Bula Bula! Hello from Viti Levu, Fiji. Bula is the Fijian hello. Literally, it means "Life". To me, "Bula!" is a word full of onomatopoetic value, for when you hear it and say it, exuberance is alive in the syllables. English is the official language in Fiji, which is helpful to travelers like us! However, Fijians here speak Fijian, and Indo-Fijians (Fijians from India or of Indian descent) speak Hindi. These are the two main cultural groups in the Fiji islands...

Kalalau Valley Concluded! Let's see, where was I? Ah, yes... Day 4: Kalalau!!! Waking up in the Kalalau Valley is a bit like falling into a superior dream world. Open the eyes, grumble grumble, unzip the tent door, and WHOA! Perhaps I've died in my sleep and gone to heaven? The colors of the place hurt my sleepy eyes, but I didn't mind. We all woke up semi-late on our first full day in the valley, and quickly split off in our own directions, to explore! ...

Aloha! Kristen here. We are still in Honolulu and it has been a beautiful saturday. We're staying in the Polynesian Hostel in Waikiki, and it's the best place we've found on Oahu, mostly because of the people here. So many fun travellers from all around, full of helpful advice and great stories. Two days ago Mikey and I lodged our Australian Work and Holiday visa applications. Hopefully we will get the go-ahead on those in the next few days, and then we wil...

Aloha, my fine feathered friends! Well it's a new month and a new island for us. We're trying to wrap up our Hawaii travels, as we've already been here much longer than we planned to be. Consider our slow pace a testimony to Hawaii's wonderful-ness. Right now I'm sitting in the kitchen of the Hostel International Waikiki (a fantastic hostel, I'm quite impressed). Waikiki is quite a change from quiet Kauai! It seems a bit like Disney Land to me, colorful, VE...

Aloha Friends, Here I am with access to a computer again, yipee! It's sad how much I miss my laptop. I like to think of myself as "not-so-plugged-in", but now that I'm not plugged in at ALL I must admit I really miss it. I'd like to share some things I've been learning... Camping in Hawaii, while EPIC! is not as easy as one might think. We've discovered that in many cases, the county and especially state parks make things harder for campers than I...