Tom’s haircut in Fiji…Deal of the century…A weird day with some glitches…

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Tom, standing outside Kumar’s Hair Salon which generally attracts more men than women. We awaited Tom’s turn while sitting on the bench to the right.

Tom hadn’t had a haircut since July when we were living in Trinity Beach, Australia. It was a typical haircut in a chain type shop not unlike one would find in many major cities that offered both women’s and men’s cuts.  There are no chain-type shops, restaurants, or fast food establishments here in Vanua Levu, Fiji.

A few days ago, Junior decided it was time to fumigate our house after we’ve already been here a full two months. Insect control is often handled in between guest’s coming and goings. After these two months, we’d begun to find black fruit flies with the nastiest bites, comparable to bites from the sandflies in Morocco. 

With dozens of red inflamed bites on my hands, arms, legs, and feet we didn’t hesitate to have Junior fumigation the house. I didn’t ask what chemicals he uses. There was no point in making a big deal. It simply had to be done. With a plan to be shopping part of the day on Thursday, the fumigation at 11 am would be ideal.

View of Savusavu Bay lagoon while we waited for Ratnesh.

He’d planned to run the floor fan for hours afterward ensuring the air was cleared as much as possible.  Considering we don’t even have fruit in the house, it was odd we had fruit flies. 

The only reason we could surmise was from the veggies we continually purchased at the Farmers Market each week. Although I always wash everything as soon as we were home, it’s possible fruit flies could nest in the house.

These insidious creatures are nearly impossible to swat and when I was able to kill a few on my skin, my blood gushed out of them onto the bitten spot. Yuck. When we returned home we could already feel the difference in the air. As much as we’d prefer to live a low chemical lifestyle sometimes we have to weigh which scenario is ultimately more harmful. We opted for chemicals over bloody fruit flies.

Shoppers walked along the short strip mall.

Most often when Rasnesh drops us off in the village, we can plan he’ll be able to pick us up outside the door of the New World Market within 10 minutes of our call to let him know we’re ready. 

The grocery trolleys aren’t able to go outside due to a flight of steps and we have no choice but to carry all of our groceries outside to wait under the overhang in the shade while we wait. This would also include all the produce and eggs we’d purchased earlier at the Farmer’s Market.

After he collects us and our many bags at New World Market we then head a kilometer down the road to Fiji Meats where Helen keeps our standing order under refrigeration. It’s a good plan.

The strip mall is next door to the side entrance to the Farmers Market where we stopped for veggies after the haircut.

I started shopping at the Vodafone kiosk to purchase data while Tom ran across the street to the ATM.  Our only credit card purchases in the village are at the modern grocery store and the pharmacy. The rest, including Vodafone, require cash.  

In most cases, we can complete our litany of shopping stops in about an hour; Vodafone, Farmers Market, and New World in that order. With plenty of cash on hand, we headed to the barbershop Ratnesh had recommended seeing his friend Kumar, the most popular barber in the area. Rathnesh alerted us to the cost for a cut and suggested we let Kumar know we were friends. It helps to “know someone.”

After a few minutes of waiting outside the tiny shop, Ratnesh appeared explaining he had a fare that would take a few hours. He explained he’d return to pick us up as quickly as possible. 

Tom explained his haircut preference to Kumar, who listened attentively to ensure he’s getting it right.

At that point, the later pickup seemed inconsequential. It was a little after 11:20 am and he expected to be back by 1:30 pm, more time than we needed to shop. We’d find a way to stay busy.

There were a few men ahead of Tom. We sat outside the shop on a wobbly wooden bench people watching. The village is packed with the locals doing their shopping. We seldom observe travelers from afar. 

Many coming to Savusavu are staying in resorts and hotels, dining out for most meals requiring only tourist type shopping in the clothing and trinket shops. Seldom do we see tourists in the markets other than those who may be sightseeing.

Kumar assessing how he’d cut Tom’s hair.

As we sat outside awaiting Tom’s turn, we chuckled over the irony of our lives.  Who’d have thought years ago, that we’d be sitting on a wobbly bench in the sweltering heat after living on this fairly remote island for two months so far, absorbing the fascinating sights, sounds, and smells as we embrace the local culture and customs? 

For some odd reason, we feel right at home, sweaty clothes and all, swatting off the flies and frequently extending a heartfelt “bula” to a local passerby. Many in the village may have seen us over and again perhaps assuming we’re here for the “long haul” as newly implanted ex-pats. In this small village, everyone knows one another.

When Tom’s was beckoned into the shop, I followed behind finding a cozy spot to sit. Kumar didn’t mind if I took photos and I took these shown here today.

Kumar did a great job of trimming.

Tom opted for the buzz cut, as Kumar took one swipe after another of his long locks as I watched them fall to the floor. It had been four months since his last haircut.  His rationale for his shortest cut to date was simple. In two months, almost to the day, we’d be on our next cruise and his hair would be the perfect length. 

Kumar performed a meticulous cut. With 13 years in business, he easily knew what he was doing. We were impressed by his attention to detail. Here’s the odd part…the cost…for the haircut taking almost 20 minutes as he fine-tuned his work, it cost a paltry FJD $4, USD $1.85! Tom left another FJD $2, USD $.93 tip which Kumar greatly appreciated. Tipping is not expected or required in Fiji. Total haircut expenditure: FJD $6, USD $2.78!

By the time we wandered through the Farmers Market, it was shortly before noon. Making our purchases, we were out the door in less than 10 minutes. With a shortlist for New World Market which wouldn’t take more than 15 minutes, we decided to kill some time wandering along the shore, taking photos.

The tiny shop contained two makeshift barber chairs.  Zoom in for the price list in Fiji dollars.

It was hot, humid, and “buggie.” After sitting in the shade for a while, we made our way to the pharmacy for band-aids and then took off for the market. The cool air-conditioned air was a welcome relief as we wandered as slowly as possible through the three aisles filling our trolley with the few items we needed. 

At 1:10 pm, I called Rasnesh telling him we were checking out and would be waiting for him outside the store in five minutes. He was still one hour away, having picked up a customer across the island in Labasa at another airport.  How we’d keep our food cold standing outside the store escaped us. Ratnesh suggested he’d send a friend to pick us up within 10 minutes.

That worked for us. Ten minutes later Mickey arrived and we loaded the trunk with our purchases. Now, we’d head to Helen’s to pick up our roasted chickens and meat and we’d be done. 

The shop was clean, although tiny including the sale of products including sunglasses.

“Oh, oh,” Tom said, “There’s Helen walking down the road on her way to the bank!” The meat market would be closed in her absence. When we drove up to her shop, there was a note taped to the door that read, “Back at 2 pm.” It was 1:25.

We could hardly ask Mickey to wait for 35 minutes. We asked him to take us home and we’d figure it out later.  As we approached the house, groceries in hand, we heard a loud irritating noise. 

As it turned out Junior had left the fan on high oscillate mode to clear the air after the extermination and the fan broke from the housing causing it to rattle against the cage. We shut it off.

The hot, humid weather inspired Tom to go for the shortest cut he’s had yet.

OK.  We had no dinner prepared when we’d planned to eat one of the two roasted chickens we weren’t able to pick up. The fan we move back into the bedroom at night wasn’t working and we were hot and sweaty with no relief in sight by bedtime.

Once we put away the perishables, I sat down at my computer and notified Mario explaining the fan dilemma.  Then, I called Ratnesh asking if he had enough cash on him to pay for and pick up our meat and bring it out to us before Helen closed the shop at 5 pm. He agreed. Then, I called Helen, who’d returned to the store, letting her know Ratnesh was picking up and paying for our meat.

Within minutes, Junior arrived taking the fan with him to make the repairs. By 5 pm, Ratnesh arrived with the meat. We reimbursed him for the meat, asking him how much extra he wanted for picking up the meat. We agreed to an extra FJD $5, USD $2.36. By 5:20, junior returned with the fan, in tip-top shape after his repairs.  We were thrilled.

Boats in Savusavu Bay lagoon.

By 5:30, the produce was washed and refrigerated, the dinner salad was chilling, the huge bag of green beans was cleaned and washed and we sat down to play Gin for an hour before dinner.

Amid these relatively innocuous inconveniences, we stayed calm and optimistic that all would work out. We were more concerned over the fan than any of it. We could have easily whipped up something for dinner. 

View of Savusavu Bay lagoon.

The biting fruit flies were gone. Tom won the Gin game and we have a lovely dinner of roasted chicken, salad, green beans, and a low carb muffin slathered in New Zealand butter. We watched a few shows after dinner and had a restful night. Life is good.

Photo from one year ago today, November 6, 2014:

Overall, groceries were more expensive in Hawaii. However, with the fact, as shown here that we purchase no junk food, we can get by for less cost than others may. We used the unsweetened chocolate for making low carb fudge made with cream cheese, butter, and chocolate. We’ve been unable to find the ingredients to make fudge in Fiji. For more details on grocery shopping in Maui, please click here.

At long last, we have sunshine…Transportation…Safety…All new photos…

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This morning’s sunny day.

Yesterday, we called Ratnesh to pick us up tomorrow at 11 am for a dual purpose; sightseeing earlier in the day, shopping after sightseeing. We’re excited to be getting out.

We’d hoped to get out on Tuesday, but on Monday, he called and canceled when he had a long-distance fare to Labasa, where another airport is located, a two hour drive each way from Savusavu.

When we first arrived, we offered to request his services for specific dates, and at times when it was most convenient for him with our schedule wide open. If he has a fare where he’ll make more than with us to various sites and the villages, we’ve encouraged him to take it.

View from our veranda to the three-unit vacation home as a part of this four-unit resort. The lawn guy is here today, mowing and trimming.

We hadn’t negotiated special rates with him when we arrived when the amounts he charges for trips to the village or for an hourly rate for sightseeing is so reasonable. As we’ve mentioned in the past, here are the costs of his services:

  • FJD $20, USD $9.39: Round trip to the village for shopping, dropping us off and picking us up when we call.  We add an additional FJD $10, USD $4.70 when he helps us carry our purchases to the house.
  • FJD $30, USD $14.09: Cost per hour for sightseeing. 

We’ve noticed when we do both, sightseeing and shopping on the same day, we’re charging for the trip to the village, plus the hourly travel rate. Ah, who’s to complain at these reasonable prices? If we’re gone for four hours at FJD $120, USD $56.35, it’s a very fair fare (no pun intended)!

When we recall paying for taxi fare in London in August 2014, when we visited the highly rated pub (Andover Arms) on two occasions, the round trip taxi fare was USD $50, GBP $32, FJD $106. In Fiji, that amount would give us almost four hours on the road!  

Colorful ocean view from our area.

Although four hours on the roads in Vanua Levu may sound exciting, on this remote island, it would be four hours of bumpy roads, dense greenery, and occasional ocean views, all of which we love and easily experience on shorter trips to specific destinations. We prefer aimlessly driving when we have a rental car, stopping as often as we’d like for photos and restroom breaks.

With the sun shining, we’re excited to get out more often, subject to the availability of the only driver in this village willing to tackle the steep road in this resort area. It would be impossible for us to walk down the long mountainous road. For mountain climbers and seriously fit hikers, it may not be a problem.

How easily we could feel trapped. But, long ago we decided, after realizing we’d need drivers in various countries, we accepted that there would be days we’d want to get out and weren’t able to do so, based on our driver’s availability. Sticking to the same driver or their designated co-driver has been important to us, particularly when safety has been an issue in several countries.

The bright blue of the bay is breathtaking from this elevation.

Upcoming in 46 days, when we fly to the next Fijian Island of Viti Levi, the larger main island, where we’ll stay for one more month, we’ll be renting a car at the Nadi Airport and driving two hours to our new location, again a private house. 

With high crime rates in the downtown Nadi area, when we booked Fiji long ago, we’d decided to stay in another more, remote location where the likelihood of crime is greatly reduced.

Many tourists stay in the Nadi area in resorts and hotels, generally insulated from criminal activities when on site. The risks for tourists escalates when out on the streets in the busy city, as we’ve been warned by the locals here who often travel to Nadi to visit family. Muggings, pickpocketing, and carjacking are not unusual.

Another ocean view from our area.

With our preferred choice of vacation homes as opposed to staying in hotels, we usually don’t have the safety net of on-site security as is often available in most hotels. Generally, one can feel relatively safe from crime in a hotel, although there are isolated exceptions.

Currently, we’re living in a resort but, in the only stand, alone vacation rental house on the property. Further up the hill behind us is a separate building with three apartments, including one penthouse type upscale unit on the top floor. Mario and Tayana’s private residence is off to the side as shown.

When Ratnesh picks us up, he pulls into the driveway of the three-unit building in this resort. The driveway near the steps down to our house below is too steep for stopping the vehicle, making getting in and out nearly impossible.

Junior is around during the day and Mario is on-site in his separate house to our left as we face the ocean. We feel totally safe and protected in this ideal location.

Criminal activity on this island of Vanua Levu is almost non-existent. When we’ve driven by the courthouse on several occasions, located on the edge of town, there are no cars in the parking lot. Most likely, they only open when they have a case. From what we hear, it’s a rare occasion.

Oceanfront view of Mario and Tatyana’s house, much larger than it appears in the photos.  We took this photo from the steep road.

The fact that we prefer living in smaller towns and villages in our travels has more to do with our lack of interest in crowds and the fact that we don’t shop other than for food and supplies as needed. We love the quaint charm and nature of small villages and the friendly, less harried lifestyle of their people. 

For the average tourist, staying in a more populous area in most countries provides endless opportunities to find that special item to bring back home, for oneself, and for gifts for family and friends. Also, easy access to restaurants is an important factor for tourists whereas, for us, it’s irrelevant.

Side view of Mario and Tatyana’s recently built house.

We don’t send our grandchildren trinkets from all over the world. Instead, we send gift cards or gifts that they’d like, not what we think they’d like from a foreign country. If we did, at this point, their bedrooms would be filled with useless touristy type items, eventually to be tossed away. 

Maybe we’re too practical in the minds of others. Then again, how practical is having no home, no stuff other than what fits into three suitcases, a duffel bag and a laptop bag and, changing countries and homes every few months or less?

Have a beautiful and meaningful day!

Photo from one year ago today, October 21, 2014:

We were entranced by this colorful Gold Dust Day Gecko, commonly seen in the Hawaiian Islands, particularly in Maui where we were living one year ago.  This gecko was located on the wall by the pool but, from time to time, we spotted them inside the condo, certainly no big deal. Generally, geckos are harmless if not annoying, leaving droplets of white poop and making peculiar noises. In Fiji, we see new gecko poop in the house every few days. For more details, please click here.

Our new home in Fiji…A few nuances…A few photos…

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The galley kitchen, small with little counter space, works for me. We purchased the tiny cutting board when the one in the cupboard was a little too used for my liking. The tiny coffee pot only makes two cups at a time. We make two pots, one for each of us. To the far left is the portable oven with the microwave above. Other than a few items we’ll purchase next week, we have everything we need.

There are no words to describe how thrilled we are to have windows with screens. Fresh air day and night, has an enormous effect on one’s state of well being. Even now as I write on a Saturday morning with it raining off and on, the cooling breeze is refreshing and invigorating. 

The living room. 

After three months with no breeze and little fresh air in the house in Australia without screens, we feel renewed. Also, there’s something magical about living on a fairly remote island with the quaint village, the friendly local workers, the vast array of birds and wildlife that is particularly appealing to us.

There are no poisonous insects or any snakes in Fiji. Centuries ago, snake eating mongoose was brought to the islands. They proliferated in vast numbers ultimately wiping out the entire snake population.

The bed with the new pillows and bedding. There no hanging closet space. We left the items we usually hang neatly folded in the luggage.

That’s not to say there aren’t other creatures slithering around the house and grounds. We’ve had several of those yellowish almost clear looking (comparable to a pale yellow gummy) geckos running on the walls, pooping and making their peculiar noises. But, years ago we stopped paying much attention to geckos. They’d be unlikely to crawl on humans or go onto the bed at night. 

This morning I cleaned several gecko poops off the stovetop. We’ve seen a few large spiders, other insects, and an endless supply of mosquitoes. We’ve yet to see a single fly.

The kitchen table where we dine. We moved this lamp (the only lamp in the house) from the bedroom putting it on this table enabling us to see our plates better while dining.

Based on a report Tom read online many months ago, I started taking 100 mg vitamin B1 supposedly to aid in the reduction of attracting mosquitoes. After one month on the B1, I noticed an improvement, seldom being bitten during the remaining time in Australia. I still use repellent when we visit rain forests as will be the case here when we’re outside for extended periods.

Sitting on the veranda seems to attract a swarm of mosquitoes around one’s head so we pick and choose the best times to venture out avoiding dawn, dusk, and cloudy days. 

A large porcelain sink in the bathroom. The small spoon atop the plastic container is for scooping baking soda to add to toothpaste for whiter, cleaner teeth.

On our first shopping trip, we purchased a bottle of locally manufactured repellent and it seems to be highly effective in combination with vitamin B1. I’ve only received two mosquito bites since we arrived on Tuesday. I can’t guarantee this would work for everyone but, somehow it seems to be working for me.

Not having a car is an adjustment. As Mario had described, the steep hill to the property would be impossible to navigate without a four-wheel drive. I doubt we could even walk the hill up that hill when even the fittest 20 year old would struggle.

This is a good-sized shower.

With the cost of a four-wheel-drive vehicle at no less than USD $40, FJD $87 per day plus fees and taxes we’d decided against a rental. With the hourly rate Rashnesh quoted at USD $13.81, FJD $30 for tours,  we can go anywhere we want for much less than we’d pay for a rental, especially when we’re paying for days we don’t use it.

For a round trip to the village Rashnesh charges USD $9.20, FJD $20, dropping us off at one market and picking us up at another location at either a designated time or when we call on our now working phone containing a local phone SIM card. If we went out every day, the taxi fare with Rashnesh would still cost less than 25% of the cost of a rental car.

The living room with our stuff. 

We explained to Rasness that we’ll pay him each time we go out and tip him all at once at the end of our stay in December, giving him a good chunk toward his Christmas holiday. He seemed to like this idea. 

With the high cost at an ATM and with many local services requiring cash and, with the choice we made long ago (for safety purposes) to only be able to receive USD $300, FJD $652 per day per card, we’ll probably need to get cash every few weeks to pay for dining out, the farmer’s market and the meat market. The grocery store clerk explained there is a 2.5% fee for using a credit card. 

The screened window in the kitchen. Sitting on the sill is chalk “ant stick” which we use after washing the counters after cooking hoping to keep the ants away.

With the cost of getting cash exceeding the cost of the grocer charged credit card fees, it makes sense to use the credit card at the grocery store. With 1% cash perks for purchasing groceries on the card, it all works out in the end. 

As for the house, Mario and his wife Tatiana provided us with additional items we needed: six dish towels, one washcloth (all they had available) a large skillet and bowl, a medium-sized pot, a sharp paring knife, three plastic reusable containers,  a knife sharpener, and a broom. We still need a metal spatula and a cookie sheet which we’ll purchase soon.

The screened window in the living room with cooling breezes. No AC here. Outside the window, you can see our dishtowels hanging to dry. With no washer, and laundry done by Charlotta a few times each week, we’ll be hand washing kitchen towels and underwear as needed.

Many months ago, I wrote to Mario that we’d need an oven. He immediately went into town to find a good-sized countertop oven which seems to work well. We are very grateful for the oven, the bed, and all he’s done for us. 

Yesterday afternoon, I made Tom’s breakfast dish, which he cuts evenly into 18 squares to be frozen in bags of three. Once he has the last of the three portions over three days, he takes out another bag to defrost overnight in the refrigerator. This way, I don’t make his breakfast for 18 days and he loves having this item at his leisure each morning, while I’m busy with the day’s post. 

The huge pan of Tom’s breakfast eggs dish, the first item we baked in the new oven.

Yesterday, it took about an hour to prepare the large pan of breakfast since there’s no grated cheese available in the market. Grating the cheese by hand and also cooking the required 18 slices of bacon, five at a time in the microwave is an equally slow process.  

The countertop oven cooked the large dish in 50 minutes using a tin foil pan we’d purchased. We soaked and washed the tinfoil pan to be used again. With no parchment paper available in the stores, soaking and scrubbing baking pans will be required while we’re here. How I wished we’d shipped a roll of parchment.

Overall, the house is ideal. Getting in and out of the low-to-the-floor bed is challenging and good exercise for the legs. Tom says he needs “pet steps” to get in and out. 

For more details on this vacation rental, please click here.

The toilets are higher in other countries as opposed to the US. When we arrived in Boston by ship a year ago we were flabbergasted by the low toilets, almost falling over each time.

We’ll continue with more of the nuances of living in Fiji as time goes on. The WiFi is working again today. Since it’s raining we see no reason to go out. Surely, there’ll be plenty of sunny days in the near future allowing us to explore the island. We’ve arranged for some exploring on Monday with Rashnesh picking us up at 10:00 am, hoping for such a day.

So far, in four days we’ve had insects in the bed, a five-hour power outage, and an all afternoon WiFi outage. More of these types of inconveniences will undoubtedly occur. When they do, we’ll “suck it up” as we always do, putting a smile on our faces knowing it all “goes with the territory.” This has become the norm for us.

Tomorrow, we’ll share outdoor photos of the exquisite views surrounding us.

Our heartfelt condolences to those in the US who lost loved ones in the tragic events of September 11, 2001, a day we’ll always remember with heavy hearts.

Photo from one year ago today, September 12, 2014:

DSC03571
We dined in a specialty restaurant on the ship, Giovannia’s, with Judy and Gary a lovely couple Tom had met on cruise critic. We enjoyed several get-togethers with them over the cruise. For more details, please click here.

Stepping on a commercial scale in public?…What??…Tricky luggage situation…Late post due to our first power outage in Fiji…

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Fiji comprised approximately 330 islands, of which one third are inhabited. The two major islands are Viti Levu, the most commonly visited, and Vanua Levu where we are staying for the next three months.

On our first morning in Savusavu, the power went out from 8:00 am until 1:00 pm. As a result, we were unable to complete today’s post until now. From what we’ve heard, power outages on this remote island aren’t uncommon. If, or when, in the future, there isn’t a new post, most likely it will be due to a power outage. Once the power returns, we’ll immediately get back to preparing and uploading the day’s post. Now on to the story we started this morning at 7:00 am.

Fiji Airways’ baggage policy, vague online, proved to be more complicated than we’d expected. For the first time in our travels, we weren’t allowed to carry on our duffel bag or the small rolling cart. They had to be checked to add grossly to the weight.

As a result, we had to pay USD $298, AUD $430 in excess baggage fees. No doubt we’d have had to pay for the bags being overweight anyway with or without checking these two extra items. Tom was frustrated. I’d expected this and tossed out a credit card to pay.

With another flight once we arrived at the Nadi Airport, on Fiji’s largest island, we had to collect our bags, go through customs and immigration, and check-in the bags once again, (we expected this) although the payment we’d already made saw us all the way through to Savusavu, our final destination. 

As the small plane approached the island of Vanua Levu, heading toward the Savusavu Airport. (Photos shown today were taken through the window of the aircraft).

When we were done at customs and immigration, we used two free trolleys loaded up with all of our bags and made the required 10-minute walk to the domestic terminal from the international terminal. 

When we depart Savusavu in three months to fly back to the mainland for one additional month, we’ll have to pay all over again. Am I redundant in saying, “It’s the nature of the beast?” Probably. But, we have to remind ourselves that it’s only these travel days we find challenging, the hauling of the heavy bags, from gate to gate, immigration desk to immigration desk.

Getting up at 3:45 am worked out well. I was asleep by 10:00 pm and Tom drifted off by 10:30 when I heard him rustling about to turn off the TV. Sleeping all the way through the night until we heard the alarm on my phone and moments later the wake-up call, I bolted out of bed raring to go.

In Fiji, there are many atolls, ring-shaped reefs, islands, or chains of islands formed or coral. Notice one of the wheels of the plane in this photo.

Within 20 minutes I was showered, dressed and ready to pack up the odds and ends we’d unpacked when we’d arrived the previous night. By 4:15 am, we called the front desk to deliver two trolleys to the room. Luckily, the hotel keeps airport trolleys on hand for this very purpose. Thus, we were able to leave the trolleys at the airport when done checking the bags. This avoided the necessity of a cab fare to go a mere six-minute walk.

Back to the arrival at Nadi Airport in Fiji, when we arrived at the domestic terminal, we had to once again check the prepaid bags. In doing so, all looked good at the start until the agent with Fiji Airways explained that my large yellow Costco bag had to be checked. 

Since I no longer own a handbag, when we travel I use that bag in part as a handbag. Now I had to let it be checked since they explained the plane was too small with no overhead compartments or room for storage. 

After days of rain, Savusavu was still experiencing a huge cloud cover. Today, for the first time in days, the sun has made an appearance. With sunset views from our veranda, we’re looking forward to some awesome sunsets although partially blocked by mountains.

Immediately, I scrambled through the bag removing the camera, our phones, my wallet, and a few personal effects, stuffing them into the blue pill bag that we were allowed to carry. At that point, the agent told us to individually step up onto the raised baggage scale along with our remaining one carry on bag each.

Oh, good grief. Were they going to announce our weight over the loudspeakers? Was there a digital readout everyone could see when we stepped up on the scale? No, it was a relatively painless process when no one could see our weight, not even us. 

When all was said and done, our carry-on consisted of one laptop bag and the pill bag containing a year’s supply of prescriptions, some vitamins, and two Epipens (we’re both allergic to bees).

How small was this aircraft that we had to trim down to this effect and be weighed in public? A short time later we met a couple from the US on their honeymoon and they explained that the agent changed their seat assignment due to their combined weight being too heavy to sit together. How embarrassing was that?  Fortunately, we were able to retain our two seats, side by side. 

We can understand the reasoning of weighing people along with all of their bags in one fell swoop but doing it with only one carry on, could be difficult to take. There’s been a lot of controversy on this topic.

An hour later, we walked outside to board the plane, having been told that some of the passenger’s bags wouldn’t make the flight due to the weight restrictions. Who that would be was unknown at this point. 

We had no idea if our bags would make it through on our flight until after we landed at the tiny airport Savusavu. All of our bags made it through but the newlyweds, heading out on a boat to a more remote location, had a few bags yet to arrive.

Scattered across roughly 1.3 million square kilometers of the South Pacific, the Fijian Archipelago encompasses one of the most extensive coral reef systems in the world, which many claim is more beautiful than the Great Barrier Reef. 

With the necessity of a trip to the grocery store (more on that later), once we arrived in Savusavu and, before we arrived at the new house and, with the property’s owner-driver picking us up, we wondered how and when we’d have time to return to the airport to pick up the bags. We both stayed calm.

In tomorrow’s post, we’ll share the exciting adventure on the little plane and some amazing photos. The plane was almost as small as the plane we took in Kenya landing on a dirt runway in the Masai Mara when we went on photo safari two years ago.

Need I say, we were excited and fearless? Goodness, where is the old Jessica, formerly terrified of insects, snakes, and confined spaces? In the past two weeks, I’ve been in a submarine and on a tiny plane. Has this crazy life been able to change me so much, that now, my heart pounds with excitement, not fear?

All I can say until tomorrow is that we made it! As I write this now, on the night of September 8th, the 7th in the northern hemisphere, we’re totally unpacked, our groceries are put away and we’re incredibly content in our new home; the bed’s a little hard but there are five windows in the house with screens. There’s no closet for hanging clothes, only shelves for stacking them. 

There isn’t a bowl large enough to toss a salad or a pot big enough to make any of our favorite entrees let alone the fact that there was no lettuce or cabbage available at the sparse grocery store, comparable to the sparse markets we experienced in Belize. We’ll find a farmer’s market. We’ll adapt. We always do.

Photo from one year ago today, September 8, 2014:

A year ago photo from September 8th…We arrived in Iceland to embark on a wild 4×4 ride through the countryside on a terribly rainy and cold day. For details, please click here.
The geothermal activity in Iceland is unbelievable. It’s a time bomb ready to explode so explained our driver on the 4×4 adventure. For more details, please click here.

Just a short blurb….Waiting at the airport…Posting over a few stops along the way…

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A few hours before we left the house for the airport, I noticed a creature walking past the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living. Alerting Tom, he too saw it. 

But, by the time we got the camera which was already packed in one of our carry-on bags, it was too late. It resembled the monitor lizards that made an occasional appearance in our yard in Marloth Park. Most likely it was a monitor lizard, about three feet, one meter long.

Of course, when visiting Mexico or Costa Rico, lizards and iguanas are spotted regularly.  When I mentioned the arrival of the lizard to Andy, he said it lives behind the kitchen, and once it awhile takes a walk along the patio.

With Tom busy inside getting ready to go, the lizard saw he/she had a safe path unencumbered with a human presence. Most days, Tom sat outside on the veranda working on his laptop in order to get a better signal on the Internet which was almost nonexistent when indoors.

Off we went to the airport, heavy bags in tow, wondering how much we’d have to pay for extra weight. I wasn’t worried. Tom was. I could tell by his frenzied demeanor, typical on travel day. He wasn’t so much grumpy as he was a little tense, which is a vast improvement from “overly grumpy.” 

He dropped me and the baggage at the airport while he dropped off the rental car. Oddly, the rental car facilities didn’t have any shuttles and he had to walk back to the domestic terminal. Thank goodness I stayed at the airport as opposed to going with him as I’d suggested. I found a comfy chair and played with my phone while I waited. 

Once he arrived, within minutes we were at the Qantas counter ready to pay for our bags. Much to our surprise, it was only AUD $90, USD $62 for the extra weight generated by the third bag. We were thrilled. But, we still had two flights on Fiji Airways ahead of us and had no idea how much extra we’d have to pay once we check in early tomorrow morning. We’ll see how that goes.

Now, as we wait, I’m glad we had our prepaid hot spot, allowing both of us to stay amused while we waited. I must admit, I don’t like flying, not the airport, not the plane, not the baggage drop off and pick up, none of it.  Tom agrees.

If we had our choice we’d sail everywhere we wanted to visit and in essence, it’s what we’ve been able to do in many cases. Although, to retain such strict criteria would be extremely limited when we think of all the places we’d never have been able to experience. The inconvenience proves worth it in the long run. 

I suppose I could use Twitter or some other such app for short blurbs. As all of our readers know, I’m not much in the way of “short” comments when writing has such an appeal, and sharing photos has even more.

Any moment, our flight will be called and we’ll do, as usual, wait in chairs until the very end when everyone else has boarded. That’s a Tom thing. I’d get on early and get situated. This life is an ongoing compromise. We do some of what each other prefers and we do a lot of what appeals to both of us.

Going to Fiji was on the “what appeals to both of us” list. Hopefully, we’ll be pleasantly surprised and pleased with our new home. If not, well, we’ll live there anyway, a smile on our faces and determination in our hearts.

Happy day to all.

Final new photos from Trinity Beach…Tomorrow, our favorite photos in Australia…Next day…final expenses and we’re off…

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This morning I shot these gorgeous yellow flowers.

As we wind down the remaining two days in Queensland, Australia, we’re planning the posts over the next several days. With many of our readers one day behind us, please keep that in mind when reviewing our upcoming posts, when we say it’s Monday, it will be Sunday in your part of the world.

We plan to post each of the next following days with photos. On Monday, with an afternoon departure to Sydney, we’ll have time to post our final favorite photos and total expenses for the three months we spent in Trinity Beach.

Trinity Beach, another sunny day at the sea.

On Tuesday, with a 6:30 am departure from Sydney to Fiji with a connecting flight between islands, it’s likely we may not be able to post based on information we read for wifi at the Nadi, Fiji airport. If it’s available, we will post photos.

In the worst case, we’ll be missing one post on Tuesday (perhaps on your Monday). Otherwise, we’ll be back on Wednesday with an update on our arrival and photos of our new home. 

The stairway leads to an overlook.

We can hardly wait to have these two travel days behind us. Neither of us enjoys flying, mostly due to the waiting and the baggage commotion. Then again, boarding a ship isn’t the most pleasant experience either, spending considerable time waiting on either end.

Cove at the beach where a little blue tent protects a beach-goer from the intense sun.

Travel days are stressful for Tom, even if everything goes well. At times, there’s an issue with our baggage or another matter that sends him into a tailspin although, there have been a few flights that have been seamless and he stayed calm. My rationale is simple, get us there safely and I’m content. The rest? Hopefully, it will be over in no time at all.

The sun rising over Yorkeys Knob, photo taken from our veranda, another excellent view we’ll remember in years to come.

These last few days always feel a bit unsettled. Mostly packed, we don’t have much we have to do. We’ve totally lost interest in sightseeing at this point and have begun to fill our heads with thoughts of our new location and getting the travel days behind us.

Yesterday, I prepared everything for our final meals for tonight and tomorrow night. I’d purchased and made exactly the correct amounts for Tom’s breakfasts and midday snacks. 

The kangaroos and wallabies that we’d previously seen at this nearby spot have moved on to greener pastures. We only spotted these two at a distance when we visited the area for the last time.  We visited this spot many times in the past three months.

I plan to have a late lunch before we depart on Monday since the airline food is never right for me even if I list my requirements on the airline’s website. As a result, I no longer bother to enter the information, giving Tom whatever they serve me.

Various types of fern trees are common in Australia.

In the past when I’ve requested a special meal, they always served me fruit and processed meats, of which, I eat neither. I don’t expect nor am I disappointed that the airlines aren’t able to accommodate my way of eating. It’s too peculiar for their constraints and I fully accept this.

Flowers blooming over the pool area.

At Woolie’s, I purchased a bag of raw almonds for snaking during dinner on the flight, if I’m hungry after the late lunch. With this way of eating I’m seldom hungry and at times, force myself to have a meal, especially if I’d eaten anything within the past eight hours. What’s the point of eating when one isn’t hungry? Our bodies have a magical way of letting us know when we need food or drink. 

Impatiens continue to flourish in the yard.

Today, a sunny day will be perfect for a short stint in the sun. Now that the packages are sent and packing is under control, there’s little else to do but lounge and enjoy the fresh outdoors as much as possible.

Our final photo overlooking the rainforest to Double Island.

We’ll be back tomorrow with our favorite photos we’ve taken in Australia. Thanks to all of our worldwide readers for staying with us during these quiet, less exciting times especially as we wind down the last few mundane days in a location. Soon, the excitement will be ramped up as life in a new country begins!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Photo from one year ago today, September 5, 2014:

One year ago today, we visited the Blarney Castle in Cork, Ireland. Tom had visited Ireland twice in his life before we met but, he was excited to show me this historic site. For more details, please click here

One week from today, we’re off to Sydney, then Fiji…Final preparations…A mixed bag of emotions and activities…

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Walkway along the pond in Trinity Beach area. There doesn’t appear to be as many vacation homes in this particular area as we’ve seen in other beach areas.

The final week before departing for a new location is a mixed bag of emotions and activities. Excitement over the upcoming new environment, a bit of apprehension over the quality of our seen-online-only-accommodations, and the hope and expectation that travel day will be seamless.

In the upcoming travel to the second largest island in the Fiji archipelago, we decided to break up the travel into two days when we were unable to arrange flights at reasonable hours. 

As it is, we’ll have to be up at 4 am next Tuesday morning, September 8th, to board the 6:30 am flight from Sydney to Savusavu, Vanua Levu. The alternative would have been to spend the night at the airport, simply not our style in our efforts to avoid stress and exhaustion when possible.

A manmade pond at a condo complex in Trinity Beach.

Today, we’re off to the Trinity Beach post office to purchase a large box in order to pack necessary food supplies to ship to Fiji where they do not carry these particular items. Once we bring the box back home to be packed and weighed, we’ll bring it back to the same post office for shipping.

We’re sending another box to ourselves to remain at our mailing service in Las Vegas, Nevada filled with tax receipts we must save, paper copies of our medical reports, and my Africa boots. When the time comes that we’ll need the boots, we’ll ask the mailing service to ship them to us wherever we may be at the time. 

We haven’t determined a “typical” style of houses in this area. Some are gated, such as in this photo but most are not.

Sending this box to the mailing service saves us around 3.6 kilos, 8 pounds, in excess baggage weight over these upcoming many flights. Sure, there will be an expense to ship this box but with five upcoming flights between now and January, we’d have paid over and over again for the same items.

I must admit, I failed to scan every receipt we needed to save, as I’d originally planned. At the beginning of our travels, I was all over this. But, as time marched on I began making a pile of receipts to be scanned never getting around to the time-consuming task. 

View or Yorkey’s Knob Beach and area.

Our portable scanner, which works well, requires multiple receipts to be placed inside a clear double sheet of plastic scanning numerous receipts at once. This became time consuming and bothersome.  Failing to stay on top of this task occasionally nagged at me. Normally, I’m all over this stuff. And the receipts piled up.

Finally, I let go of it nagging me and decided in the realm of things, it’s no big deal. All of the receipts, not organized by year, would only be necessary if, God forbid, we were audited. 

If not, we have all the records of purchases on our spreadsheet with copies on multiple clouds and on our external hard drive. Over these past years, I became tired of hauling around three years of receipts in our luggage. It looks like I either have to get on the ball and start scanning new receipts or accumulating them once again. We shall see. I haven’t decided yet.

The view of Double Island and Scout Island is a pleasant beginning to any day in Trinity Beach. 

After accessing the food we have left for meals for the next week, one more trip to the grocery store is necessary. We wanted to make easy meals as we always do during the last week before departing for a new location. We always plan to prepare easy meals for which there will be leftovers for two nights for a total of three nights.

For this upcoming week, we decided on pizza with a green salad for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and tuna salad, mushroom, onion, bacon burger patties with a green salad on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We often make meals to last for two or three nights. It not only saves money but also saves considerable time in the kitchen. 

Often, when making meals for leftovers with all the chopping and dicing done in advance, we do the cooking separately each night to ensure it’s most fresh. In the case of pizza and the above tuna salad, we’ll make these all at once, cooking the mushrooms, onions, and bacon burgers and salads fresh each night.

Large house on the shore of the pond in Trinity Beach. 

Many vacation rentals have tiny kitchens and the less time spent in the kitchen the better as in this house which has minimal counter space in a relatively large kitchen. 

The same scenario will be the case in Fiji, a tiny galley kitchen. It was only in the fabulous house in Madeira, Portugal that we had a lot of counter space, making cooking enjoyable and easy.

The almost 90 days we’ve spent in Trinity Beach has been pleasant and in part task-related in getting our medical and dental exams and tests completed with good results. 

A car rental shop is located in the heart of Trinity Beach which may not be busy with the car rental shops at the nearby airport in Cairns, a 25-minute drive from this location.  Should a visitor rent a car from here, they’d have to arrange transportation back to the airport. However, if a tourist is staying in a nearby hotel on the beach, a few day rental may be perfect from this location.

We’ve found this amount of time (under 90 days) are perfect for familiarizing ourselves with an area, its people, and its culture. We’ve seen considerable sites and have literally visited every beach in the area. 

We’ve been to the closest bigger city, Cairns, many times, visiting many of its most popular tourist attractions.  We visited the popular Port Douglas and meandered many of its tourist attractions.

We’ve come to know the people at Woolie’s, the pharmacy, the farm stand, and the butcher on a first name basis. We’ve frequently seen interesting birds and learned to tune out the noisy curlews at night, now able to leave the narrow window with a screen open for fresh air while we sleep.

Red Cross Road leads to the hospital and medical facilities in Cairns with many restaurants nearby including this Flying Monkey located on Highway 1 which travels through the city.

Now, we’re on a fast path of becoming organized with careful packing to keep the baggage costs under control and packing a separate carry on bag for the overnight in Sydney to avoid opening the three larger checked bags.

It’s all good. We’re content, not anxious. That’s not to say that Tom won’t become “overly grumpy” on travel day as I continue in my annoying “overly bubbly” state of mind.

Happy Sunday or Monday to all of you!

                                                  Photo from one year ago today, August 31, 2014:

No photos were posted on this date one year ago as we made our way via a private car to the port in Harwich, England to the pier to board our ship to Boston, Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas for a 14-day cruise.  Instead, we posted the ship’s itinerary which is shown below. We’d intended to post later in the day but time got away from us not posting again until the next morning. For details from the day of departure, please click here.

DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE   DEPART
Sun Aug 31 London (Harwich), England 5:00 pm
Mon Sep 1 Paris (Le Havre), France 7:00 am 9:00 pm
Tue Sep 2 Portland, England 7:00 am 4:00 pm
Wed Sep 3 Cork (Cobh), Ireland 10:00 am 4:30 pm
Thu Sep 4 At Sea
Fri Sep 5 Klaksvik, Faroe Islands 9:00 am 6:00 pm
Sat Sep 6 At Sea
Sun Sep 7 Reykjavik, Iceland Noon
Mon Sep 8 Reykjavik, Iceland 5:00 pm
Tue Sep 9 At Sea
Wed Sep 10 At Sea
Thu Sep 11 At Sea
Fri Sep 12 At Sea
Sat Sep 13 At Sea
Sun Sep 14 Boston, MA 6:00 am

Confusing flight arrangements…Needed help…More Yorkeys Knob photos…

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There was a wide array of ocean going boats at the marina in Yorkeys Knob.

With the relatively slow wifi in our area and the cost of using the SIM card’s data, we decided that we’d visit Flight Centre, a full-service travel agency at the Smithfield Mall which we’d spotted on our many walks through the large indoor mall.

Also, with the small airports in Fiji, we needed an experienced agent to handle our best way to travel between islands for our two separate vacation homes over a period of four months.

We walked along this pier at the Yorkeýs Knob Boating Club.

Staying in Fiji over this extended period was planned as another opportunity to keep costs down, staying put in a reasonably priced location with reasonably priced vacation rental prices. 

The only other agency, we’ve used since the onset of our travels, almost 33 months ago, has been Vacationstogo.com which has handled all of our cruises thus far. 

Many of the beach parks we’ve seen thus far as uninhabited and unspoiled.

It hasn’t made sense to use an agency when we stay in vacation homes, which travel agencies generally don’t handle. However, yesterday’s positive experience may inspire us to consider it again in the future when booking tricky flights such as these.

As soon as we walked into the digitally and visually contemporary agency, Flight Centre, we met Helen, who proved to be a highly competent rep. She did it in 30 minutes what could have taken us days with the slow wifi.  Plus, she was so fast typing on her keyboard, it made my head swim.

The Yorkeys Knob Boating Club.

Her keen ability to piece the dates, times and necessary flights were uncanny as her fingers flew across the keys. She totally got what we needed to accomplish. Of course, we brought along our passports and a copy (on my phone) of our itinerary with dates and locations and a photo of a map designating our vacation rentals on the two separate islands in the Fiji.

Sharing this map below again provides a clearer perspective of the reason for the number of necessary flights.  It’s a little confusing about Suva, on the main island, and Savusavu on the smaller island of Vanua Levu.

1.  September 7 – Cairns to Sydney – departing at 5:30 pm, arriving at 8:15 pm – overnight at hotel in Sydney
2.  September 8 – Sydney to Nadi – departing at 6:30 am, arriving at 12:20 pm
3.  September 8 – Nadi to Savusavu (separate island) – departing at 2:30 pm, arriving at 3:40 pm
4.  December 6 – Savusavu to Nadi – departing at 9:20 am, arriving at 10:20 am
5.  January 4, 2016 – Nadi to Sydney – departing 11:15 am, arriving at 2:10 pm – overnight stay in Sydney

The next day, January 5, 2016, we’ll board a 14-day cruise at Sydney Harbour to sail the continent and ultimately end in Auckland, New Zealand where we’ll rent a car and drive to our vacation home where we’ll live for 89 days. Whew!

At the time we booked the two islands, flight schedules were different and we wouldn’t have necessarily had to stay overnight in Sydney. However, staying over at the beginning and end of this list of flights ultimately is stress relieving. 

According to local weather reports, this June has been the rainiest on record. Hopefully, now that July is here, we’ll see fewer clouds and more sunshine.

We’ll book the first hotel at the airport and the second hotel near the pier further reducing rushing, taxis, and stress. That’s always the plan, especially when we have multiple flights such as indicated here.

Another issue we must face for these five flights is our overweight luggage, based on each airline’s baggage policy. Qantas, handling three of the above flights doesn’t charge for one checked bag each.  We have a third overweight bag. There’s no way to avoid this. 

Mountains surrounding the area create eye catching scenery.

Rather than break down the cost for each flight, we’re providing a total for both of us for all five flights which are AUD $3448.96, USD $2632.97 plus the estimated excess baggage fees of AUD $1049, USD $800.82. 

Although we chose our seats on the flights that we could, we haven’t paid for the excess baggage as yet. Over the next 60 days, we’ll continue to unload what we can from our bags, and a few days before we depart, we’ll weigh everything and go back to see Helen, paying for our bags with her help, which she’s offered to do. 

This is a park at one entrances to Yorkeys Knob Beach.

Based on the combined costs of  all of these flights and the estimated baggage fees, the average cost per person, per flight is AUD $449.80, USD $343.38. In this context it doesn’t seem like quite as costly. 

We’re glad this part is done and paid for. Now, we can return to the planning of the gaps in our schedule. At this point, we have good news to report…we know where we’re going, an exciting new location, and a portion of it is already booked and prepaid. The second leg of the journey is yet to be booked.

A typical street in the Yorkeys Knob area.

Over the next few days, amid trips to the fitness center and more exploration in the area, we’ll be working on the second leg in our 65 day gap. Once that is resolved, we’ll be posting all the news with photos, pricing, and details. Please check back. 

Have a great Wednesday or, Thursday depending on your side of the International Dateline!

                                                Photo from one year ago today, July 2, 2014:

Campanario is a quaint little village in the mountains of Madeira. Although little English is spoken in the area or in much on the island in general we had a wonderful time during our stay.For more details, please click here.

Arrived in Sydney…The Opera House…The Harbour Bridge and more…

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View of the Sydney Opera House from the ship at 6:30 am this morning. It’s hard to believe we’re here on our fifth continent!

We arrived in Sydney early this morning. After was seemed like an endless wait to exit the ship, we finally got off, went through customs and immigration and all is well.

We’re now at the beautiful airport in Sydney waiting for our flight on Qantas Airlines, known as one of the best airlines in the world. Check-in was slick and professional and we managed to have the only US $70 in excess baggage fees.

View of the harbor. Lovely!

Now we have only 30 minutes of free wifi time offered by the airline with no apparent option to purchase more.  As a result, before we board, I am attempting to load a very fast post and a few photos. More amazing photos of Sydney will be available tomorrow once we’re situated.

Waking up this morning to only stepping outside to see the famed Opera House and Harbour Bridge took our breath away. It was hard to believe that we’ve just entered our fifth continent.

We only have two more continents to experience to have stepped foot on all seven; Antarctica and South America, both of which we plan to visit when we’re done in the South Pacific. 

The Harbour Bridge.  Wow!

This, by no means, will be the end of our world journey. In many ways, it will become a new beginning, of returning to countries we’ve yet to visit fine-tuning our choices to those we long to see.

For today, I must wind down to ensure we can get a few photos loaded. No time for the photo from one year ago, but will do today and tomorrow’s when we post in the morning from Trinity Beach, Australia.

Happy days ahead. Stay with us!

Flight and rental car booked for Australia…Great deals! Sharing the best prices we’ve found for car rentals…

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Taro root, growing in this field, is a popular item used in Hawaiian cooking.

As many of our long term readers are well aware, often our photos don’t match our stories. We continue to search for new and hopefully interesting photo ops in our explorations of any area in which we’re living at any given time. This is the case today, as is often the case, with the exception of the car photo listed below.

The Hawaiian Coot, most often found near water. It was our first sighting of this bird.

We commence with today’s story:

We booked all of our airfare through the Expedia link on our website. As a listed advertiser for us, we get a tiny commission for using it although the pricing is no better or worse than through Expedia directly. 

If our readers click on any of our advertiser links, we receive more tiny commissions, none of which will make us rich but help offset some of the costs of maintaining our site. Please feel free to use them as needed. 

The Hanalei Wildlife Refuse provides a lush habitat for a considerable number of birds in Kauai.

There’s no pressure from us to use these links. Our site is “free” to our worldwide readers. But, if you’re going to shop at any of these sites, please consider doing so through us. We appreciate it!

However, when shopping for flights and car rentals, the best pricing is always our first consideration. For airline tickets, we’ve had considerable luck with Expedia. 

We were surprised it had taken us so long to travel this particular road.  We were glad we did.

However, with car rentals, especially for our extended periods, we’ve had to perform extended searches for the best possible pricing. Over these past 30 months, we’ve spent hundreds of hours researching off and on as to where to get the best pricing on car rentals.

So far, for us, the best bet has been at this link for rentalcars.com. Once we enter dates and times, their site searches all providers allowing us to choose the best cars for the best prices. Here’s what we locked up a few days ago:

The Okolehao Trail begins here, leading up a steep incline using ropes to assist experienced hikers only up a two to three-hour hike up the mountains. Not quite suitable for us. Click here for details.

Car Group: Hyundai i20 or similar
Supplier: Europcar

Pick-up details:
Country: Australia
City: Cairns
Location: Cairns Airport
Date: 11 Jun 2015 10:00

Drop-off details:
Location: Cairns Airport
Date: 8 Sep 2015 10:00

Total Cost: US$1709.50
Flight number:

That’s US $1709.50 for 89 days! That total at $19.21 per day, not too bad or an average of $576 24 per month.  Here in Kauai, we paid a little more at $677 per month, still an excellent deal.

Sure, a Hyundai 120 is a small car. See photo below:

This Hyundai i20 is ideal for our needs with excellent gas mileage and, we can easily fit all of our luggage between the hatchback and back seat, our first consideration when renting a car.

Often, once we arrive at the desk of the provider at the airport, they often try to up-sell us a larger car. We rarely consider an upgrade. What’s the purpose? However, when we lived in Madeira almost a year ago, we chose a larger car with a more powerful engine in order to navigate the many steep hills. 

The difference, if I recall correctly, was about $50 more a month and well worth the expense under those special circumstances. Those steep winding hills with Tom driving a stick shift were tough enough in our upgrade.

It’s good to know that cattle are no longer branded, instead, wearing tags (in this case orange tags) on their ears as shown in this photo.

Our next expenditure a few days ago was to purchase airline tickets from Sydney, Australia to Cairns, Australia when we arrive by ship on June 11th. Careful planning, considering the time of day the ship reaches the dock, the time it will take to disembark 2000 passengers, and how long it will take to get a taxi to the airport in Sydney.

The ship will dock in Sydney at 6:00 am and be ready for passengers to disembark by 8:00 am. However, based on past experience it can take several hours to get our luggage, go through customs and immigration, and to wait in line for a taxi.

A lone horse, tied to a rope looked our way as we stopped for this photo.

With only a few nonstop flights to Cairns each day (pronounced Cannes, like the French city), we chose the afternoon flight, leaving us almost about five hours to run through the entire process. 

We often set up our transportation from cruises in this same manner, leaving lots of time for the process. We lay back on getting off the ship, staying in our cabin until they kick us out. It’s either, wait on the ship or wait at the airport, neither of which makes any difference to us.

The Hanalei River continues for 15 miles.

Why didn’t we chose an earlier flight?  As it says in our tag line or motto: “Wafting Through Our World Wide Travels with Ease, Joy and Simplicity,” we always attempt to take the less stress-invoking means of arriving at our next location.

What if there were a customs or immigration delay at the ship?  We don’t want to be rushing and worrying. A day of travel is a day of travel. The things we control we plan to be easy and hopefully seamless. The things we have no control over…we plan for extra time to accommodate them.

Driving down a road we hadn’t traveled, we followed the shore of the Hanalei River.

The cost of this nonstop one-way flight for both of us, from Sydney to Cairns, is as follows:

Qantas Price Summary

  •     $235.40
    • Flight          $218.00
    • Taxes & Fees $17.40
  •     $235.40
    • Flight           $218.00
    • Taxes & Fees  $17.40
    • Total:          $470.80
Based on the fact we’re able to fly Qantas Airline, one of the highest-rated airlines in the world, we’re pleased with this booking.
We’ll pick up the rental car and be on our way on the relatively short drive from the airport to Trinity Beach, the location of our next 89-day rental. The estimated drive time is 22 minutes or 12.18 miles, 19.6 kilometers.
Nene birds, the Hawaiian state bird are often found near water as in this case as we drove along the Hanalei River.

Hopefully, by 6 pm, we’ll arrive at our new home, get settled, and head out to dinner. These days, unpacking only requires about 30 minutes. The following day we’ll find a grocery store and familiarize ourselves with the area. 

With these two bookings out of the way, we have peace of mind, a valued commodity in our lifestyle. Low stress…good for health…good for life. 

Have a wild and wonderful Wednesday!

                                              Photo from one year ago today, April 22, 2014:

Our photo from this January while we visited the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre in Hoedspruit, South Africa, a day we’ll always remember. For more photos, from this date, one year ago, please click here.