I hopped of the plane at LAX.....

So here I am sitting in a airport lounge near our gate for our flight to san fransisco. My stomach is full of my first American dining experience at an American seafood diner. The meals are huge!!! And I almost went to order a corona before I remembered I am underage here. The flight from Fiji to LA was thankfully unremarkable. Ep and I slept most of the time, and watched Toy Story 3 for at least three hours, I started it twice and finished it once and I watched it once on the way over - there isn’t a lot of choice of what to watch on Air Pacific so it was Toy Story, Twilight or some horrible Christmas movie called Santa’s Angel. We were in the back of the plane in the last row which was okay as we had a little more space got served first. We thought we were going to have the whole row of four seats to ourselves but a big obnoxious American woman came and sat now next to us, she was angry because she didn’t want to be at the back of the plane because “it’s bumpy! It’s loud! The seats don’t go back (they do). ” Thankfully she fell asleep straight away and stayed that way the whole flight. Before the flight we sat in the tiny airport in Nadi, looking at the rain on the green surroundings for the last time. I had to take a Clexane needle for my anti-thrombin III and was surprised at how much the nasty thing hurt! It felt nothing like a diabetic needle and ached for a while after so I was feeling slightly sooky.

We were woken up the morning we had to leave Fiji by room service asking if we wanted our room cleaned we politely declined as I rolled out of bed, my shoulders seared with pain and I remembered just how sun burnt I had got on Beacomer Island and the boats that took us to and from. Beachcomer was a cheaper one for us to visit and had many events like snorkling and fishing feeding included in the fee I was under a naive impression that paragliding would be free or cheap but sadly not so. Beachcomer Island resort sells itself as a party island for young folk on schoolies or a gap year trip. The island is stunning so small it only takes 7min minutes to walk the circumference the water is crystal blue and you can see the fish and the reef even if you are just paddling in the shallows. The island has a on the beach bar with sand for a floor and a thatched roof above you, you are welcomed to the island by men with ukuleles singing in sarongs. It’s tacky but something you really enjoying when your there. The air is thick with the cries of BULA! From every staff member on the island. The only think that took away from it was the guests one of the staff told us that a group of 270 uni students were staying all around us are blonde Aussie girls and boys so burnt they look like cray fish being charming with laconic aussie syntax, “ the water is like so F*ing beautiful we should totally take a picture of us drinking in the water!” I overheard another charming conversation about the skin colour of the staff on the island “ some of this men are like, soo hansome but they are soo dark but like the one that serves us lunch, he is sooo good looking he looks European...” Girly and I retreated to the quiet shallows trying to disown our age and nationality.

Snorkling was odd. We were taken out in glass –bottomed boats by a very uninterested staff member he reaches the place he deems fit and says “go” we all look around, what just jump in?“how deep is it?” one of us sheepishly ask? “not too deep” he says “can we safely jump in” another says “yes” was his short reply. We crept to the edge like penguins waiting for someone to go. I am the second. The water is warm though in the troughs between the reef are at least 7 metres deep. When swimming over the reef it is so close, less than half a metre away, I was mildly freaked out, not wanting to hurt the coral. The coral itself looks dull, and damaged, with two snorkling trips a day not including scuba and Snuba( a new helmeted kind of diving) it is no wonder. There are small fluorescent blue fish and large orange and blue fish. Bright blue star fish and huge orange bulbish sponges. Ep swears she saw a clown fish (or a Nemo fish as she has dubbed it) another couple said they saw a small reef shark. I had a hypo and hopped out early to chill on the boat. The water was literally glittering in the sunshine. Back on the island a reggae band plays covers of the eurythmics and me and ep spent the day in the shallows of the water or in the bar drinking free beers (me) and not so free chocolate and banana milkshakes( girly). Girly and I were worried we would be sad to head back towards the mainland and our hotel in Lautoka as the islands are so stunning but as more and more drunk blondes emerged and the duff duff music grew louder we were happy to hop on to our little transfer boat to the main ferry back to the docks. It is an hour bus ride back to Lautoka and the rain pours down around us. Sides of the road are mearly suggestions here and the bus driver casually swerves and overtakes despite the downpour.

Children play barefoot soccer on muddy pitches and cattles with birds resting on their backs catching flys graze by the sugar cane rails. The sun sets magnificently in Fiji and is seen is oranges and pinks and mauves as the rain clears. The bus is filled with laughter as the staff who worked on the island are dropped off at their homes on the way back into town. We are dropped of at the bus depot near the markets, people selling fish, and fruit yell from their stalls, the taxi drivers call out to us and I hear “bob marley bob marley!” as drivers try to attract my be-dreaded attention. We stumble home terrifically tired and watch some horrid movie called my best friend’s girl ( the male lead is called Tank...you get the idea). The next day after our wake up call and our morning fix of Ben 10 which is our new favourite show we set out into Lautoka one last time before our flight. We ate and wondering the shops people come up to say Bula and shake our hands ask us where we are from, a regular occarance. Another bob marley fan approaches me shakes my hand says if i want any “bob marley” he grins and rubs his hands together I should come to him. Smile and hurry off, suddenly very interested in the Fiji shot glasses in the window. I love that in Fiji people have big hair, i buy at least 8 hair ties that are actually big enough for my dreads.

After our trip to the shops we have a glourously long swim soaking in the warm before the cold of USA. Then we get down to packing.

The rest of the holiday was mildly eventful since I last wrote but mostly just restful. So as i sat writing my last post i noticed that my legs seemed to have little bites on them, lots of little small ones...no matter I’ll just move inside, they were still annoying me by dinner but I was so happy be out of our previous horrid hostel and in such a nice place. I noticed a few more bumps on my arms as we played cards on our little porch. So that night we tucked ourselves into our lovely big room with our crisp nice sheets. I wake up with arms swollen to a point where I can’t move I look down, my legs are all blotchy and so is my stomach arms and face... I relise I have had an allergic reaction to something. Wake up the Girly...she calls reception who after much trouble gets us a cab to the Hospital. The Hospital is small and run down. The Emergency entrance has two directions emergency treatment and mortuary...lovely me thinks. I head in two nurses look me over. “an allergic reaction defiantly you have hives we will just get you a national health care card and a doctor will give you a shot and a prescription is your car waiting?” “er no i mumble” “oh dear you will be hard pressed to get a taxi, the police harass and assult the taxi drivers that drive between the hours of 1am and 6am....it’s not good we all fear for our lives here... you can just sleep here if you like.” Me and girly mumble thanks. The doctor is very quiet. “probably a mosquito bite carrying some bacteria you are allergic to.” Gives me a jab and leaves. Out of nowhere our taxi arrives we thankfully tumble into it and soon we are back in bed. I slept for the whole of the day, Girly leaving me notes as she went for swims or walks to town. By the next day I was nearly mended and we relaxed.

Every day is a lazy Sunday in Fiji and people operate in ‘Fiji Time’ we did little to nothing wondering into town, swimming, reading by the pool, playing cards and watching movies. So relaxing. On the Friday we had a bqq at the hotel amazing food and a weird island root vegetable that was supposed to be like potato me and Girly gave it our best shot but in the end the texture of home made papermache was a bit much....hid it under the remains of the meat and salad. I will remember Fiji as the place where we found our travelling minds and bodys, where all is unfamiliar and people are deteremined to make sure you are having a good time. Everyone says Bula in the street people come up to shake your hand and say hello and to welcome you back again. Fijians are infectiously cheeky and are constantly laughing and smilling so you feel warm inside. Fiji was not what me and girly had envisioned ...in ways it was better and in others worse certainly memorable relaxing and heartwarming.