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| The pilot boat. A pilot boards the ship to assist in getting the ship away from the pier, a common occurrence in most ports. |
Last night, we took an evening off the usual dinnertime festivities and ordered room service which proved to be a bad decision with my dietary restrictions. We were both a bit tired from the 22 hour time change, deciding to lay low one evening and catch up on a few shows we’d previously downloaded in Kauai. We plugged the HDMI cord into the TV in our cabin with no trouble watching a few favorites instead of watching on the small laptop screen.
The seemingly good plan to lounge in our cabin was challenging in regard to the food and delivery times. We placed the order in the afternoon, asking for my prearranged dinner that was logged into the main restaurant’s system. It shouldn’t have been an issue.
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| The police department marching band. |
But, it was. We’d requested the food be delivered at 6:30 pm making the assumption the food wouldn’t arrive until 7:00 pm. How wrong we were. The meals didn’t arrive until 8:30, two hours later than requested, mainly due to a miscommunication between my food and the restaurant.
Annoying? Yes. In the realm of things, it was no big deal to me, but Tom got a little “overly grumpy” mostly over worrying about me, not himself. That wasn’t necessary. I didn’t care one way or another. It’s just food and as much as I like talking and writing about food, long ago I gave up the significance as to “when” I eat, as long as the “what” I eat is correct.
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| The port at Suva, Fiji. |
Last night around 5:00 pm as the ship pulled away from the pier in Fiji to head back out to sea, while we watched the band playing once again as a final goodbye to our ship, a sense of comfort washed over us. It seems as if Fiji will be a very friendly place that appreciates tourism more than many other island countries.
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| Tom was waving at the Fijians on the pier as our ship pulled away. |
During this cruise, when Australians have asked where we’ll be living in the South Pacific, we’ve noticed a number of negative responses to our upcoming four months on two islands in Fiji. Many made negative comments as to safety in the islands of Fiji. None of those who commented had stayed in the Fijian island more than a week at most.
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| A tug boat pulling into the pier area. |
Staying in a hotel is very different from living in a location for the long haul. Able to cook our own meals, doing no shopping other than groceries provides a very different perspective.
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| Police department employees hanging around the pier as the festivities wound down. |
Once settled in, generally, we feel safe and at ease. Even in Kenya with armed guards at every intersection and shop, once we were settled into the vacation home, we were able to relax and enjoy our time there which was a full three months.
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| The police bus to pick up the band players. |
We’re certain that Fiji will be no different in that we’ll adapt to the way of life available to us on the two islands. Lack of air conditioning in hot weather, no TVs in some locations, and lots of insects, poisonous and not, have all become familiar to us. We’ll manage as we always have and will continue to do so as we continue in our world travels.
No, it’s not always ideal If we wanted a semblance of perfection we’d have chosen a different path at this time in our lives, moving into a condo somewhere in the US in a warm climate with a relatively predictable life.
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| As we pulled away from the pier heading out to sea. |
That’s not to say anything negative about that life of leisure and familiar creature comforts one may acquire living in a nice condo in their home country. For most retires that type of life fulfills all of their needs and goals.
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| Puffy clouds in the mountains, a familiar sight. |
For many reasons we chose a different path that few would desire or attempt to tackle with the endless nuances and adjustments necessary to make it work and, most of all, to be happy. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Being happy?
And, we are happy living this peculiar life on the move never doubting for a moment, that we did the right thing.
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| Finally, we made our way out to sea. |
Tonight, we’ll be back in the main dining room sitting at a shared table with at this point, a few people we may have already met and those we haven’t. In either case, it’s all rather fun.
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| A person standing on the reef far from the shore. |
It’s Sunday here now on June 7th, June 6th for many of our readers. Whatever day it may be we continue to wish each and every one of our readers, the very best. Thank you for traveling along with us.
Photo from one year ago today, June 7, 2014:
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| Dense fog rolled in once we returned home from the trip to Funchal to pick up our box of supplies. For details from that date, please click here. |