Vinceland

After a brunch on Sunday, we flew from Vermont to Portland and had just over 24 hours to chill out, unpack, clean clothes, pack and get back to the airport to leave for our honeymoon. We had planned it months earlier, with little concern for cost, yet the utmost concern for relaxation, beaches and fun. I had no idea what to expect and that’s the best way to go into these things. That way, your expectations are always exceeded.

What we had planned was actually planned by a travel agency and a tour operator. We just sent over a credit card # and said, “Yea, that one.” The trip included a flight to Nadi airport in Fiji, 4 nights at the Outrigger Resort, a helicopter transfer to Castaway Island (no not the one from the movie, but it was within view) and a boat/ bus transfer back to Nadi and finally our flight home.

The best part was the helicopter ride, bottom line. And, there was a lot of really good shit going on during these 10 days, so you know helicopters are very cool. Coulter, I clearly respect them things way more, and would love to provide ballast on your whirlybird any time.

The second best part was spending so much time with Meegs doing just about nothing, but the best stuff ever. I will outline what a “typical day of nothing” included:

• 8:30-10 am: Wake up if you want to. Clean up a bit.
• 8:45-10:30: Eat a large meal, including a vast array of break-fasty items. Breakfast was my 6th favorite part.
• 9:30-Lunch: Either head back to the Bure for a nap, or stroll over to the pool lounges for a nap. Naps were my 7th favorite part. During this time was when Meghan indulged in the first of her many fruity, mixed drinks of the day.
• Lunch: Order from a stocked menu or have a fresh stir-fry wok’d up for you Mongolian-style. Lunch was like the 10th best thing. Meghan’s second tall frozen drink happened here.
• 1:00-5:30: Afternoon included what amounted to the only physical activity we’d have during the day. These activities included: winning a nearest to the pin contest, snorkelling in warm, deep, clear blue water over coral reefs with fish of all sizes/ colors and finally, reading. Snorkelling was my 3rd favorite part. It was amazing and I can’t explain it, so I’m just gonna save it. Meghan’s 3rd and 4th fruity, island drinks usually happened here. Oh, and our “Cave Tour” happened here too. Sweet native-style walking tour with a visit to a big cave where the last cannibals lived, killed people and ate them. This was my 4th favorite part of the trip.
• 5:30-Dinner: Evenings are nice in Fiji. Fiji-time kicks in, the tide starts rolling out and the sun dips. We got one sweet island sunset in Fiji. All of the others were missed due to us being face-down snorkelling over reefs, or napping. The sunset was my 5th favorite part.
• Dinner: The last big meal of the day, it was usually over-the-top good, complete with Champagne most nights. The dinners out under the stars, right on the beach at Castaway were my 8th favorite part of the trip. Crabs were scurrying around the sand in the dark, only visible when they passed under a light.
• Apres’: Usually stuffed to the gills with food and feeling dehydrated, I was ready to hit the sack after dinner. But before beddy-bye, many walks on the beach, talks on the beach, walks to our Bure and…”other stuff” went down. This “other stuff” made up the most memorable parts of the trip, but yet, I only have my 9th best thing about the trip left on the list, so I guess “other stuff” gets it. Seems kinda lame, right, when “other stuff” is what people expect the honeymoon to be all about!!?? Ah well, it still made the top ten, so I guess we’re doing something right…

So, to recap, if you have some dough and want to live in a postcard for a few days, with blue water, white sand, island living, nice people, good food, great drinks (Fiji Bitter is decent brew, although I became partial to the “Bounty” rum) and have the idyllic, warm-weather relaxing vacation, hit Fiji.

A few of the beat things about it:

• Service: Not stellar. Nice, and slow. Ask for stuff. Don’t bother tipping, they get confused.
• Airport: Blows. Staff there yelled at people and looked very, very dumb.
• Long flight: 10 hours from LA.
• Cockroaches: Seen some 3-4 inchers. Several dead in our room. May have crawled through my mouth? Oh well.
• Australians: We had some obnoxious, country-clubbers there. Smoking at meals, men wearing pink/rainbow banana-hammocks around, old women topless, generally laughing too much at other’s expense… No need. We also met some nice Aussies, David and Susan.
• Kava: I’ll probably have some voo-doo spell cast on me for this one, but Kava sucks. Looks and tastes like dirt-road-puddle-sludge. Supposedly it’s a ceremonial tradition to drink it with the chief of the village, but he seemed kinda baked when we met him and just kinda tipped over and napped when we left his place. Nice move though…

Ok, enough about Fiji. Images here:

Video may be forthcoming. I shot interviews of Meghan every day on our new Mini-DV, courtesy of Tom and Val. I also shot the Heli trip, but of course it’s shaky and could never convey the experience.

Go there.

OR

Just drink the water.