February 8, 2020
We are very excited for our first trip to Fiji! Have the whole family with me this time and what a perfect place for a family trip…the happiest place in the world!
Here is where Fiji is on the map
Not a good idea to sleep on the way to an 11 hour redeye!
Ready to brave a few hours at LAX
Ready to board Fiji Airways LAX to NAN
No business class this time 😞
Good old economy class…..
Always fun to fly on a new plane, they acquired these about a month ago.
Fun to watch takeoff on the screen
Love finding 3 free seats, looks like I will sleep well tonight! Our flight left LAX at 10:30pm Saturday night February 8th and lands in Fiji at 5:15am on Monday February 10th.
Dinner wasn’t all that bad, coconut curry chicken and rice. Then off to sleep 😴
February 10, 2020
We lost a day flying over the International Date Line, we left on Feb 8th and arrived on Feb 10th. So we will have never lived through Feb 9th 2020!
I slept about 6 hours and didn’t want to get up but I also didn’t want to miss breakfast and coffee, my stomach was starting to growl.
Breakfast wasn’t that good but enough to keep me from starving. Not sure why they serve it so early, we were done and still had two more hours to go so I went back to sleep.
We started our descent into Nadi International Airport.
This shows how close Fiji is to Australia and New Zealand.
Landed safely
Beautiful new Airbus A350-900
Welcome committee in the airport, Fijians are famously friendly and always have huge smiles and heartfelt bulas (hello)!
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Traditional Fijian songs welcomed us to their country.
It’s a beautiful morning in Fiji
Grant loves finding strange flavored chips in different countries, this one is chicken flavor potato chips.
The ride to our resort is about an hour along the south coast of Viti Levu, also known as the Coral Coast.
Driving is on the left side from their British colonial past.
Rowan is enjoying watching the chickens and petting the feral cats.
Our first glimpse of the resort as we drive into the entrance.
I love the welcome! Bula is their greeting.
http://travelwithlorifoster.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/img_2921.movThe lobby was very serene
We have adjoining rooms and they are comfortable.
But it’s the view that is spectacular, located right on the water.
We were here so early we went to breakfast! The restaurant is right on the water and they had live local music that made it so special.
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We got settled in the room after breakfast then went straight to the beach.
The water trampolines look like fun
Jeff and Rowan ready to jump. Then Rowan in mid flip.
Lazy day on the beach
Happy boy getting back to nature
Afternoon relaxing on our balcony
We took naps even though we probably shouldn’t have but I was sooooo tired I didn’t think I could make it to dinner! A half hour really helped.
Swordfish carpaccio was amazing!
Dinner was delicious out on the water with a beautiful breeze.
After dinner we went right to bed, we’ll explore the evening entertainment tomorrow.
February 11, 2020
After falling asleep at 8:22pm, I slept solid until 3:37am, over 7 hours but not enough! I wanted to watch sunrise but realized it was still night so I went back to bed and woke up at 4:53am, checked the time and finally at 5:45am I got up. Grabbed a coffee and went outside on the balcony. It was warm and humid, I miss that smell since we don’t have humidity in SoCal.
Sitting with my coffee enjoying the serene view.
The same picture but about 15-20 minutes in between each one.
I took a long walk along the beach from our room. It was so quiet and I felt like I was the only person there. This led to the adult only area of the resort that was quiet and beautiful.
The quiet infinity pool could be my place!
We love the Beach Bar & Grill, fresh seafood right on the beach and near the pool. So we had lunch here each day.
Kokoda is their version of ceviche, fresh fish, chiles, and coconut milk right out of the shell – makes such a difference in the taste!
February 12, 2020
Another day in paradise…I love the colors in the morning. I took a morning swim and enjoyed the peacefulness.
Feb 13, 2020
We were sad to leave the Shangri-La Fijian this morning but excited to see a different part of Fiji.
We woke up to our first rain while in Fiji. Guess it was a good send off!
The ride along the coast back to the port in Denarau takes about an hour.
Oh yum!!! Meat pies! Guess they have them due to the large amount of Aussie tourists? I was starving and sooo happy to grab a few before we got on the ferry to the Mamanuca Islands.
Continue to follow our journey in the Mamanuca’s at Castaway by clicking here:
http://travelwithlorifoster.com/2020/03/01/castaway-island-fiji/