So Fiji was just a start of a whirlwind experience, not necessarily good but certainly not bad. So Ross dropped me off at the airport at 10 pm to catch my flight no Nadi, Fiji. My flight was due at 00 05. On the ticket it stated 24th of April, 00 05. Guess what happened next. You may already know by now but yeah i missed my flight as i turned up on the 24th not realising it was the following day. So my time i was meant to fly on the 25th but there time the 24th. Confusing eh!!!! So i was due to have a stop over in Brisbane for 2 hours but as i missed my flight i got re-directed to sydney. They never charged me anything which is great of them. All they did was re-issue me a new ticket, lovely alan. So i now have a 6 hour wait in sydney airport before my flight to Nadi. I'm going to skip a bit here as it's boring to write. So i arrived in fiji, got my bags and went to get my tour of the islands sorted out. (Fiji time) For those of you have been here you will know what i mean and how annoying does this get. So i booked a seven night stay on Mana island. Mana is meant to mean magical in fijian but it didn't bring me any of that. This is one of the island in the Manacian region. So seven nights including all food for 200 Fijian dollars i think. I can't really remember now as it's 2 months ago so i may have to make a bit of this up. I had to stay on main land for a night so i could get the boat over the following. So i checked in to some hotel/hostel for a night. Cheap with good reviews. What they forgot to mention was the amount of bugs living with us. So i got showered and went down to the bar to make friends. This failed miserably. Everyone was in large groups and didn't want to know a loner on his own at the bar. Tossers in my eyes. Usually if i see someone on there own i will make the effort to talk to them but some people are just rude, arragont and don't want to know. These are usually uni graduates who are travelling on daddy's money and who have been mothered all there life and are scared of stepping out of there comfort zone which consists of there own group of friends. Not all uni people are like that though.

So a lonely night but spirits are not dampened. Paradise island here i come. So i catch the 11 am boat over. It's about an hour trip. So whizzing through the water seeing all these amazing looking islands. Now you have all seen i'm a celebrity get me out of here, shipwrecked and even the film castaway with Tom Hanks. Wilson rocks!!! These are all filmed on various islands in Fiji. Nice eh. So i got to my island and was greeted by some giant of a fijian guy. He tossed my bag on his shoulder and took me to my hostel. Once i was sat in there they played a welcome song to me if front of everyone.. Embarrassing. You know how you feel when you want the ground to swallow you up, one of those moments for certain. "we give you fish and chips if you shake those hips and do the samba, we give you bacon and eggs if you shake those legs and do the rumba" Such a thing would of been nice. So after taking the big plunge of that i decided it's time to get a tan on the beach. The beach was gorgeous. I soon made mates here with Matt and John also Charlie and Annie and other various people here. I spent the rest of the day tanning it up with the oils. Actually i used sun cream for once but a dog ran off with it so i was back on the factor 2 oil. Skin cancer is a small price to pay for looking good, right!!! JOKING. After lunch at 1 and dinner at 6 i soon realised my diet was going to consist of root vegetables, spicy chicken with out the meat, just bones and rice lots, of rice. Not to mention the sweet bread for breakfast. That night we all sat around drinking and chatting at our place. They like you to stay drinking in your own hostel as it's more money for them but it can become very tedious.

So the next day and it was time for some more sun, oh and rice. Oils do an amazing job for getting tanned and it's the only way i can get a brown face. So by the end of the day i was the envy of my mates as it had worked real well. Also like i said in my last blog i was meeting up with the ex and of course i wanna look my best so she can see what she missed out on. Dump or get dumped, dumped. Ego thing i think. Oh well i'm over it, over it. Can't believe i got dumped. Anyway back to the story. Better off on your own son. That evening me, joe and matt went on a fishing time. Due to leave at 3 pm but with fiji time in know ones favour we leave at 4. Patrick was out main host at our hostel and was a great entertainer, always smiling and up for a beer. Ladies man too. So fishing. Well i can tell you a story about the one which got away but you won't believe me.. I'm just going to add it was huge and almost pulled me out of the boat though. So the star of the show was set to be Matt. He caught a whopper. I'm not going to mention to much about it as it was beginners luck and probably the one which got away from me. So once it was on board they soon had there hands down it gills and pulled some inside out of it to kill it. Blood everywhere. So we went back and celebrated our catch. Just because he caught it doesn't mean i'm not going to take any of the credit. Start as a team and leave as a team. So a gallient effort danny boy but no cigar. After rice upon rice with some sauce and sweet bread we all played a drinking game. "let the hola hola games begin, let the hola hola games begin, what the f*** what the f*** what about a butt f***" That's an example as we was all different f***s. Of course i granted myself great f***. After getting bored of that they cracked open the cava. Wishful thinking it was the cheap champagne as this stuff was horrible. It's there local drink and gets them drunk but no one else. It's really cherished out here but to me and most people it's disgusting and looks like your drinking mud. I got given chief for the night so i was having to down full cups to other peoples halves.

So today i woke with a sore head and headed out diving. This is weird as a guy who we met in Chaing mai was working here. Small world. I can go out in Brighton and not see anyone i know yet on the other side of the world you always see people you know. So a couple of dives for me today. Morning was at sharks point. Yeah we saw lots of sharks and they were huge. About 2 meters long some of them and only a few feet away from us. In the afternoon i did another dive. Me and Mark on our own. We got dropped off by the boat, plopped in. I like the word plopped as it makes the right noise as you say it. So plopped in and after about 40 minutes we surface. To our horror the boat had gone. Who's seen that film about the divers getting stranded in the sea and getting eaten by sharks. Well that was going through my head. In my eyes i don't think the boats should be able to leave you down there, what if something goes wrong??? Most dive companies don't but here they did. So after 10 minutes of bobbing around he comes back.

So still some rays to be caught i sun bathed the rest of the day and partied in the evening with my mates.

The following day and the expected day for the ex to turn up. I got up early to make the most of the sun. Gotta look my best. After lunch we was back sun bathing. Looking all tanned and greased up. Thinking of it looking like Brad Pitt or maybe arm pitt as i get told i spotted her walking down the beach with her mates. Play it cool Trigg, so i ducked back down on my bed to play it cool. She came over and was like Dan. "Oh hello i didn't see you there Lisa, how's it going?" ha ha ha little does she know, until now. So i spent the afternoon with all of them chatting and catching up with her. You know what it's like when you have an anxious feeling going on in your stomach. Well i had that for the first hour or so but it soon cleared. We took a stroll along the beach and chatted like mates do. So that night her and her mates came to my hostel to have some drinks and chill out.

Today after breakfast and some sun bathing me and Matt decided to go snorkelling. It was on sunset beach and knowing lisa and her mates were down there made me feel awlkered. I don't want to look like i'm following her do i. Play it cool Trigg. A brief hello and off we went away from them. I mean that with all due respect as there nice girls but know one wants to look a sad sack. A bit of snorkelling and after that we left.

That evening Lisa came down to find us and we just chattered and had a chilled out one at mine.

Not sure what i did today but you can guarantee i ate rice at some point. I think i went to the view point at the top of the mountain or hill with lisa. Definitely can't remember what i did in the evening.

Today we booked a tour to go out to castaway island. Obviously that's where the film is set. So with lisa and her mates down mine for breakfast and once again fijian time playing it's usual part we set off an hour later than planned. So we arrive on this gorgeous beach and our guide says lets go and see the cave which he hid in during the film in the storm. Tom Hanks not the fijian dude. So were walking on coral cutting my feet to pieces. Everyone bought flip flops except brains here. The cave is disappointing and that tree what he throws wilson up to get a coconut down is still there. Minus the coconut though. We tried to walk all the way round the island but unfortunately the tide was coming in so we failed. I must say this. There was some young lad with us called Simon. Lisa and her friends had befriended him. He was a walking disaster. The clumsiest person i have ever met in my life. He kept falling over. I reckon he must have fallen face first at least 3 times breaking his camera to, he got it wet. I felt sorry for him but i was trying not to laugh. He is now in usa or south america somewhere travelling on his own. I dread to think what else he has done. Probably fallen in to a volcano or more realistic tripped over crossing the road and got run over. Bless his little cotton socks, talking of cotton he is probably better wrapping his self in it.

So we all went for a quick snorkel and then headed home.

Now the story gets interesting. So we was out partying at lisa place and come about 3 am i realised my flight was at 9 am. I needed to get to main land pronto. So me and Lisa dash off to mine, i pack my stuff together and bribe my owner to take me over in the boat. 300 dollars that cost me. It's usually 30 one way. So i say my goodbyes to lisa all in a panic. Not the way i wanted to say see ya but it will have to do. I set off in this little boat in a middle of a storm. The boat was about the size of two baths together. It's pitch black and were getting soaked by the rain and sea which is jumping over the boat. We were getting chucked all over the place in the dark. I was absolutely s***ting my self. I thought my time was up. Seriously did. We got to the port looking like we had swam there and i got a cab to the airport. Time to check in. "where's my passport". No flight for me as i had lost my passport. All i wanted to do was get on to the plane and get home now. I got hold of lisa and got her to check it wasn't at my hostel. Just so i don't look stupid here i'm going to explain this properly. The things i deposited there. Well they took my passport out and put it in a different box. So i headed back to the island. I had to change my flight home by two days and it didn't cost a thing. At least i get to see lisa again and will get a chance of a proper goodbye. Goodbye's are important and i don't like rushing them. Whilst waiting for my boat back over there a dog weed on my bag. Can things get much worse.

So i stayed on the island for another night and then headed back to main land there following day for another night. It worked out good actually as we all had flights on the same day at the same time. Nicola and Debbie lisa mates were both on the same flight as me.

So a proper goodbye at the airport gates took place. The sort you picture in the movie's actually. A tear in her eye but i played it cool again. Play it cool trigg. To be honest it was really nice meeting up with her. At first i was going to be like no way but then i came round to the idea. She wanted me to meet her in New Zealand but i thought she was just using me so she wasn't on her own, so i said no. It ended up she did it with her boyfriend.

So it's the end of my travels, for this time anyway. I went home for my mates wedding and stag do. Glad i made it, as at first i wasn't sure if i would be able to afford it. The past eight months have been the best part of my life. I have made some amazing friends, seen places and things most people can only dream of. Done things i regret and other things i can only dream of but for the eight months i, didn't care. It was all about me with no one else to care for. Well yeah i care for my family and friends back home but it was my dream to travel so there for i only chose to care for myself.

I lived to tell the stories and wouldn't change anything for the world.

Oh, i'm travelling again now. I was only home for 6 weeks.

So expect more to come.

Chop chop, dig dig, pick pick.. Ha ha you have no idea's

Am i mad!!!!!