. The trip was good and more adventures and very cheap at $8 per person.

Getting around:

Taxis are the best mode of transportation and we had no problem getting one – with meter- pretty inexpensively, in Fiji. Samoa’s taxis are not metered and are harder to find. We used the hotel or the person at the restaurant or shop to call for a taxi and we would ask them what a fare price would be. Almost always the taxis agreed with the price.

You can rent a car with the knowledge that in Fiji and Samoa they drive on the left side and in Vanuatu on the right side.

Many time our precious Baha’i friends offered to drive us to the Baha’i activities.

Accommodations:

Resorts, small to massive, cheap -$30/night to $4000/night are available on all of the islands. There are Airbnb’s also. Depending on the season you may need to book your room well in advance, especially in Upolu. Book in advance where possible. It was sometimes complicated to get last minute rooms.

Food:

Breakfast is almost always included with room and if not it can be added for a charge. Some resorts have a package for 1/2 (breakfast and lunch or dinner) or full board – all three meals. When we travel we plan on two full meals a day, buffet breakfast and a late lunch. All rooms have coffee and tea set up and most rooms have a refrigerator so you can get a few of your favorite things to snack on.

Plan on bringing your favorite coffee – all we saw in the rooms was Nescafé- muesli or bran cereal, protein bars, etc but not too much. You will be surprised by the amount of fresh food, especially tropical fruits and day fresh fish – yum! I have never eaten this much fish in my life. Anyway it was cooked – curry to wrapped in banana leaves- it was divine.

Language:

Islanders are VERY sweet and friendly. Everyone in Fiji and Vanuatu speaks English (required course at schools.) Some of the Samoans spoke English as it is not a requirement of the island.

Tipping is not done nor expected except sometimes for taxis. Some resorts did have a Christmas or Unity fund that is divided between all staff. It felt odd to not tip but then felt liberating.

Hotels and restaurants are usually very expensive except that they are and enjoy yourself. ATM’s are available everywhere we needed one.

Everyone wanted to know where we were from, if we had kids etc. Since most of the tourists are from New Zealand and Australia, they had an added interest in knowing us, the relatively race American tourists.

Baha’i House of Worship in Tanna:

https://www.bahai.org.vu/house-of-worship

Baha’i House of worship in Samoa:
https://www.bahaitemplesamoa.org/