I am so pleased that 12 months ago Alana had the genius idea to travel somewhere warm this winter. We have had a very cold snap hit in the last couple of days and I can’t wait to leave it behind and head to warmer days. Having this to look forward to during the winter months has been wonderful. In just a few hours, I will be lying by a pool, sipping cocktails and soaking up the sun.

Bliss.

The last few weeks have been incredibly busy. I am looking forward to slowing right down and getting familiar with ‘Island Time’. It’s been 4 years since my last international trip, 13 years since I have been in the Islands (Why? It’s only 4 hours away, I need to do this more!) and 17 years since I have been in Fiji. This trip is well overdue.

We have a stressful start, I wake up with a cold 2 days before we leave. Fortunately not a bad one. Then the day before we depart, I get a message from our travel agent advising that the Yasawa Island accommodation (which we booked 4 months ago) has been double booked and wants to move us to their sister resort on an entirely different island. I am gutted. I spent weeks researching all the islands and specifically booked this one for several reasons.

So we depart, with the tail end of a cold and accommodation unresolved. We are not sure where we will be staying, but I am determined that whatever happens, it will be amazing.

As much as I dislike flying, I enjoy that feeling of leaving the busyness behind. There is always that last minute rush to get everything sorted, but once I step onto that plane, I feel it fall away, leaving it all behind.

We are flying Fiji Airways today, a first for us. We normally fly with Air New Zealand, but Fiji Airways offers direct flights to Nadi from Wellington, so in as little as 4 hours, we will be in the Isles of Smiles.

From up in the sky, the clouds look like sheets of ice, but when it finally breaks, there is so much blue below us.

It’s a smooth, easy flight, with OK food and onboard entertainment. I would fly Fiji Airways again. My fear of flying isn’t helped when Daniel kindly tells me that the type of airplane we are on had new technology that caused a couple of planes to crash. He quickly followed this up with, it’s OK though, they fixed it. Thank you husband.

When we step off the plane, I am expecting to be hit with the heat wave that I remember from travelling here as a kid. That thick, warm air, pungent with the perfume of fragrant frangipani, but it doesn’t arrive. The weather is still warm though and we are welcomed into the country with singing and guitars. Welcome to the Islands! Getting through passport control feels like it takes forever, but while waiting, we get some good news. A message from our accommodation in the Yasawas saying there has been a cancellation and our booking is confirmed. Phew.

Our transfer driver greets us with a warm and friendly ‘Bula’, a bottle of cold water and a lovely shell necklace (which I still have.) We arrive at our accommodation, Aquarius on the Beach and check in. It’s very simple, but clean, the staff are friendly and it’s right on the beach. The cheap price tag also means more dollars for spending on activities.

We drop our bags in the room, head straight to the bar and within minutes, we are sitting by the pool, watching the brilliant sunset, listening to the ocean. It feels so good to stop and slow down. I have traded punga trees and icy wind for coconut palms and for 20+ degrees.

We have a tasty dinner by the pool, watching horses on the beach and the glowing sky get redder and redder. Hello Fiji, I am looking forward to getting to know you better.