We've arrived in Fiji!!!

Uncle Michael drove us to LAX at 7:30pm on October 9th and we waded the lines at the ticket counter, the baggage check and finally the security checkpoint to finally board our Air Pacific flight 811 at 11:30pm. It was a looooooong flight but uneventful, we took off after dark and landed while it was still dark 10 and a half hours later. Yaya slept the whole way while Colleen and I took advantage of the free inflight movies. We were served dinner and breakfast and as the sun rose we made our way off the plane and into the airport terminal.

We enquired about a ride to the port where we wanted to catch a boat to the Yasawa Islands and were directed to a man who handed us off to another man who told us we needed confirmed reservations to get the free bus and that he would help us free of charge. He led us up to his office where we went over our options and decided upon a 7 day excursion up the Yasawa Island chain taking advantage of a discounted "Bula Pass" which allowed unlimited travel between the islands within that time. He made the reservations for us and also called the island of Waya and booked us a camping spot at Adi's Place. Then he asked for a 20% down payment and gave us a confirmation number and then led us out of the airport and across the main road to the bus stop.

Here we waited with fellow travelers for the big yellow bus to take us to the big yellow boat. The bus ride gave us our first glimpse of life in Fiji, lots of school kids going to school in their school uniforms and lots of buses full of Indi-Fijians in crowded buses off on their daily routines. When we arrived at the port and stepped up to pay the balance on our ticket we found out we needed a voucher that "Francis" had neglected to give us. We feared we had been ripped off but a phone call to the airport confirmed our reservation and all was good!!!

So on the boat we went for a pleasant 2 hour cruise over the deep blue sea to the island of Waya!!!