The big problem with Fiji is that it’s quite close to Australia. The flight there involved a scummy australian family with absolutely no manners turning the business class cabin into a playground for their scummy kids with absolutely no manners. The Shangri-La Resort was also overrun with australian families with no manners. If I hear one more comedy stereotype aussie with a mullet, an actual, honest-to-god, not-intended-ironically mullet, saying “fair go”….
Fortunately I didn’t have to, because I was in the adults-only side of the resort, which was much nicer, and a bargain considering it was entirely free thanks to points I won in a competition two years ago.
Anyway, last shot of my Fiji rental car, probably the cleanest, least damaged car in Fiji
Fiji Airways happen to have by far the best lounge I’ve found south of the equator
And although the aircraft is small
The 8 business class seats are empty apart from a very polite pair of Japanese
And soon I have a welcome drink and the latest episode of The Grand Tour
A quick take off
Slightly delayed, but I’m now into the part of the trip where there is a real risk of cancellations that would have a big knock-on effect, so an hour’s delay is fine. Then I get to see the nicer bits of Fiji, the small private islands. If you visit Fiji, don’t waste any time on the big island with its shitty sharp coral beaches, go to one of these
A not bad meal
Soon at Port Vila, Vanuatu. Here’s nearly all of the rest of this flight’s passengers heading into the airport
Not long to the freebie room at the Holiday Inn for a cup of coconut, literally
And a cocktail by the pool
The resort seems to be almost empty
Now to prepare for tomorrow’s inter-island flight to Tanna, to see an active volcano. It’s the whole reason I came to Vanuatu, but the flights have been changed and cancelled and swapped so many times I have low hopes, and the flight schedules here are such that if I do get to Tanna but can’t get back in time for the flight to New Zealand, I could be stuck here for a week…