Tales from the South Pacific, July 13-29, 2011 About This Page:

[LLaffinPlace]

Tales from the South Pacific, July 13-29, 2011


Note: Our trip was reversed from what this shows.

Travelers

Larry, last seen outside of WDW in “Athens and the Islands”
Sue, also last seen with Larry in "Athens and the Islands”

Itinerary

I’m going to omit tagging the day numbers because I crossed the International Date Line a couple of times and it just gets confusing!

• Travel from Alabama to Richmond, VA (Larry only)
• Travel from Richmond, VA to Nadi, Fiji (cross the International Date Line and the Equator))
• Fiji
• Fiji
• Fiji, Travel from Fiji to Rotorua, New Zealand
• Rotorua
• Rotorua, Travel from Rotorua to Auckland
• Auckland, Travel from Auckland to Sydney, Australia
• Sydney
• Sydney
• Sydney, Travel from Sydney to Honolulu, Hawai’i (cross the International Date Line and the Equator)
• Honolulu
• Honolulu, Travel from Honolulu to Richmond, VA
• Travel from Richmond to Alabama (Larry only)

Background

How did this trip come about?
The organizers of the Athens trip also organized this one through EF Tours. I believe I mentioned in the Greece and Turkey Trip Report that Sue and I had decided to take this trip.

What kind of trip was this?
This was an educational trip, with adults, families, and school-age kids (primarily middle school and high school). There were several groups put together; the other groups were from Texas. It was a good crowd and plenty of fun was had by all.

Well, welcome to yet another wonderful trip. Yes, I traveled from the very hot Summer in Alabama to the tropics and then to the Southern Hemisphere where it was Winter, and then to Hawai'i. The challenge for this trip was that I was limited to one bag and a carryon, and I had to pack for tropical as well as cold weather. The solution was definitely layers and shirts with sleeves that rolled up.

There were many things to see and do, lovely and lively scenery, and while it was certainly a whirlwind tour, I feel I got a flavor of the places we visited. I am careful not to say that I “know” New Zealand or Australia, because that’s like saying you visited New York City and now “know” the United States.

There was an amazing amount of travel required (this actually omits the field trip to the Blue Mountains in Australia) (in miles):

• Huntsville, AL to Atlanta, GA 142.8
• Atlanta, GA to Richmond, VA 469.6
• Richmond, VA to Dallas, TX 1140.7
• Dallas, TX to Los Angeles, CA 1240.1
• Los Angeles, CA to Nadi, Fiji 5533.8
• Nadi, Fiji to Auckland, New Zealand 1322.8
• Auckland, New Zealand to Rotorua, New Zealand 120.3
• Rotorua, New Zealand to Auckland, New Zealand 120.3
• Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia 1342.0
• Sydney, Australia to Honolulu, HI 5064.0
• Honolulu, HI to Dallas, TX 3795.4
• Dallas, TX to Richmond, VA 1140.7
• Richmond, VA to Atlanta, GA 469.6
• Atlanta, GA to Huntsville, AL 142.8

Roundtrip from Alabama 22,044.9 miles!

By the time I returned I certainly did not want to see the inside of a plane for a while!

I crossed both the Equator and the International Date Line for the first time on this trip.

Coming Up: Time to GO!

[lauriep]

I'm so glad you're giving us this report, Larry! I've got to say, the air miles would probably nix the trip for me, but it does sound fabulous. All places I've only seen on House Hunters International! Can't wait to read all about it and see those amazing sights. (I'm packing for a hot/cold destination trip soon and will be interested to see how you do it!)

[LLaffinPlace]

Originally Posted by lauriep

I'm so glad you're giving us this report, Larry! I've got to say, the air miles would probably nix the trip for me, but it does sound fabulous. All places I've only seen on House Hunters International! Can't wait to read all about it and see those amazing sights. (I'm packing for a hot/cold destination trip soon and will be interested to see how you do it!)

Thanks, Laurie! I have to say that I had misgivings about the length of some of these flights, especially because I had never managed to sleep more than about 20 minutes at a time on a plane. But it was necessary to see these beautiful places.

I have been very interested to watch HHI since my trip. The cost of real estate in and around Sydney is amazing, but there's no mystery why people want to live there.

I actually took some of the same shirts I took to Greece--ventilated with the roll-up sleeves (LLBean). In the colder climes I wore undershirts, a sweatshirt, and I also had a fleece and a windbreaker. For the tropics I had polo shirts and T-shirts. I did a couple of loads of laundry in Rotorua and one in Sydney.

[lauriep]

Originally Posted by LLaffinPlace

Thanks, Laurie! I have to say that I had misgivings about the length of some of these flights, especially because I had never managed to sleep more than about 20 minutes at a time on a plane. But it was necessary to see these beautiful places.

I have been very interested to watch HHI since my trip. The cost of real estate in and around Sydney is amazing, but there's no mystery why people want to live there.

I actually took some of the same shirts I took to Greece--ventilated with the roll-up sleeves (LLBean). In the colder climes I wore undershirts, a sweatshirt, and I also had a fleece and a windbreaker. For the tropics I had polo shirts and T-shirts. I did a couple of loads of laundry in Rotorua and one in Sydney.

Thanks, Larry... I'll see what I can come up with without a shopping trip! Definitely planning on laundry at least once on this trip.

[LLaffinPlace]

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I got up shortly after 5:00 AM and showered, shaved, dressed, ate breakfast, started the dishwasher, and then configured the house for vacation. My friend Frank arrived on time to ferry me to the Huntsville airport (airport #1).

The TSA took my Kindle out of my backpack pocket and put it and my medications back through the scanner. Okaaaaay??? An earlier Delta flight into HSV was delayed, but mine was not and departure for Atlanta (airport #2) was on-time. We arrived at Concourse C, and I made my way to Concourse D in good time.

The flight to Richmond, VA (airport #3) was uneventful, and I was pleased that it was not full. I was on the aisle and there was an empty seat between me and the woman in the window seat. Sue picked me up at the airport and we stopped by her parent's house for a visit. We headed to Sue's house and later met up with my brother and sister-in-law at O'Charley's for supper. We had a nice meal and chat with them before heading back to the house, where we watched "Despicable Me" (cute).

At this point I went to take some medicine and realized that I had left one prescription at home!

Apparently I was going to have my little emergency for this trip right up front. While it would not have been life-threatening or anything, traveling all those miles cramped up in airline seats without the anti-inflammatory for my arthritis would not have been pretty. No, not at all.

After panicking, I made a plan to contact my doctor's office in the morning and ask (beg, plead with) them to phone in the prescription to a local Richmond pharmacy that we could stop by on the way to the airport tomorrow.

Coming Up: A Very, Very Long "Day"

[Wendyismyname]

I am glad you started this trip report Larry. I was quite envious that you were going to Fiji. I cannot wait to read more!

[dutchdisneyfamily]

What an incredible trip! I can't wait to hear all about it! I hope the medication thing worked out. That would have been uncomfortable with all those hours on a plane!

[pamcarey]

I'm so excited that you're writing this TR! I am sure that this will be quite fabulous!

[chezp]

I'm so glad you're writing up about this trip, as when you mentioned it, it sounded absolutely amazing.

[lauriep]

I hope the medication snafu is the only disaster you face on this trip. No repeat of the pick-pockets in Athens! The plane rides, I'm afraid, will be uncomfortable enough even with the meds. I have to admit, though, the shot of you in your sig pic makes it all look very worthwhile!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Larry! Can't wait to hear all about this adventure!

[LLaffinPlace]

Originally Posted by Wendyismyname

I am glad you started this trip report Larry. I was quite envious that you were going to Fiji. I cannot wait to read more!

Thanks, Wendy! As I noted, our trip was reversed from the direction of the little planes on the map. There are others where Fiji is the last part of the tour. Having reflected on it a bit, I think I am glad we had the order we did.

Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily

What an incredible trip! I can't wait to hear all about it! I hope the medication thing worked out. That would have been uncomfortable with all those hours on a plane!

We'll see in the next update!

Originally Posted by pamcarey

I'm so excited that you're writing this TR! I am sure that this will be quite fabulous!

It was--it definitely exceeded my expectations.

Originally Posted by chezp

I'm so glad you're writing up about this trip, as when you mentioned it, it sounded absolutely amazing.

Thanks, Cheryl!

Originally Posted by lauriep

I hope the medication snafu is the only disaster you face on this trip. No repeat of the pick-pockets in Athens! The plane rides, I'm afraid, will be uncomfortable enough even with the meds. I have to admit, though, the shot of you in your sig pic makes it all look very worthwhile!

No pickpockets this time! The flights varied tremendously, with the American carriers typically faring the worst.

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Great start Larry! Can't wait to hear all about this adventure!

Thanks, Marnie! It's time to head out on the tour.

[rlb38]

Sounds like a fantastic trip! Can`t wait to read all about it. Love the new sig pic

[LLaffinPlace]

Thursday, July 14, 2011 Tour Departure Day

I woke up about 4:45 AM, but managed to go back to sleep for a while. I got up, cleaned up, and Sue and I had a bite of breakfast. Fortunately for my attempt to get a prescription to take with me, our departure from Richmond was at 12:40 PM. Unlike the Greece trip, we would not have to make our way to Dulles first. That's a good thing, because we would be doing enough traveling "today" for several days.

The one drawback to calling the doctor's office was that even though they start very early there, Huntsville is in the Central Time Zone. I gave them a call, and like the wonderful people they are, they agreed to call in a Rx for medication, which they did right away. Whew!

Sue's friend Sandra arrived in her SUV to take us to the airport. She's a hoot and after loading our bags and carry-ons, we had a spirited drive to the airport. Sandra was most accommodating and stopped at Walgreen's drive-thru so I could nab the prescription. Sandra bid us a safe journey and gave us a hug after unloading the bags.

Soon after we entered the terminal (airport #3, remember?), we spotted Debbye, one of the organizers. I assured her that we had already had our drama for this trip! Mick (the other organizer) arrived shortly thereafter and we all proceeded to check-in. American Airlines, Air Pacific, and Quantas are all partners, so we were given what we thought were all of our boarding passes and were able to check our bag through to Fiji! Or so we thought.... More on that later.

We proceeded through Security, where I was admonished to remove my non-metallic belt (the whole reason I wore it). Oh, well.

We boarded our flight to DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) early, and found it absolutely packed. Debbye found herself between Sue at the window and me on the aisle. It was about 2 hours and 40 minutes and was a good flight; I finished today's New York Times, ate a chicken sandwich with chips, read some of my current book on the Kindle, and dozed a bit. We deplaned (airport #4!) and took the shuttle from Concourse C to D. At this point we split up and found some comfortable seats.


Sue catching up on her newspapers at DFW and wondering why I am taking a picture.

On the table in the picture is my small EF backpack, which doubled as my carryon. Yes, it's stuffed. The towel was a present from Sue (we were advised that upon arrival in Fiji we might not have immediate access to our suitcases). It has all the stuff that I needed for the flights, including: meds; small notebook and pen for my trip journal notes; towel; passport and trip information, itinerary, etc.; Kindle; airplane stuff, including neck pillow, foam earplugs, and disposable toothbrushes; and a bathing suit. Oh, and my cap and camera case (one personal item) were hooked to the backpack. Yes, I took my Fuji to Fiji.

Sue and I ate at Fuddrucker's at the food court, and then made our way to the gate, where we met up with the others. The flight to Los Angeles (LAX) was absolutely crammed full of people AND late, though this did not cause any problems. This was about a three hour flight.

We landed and deplaned at LAX (airport # 5), which was an absolute zoo. We found out that we did indeed need to get a new boarding pass for the flight to Fiji AND that we had to retrieve our bags and go through Security again. I think this was because we had to exit the arrival building and walk (stagger in the pollution) to another building. Did I mention that LAX's signage, well, sucks? This time I had my hands swabbed to check for suspicious substances. We waited a long time in line to get the new boarding passes. It was necessary to board buses to get to the plane (a 747) for this 10 hour flight (sigh) and this was around 1:30 AM. I was fairly knackered at this point.

The flight attendants served a light meal (beef sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and feta cheese, chips and oatmeal raisin cookies), and then it was basically lights out. As a gift from a merciful deity, the seat between us was EMPTY, so we were able to pull up the armrests and make use of that space. There was also no one behind me, so I was able to recline the seat somewhat. That, coupled with the neck pillow (I had never tried one of these) and the earplugs, permitted me to sleep for a couple of hours at a time several times, a first for me on an airplane. Periodically the flight attendants would pass through the cabin with trays of cups with water--soooo helpful for staying hydrated and for keeping up with the meds. I got up several times, brushed my teeth once, and checked the map display from time to time.

About 2.5 hours out from Fiji, they turned up the lights and started serving breakfast, and it was quite good and substantial: cheese omelet with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, tater tots, banana nut muffin, blueberry yogurt, and coffee or tea. The tea was the best. Later I will contrast the wonderful service on this flight with that on others.

We landed at Nadi, Fiji (airport #6) around 6:30 AM or so--just before sunrise--on Saturday, having crossed the International Date Line and the Equator (both were firsts for me). Yes, I largely lost a Friday. In return I would get back a second Monday, which hardly seemed fair, though I was on vacation so I guess I shouldn't complain. Plus, the second Monday makes for a unique situation, as you will see much later (assuming you stick with me!). We had filled out the Health and Customs Declarations on the plane, so this part went smoothly.

Coming Up: Family! Finally Fiji, and we meet up with our tour Director and Local Guide

[LLaffinPlace]

Originally Posted by rlb38

Sounds like a fantastic trip! Can`t wait to read all about it. Love the new sig pic

Thanks, Roberta!