YOU CAN GET THERE FROM
HERE
We are traveling to the
distant island nation of Fiji in September. Located in the South Pacific, Fiji
is nearly on the other side of the globe and just 1,200 miles from Auckland,
New Zealand. Fiji is an archipelago of some 300 islands and hundreds more islets
scattered over 1,000,000 square miles. Of the 300 islands about 100 are inhabited.
It’s a long way there
and because we are crossing the International Date Line we will “miss” a whole
day in our travels. For instance, we leave on a Thursday and arrive that
Saturday. Friday won’t exist.
Of course, on our
return we’ll “recoup” the day and it will seem to stretch on for an eternity.
Despite the exotic
location and the distance, this trip will cost us less than a shore house for a
week in New Jersey. Team VFH always finds a way to travel on the cheap and
still do it right.
FREE AIRFARE
As Advantage members we
collect frequent flyer miles every time we travel with American or one of their partners and because
we also have the American Aviator credit card, which gets us even more miles, we
were each able to cash in the required 80k miles for the free flight. Afterall,
we had signed up for the card in 2019 and we were gifted 60k miles, which we
promptly used to travel to Croatia that summer. So, despite the COVID pandemic which
severely limited our traveling, we still managed to accrue the required miles
in less than 3 years. This is a huge savings as airfare was close to $2,000
each.
On this Fiji trip, our
itinerary has us flying to San Francisco and connecting with Fiji Airways, a
partner to American Airlines. We stop in Los Angeles on our return and connect
with American again.
DISCOUNTED CRUISE
Once we arrive, we will
stay for nearly a week at the Bedarra Beach Inn on a section of the main island
of Viti Levu called the Coral Coast, a popular tourist area. While there we will
have a chance to see some Fiji villages and perhaps go for a rafting excursion
along the Sigatoka River. Then we transfer to the MV Fiji Princess, operated by
Blue Lagoon Cruises for a week’s sail through the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands
to the northwest of Viti Levu.
The Fiji Princess is
capable of up to 68 passengers, which is a little larger a ship than we are
used to as we really like small ship cruises, but Blue Lagoon Cruises is the
best option in Fiji. The other cruise lines we’ve traveled with in the past,
Unforgettable Cruises in Croatia, and Variety Cruises in Costa Rica and Panama tried
to put us on the Fiji Princess, so we decided to go through Blue Lagoon Cruises
directly.
Paying for the trip in full when we booked saved us 30% of the price, plus they awarded us a FJ$100 onboard credit!
Both hotels, the
Bedarra Beach Inn before our cruise and the Aquarius at the Beach in Nadi are
also already paid in full and are modestly priced.
COVID CONCERNS
With over 90% of Fijians
vaccinated against COVID the country takes the spread of this disease
seriously. As travelers to this island nation, we need to be vaccinated with
proof of vaccination before boarding our flight(s).
We need to prebook a
Rapid Antigen Test to be administered shortly within 72 hours after our arrival.
The Fiji travel website helps with this, and it turns out we will be tested at
the Bedarra Beach Inn at a cost of FJ$43 each.
We are required to have
trip insurance that covers COVID. Fiji offers a plan, but we have a yearly travel
insurance plan with Allianz Insurance, more expensive but worth the money in
the long run.
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| Navua River |
This will be a great
trip! Can't wait to say "Bula" (hello) to Fiji!
Thanks for reading
Love Janet and greg
© 2022 by Gregory Dunaj
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