BULA!

[“Bula” = Fijian greeting] Five friends and I traveled to Fiji in May 2013. We only had enough time to stay on the popular island Nadi, but if I were to go again I would DEFINITELY find a way to make it out to the Fiji Pro (surf comp) at Tavarua. We happened to be there for the comp and I kick myself to this day for not figuring out a way to go! I had basically run out of money by then (at the end of my travels) so I was like ‘whatever’ but now I’m like UGH I totally should’ve racked up a couple hundo in CCD (credit card debt) to go.

ANYWAYS… Fiji is extremely beautiful, like Hawaii or other Pacific islands. I’d never been anywhere like it (still haven’t been to the Caribbean or Hawaii or anything). One thing I didn’t love about Fiji was the Americanization of the resorts on the main island. Luckily (actually this was major ?) my friends and I were strapped for cash so we booked our stay at the Fijian-owned resort ‘Club Fiji.’ It was on the other side of Nadi, and on the bumpy bus ride to our resort you really got a look at how some real Fijians live. It’s pretty impoverished compared to what I’d ever seen, and it was my first time seeing a country like this. It was very eye-opening.

gooooood morning!! #fiji

A photo posted by Emily Griffith (@emigriff) on Jun 10, 2013 at 2:24pm PDT

 

never got invited to Fiji isle, so I decided to invite myself the island #wheredapartyat A photo posted by Emily Griffith (@emigriff) on Jun 9, 2013 at 4:47pm PDT

The people at Club Fiji were awesome–people our age working at the resort (reminded me a little of my summer resort job back home). We hung out with them, drank some kava, the beverage of Fiji. It’s a plant they stir in a communal pot everyone drinks from…if you have a lot you can get a bit messed up on it I guess. But anyways we had some nice time with the kava, played guitar and ukes and sang songs…real koom-ba-yahh

Definitely take an island excursion of some sort. And drink some Fiji Bitter. Classic 😛 And try to watch some rugby, they just won the 2016 Olympics after all…

You need bednets for the bugs sometimes! Taste of Fiji… gotta try it.

On this fun, eye-opening and warm trip, I learned that when traveling far away, I prefer ‘traveling’ over ‘vacationing’. If I’ve come this far, I want to really get a sense of how the natives live in their day-to-day, and discover things unlike my own life. Although relaxation and partying are cool too… so maybe 2/3 being a cool traveler, 1/3 drinking and playing beach volleyball and laying in hammocks all day. That sounds like a nice balance ?