Bula from Fiji!!!!

After almost 2 weeks I am now back in Nadi and about to leave Fiji and head off towards LA!!

For my 2 weeks in Fiji I bought a Bula pass which allows you to take aboat between the many different islands. I managed to see 8 different islands which actually turned out to be quite hectic as I was on and off the boat almost every day but at least I got to see what different parts of Fiji were like.

On my first day I took a 5 hour boat journey all the way to the north island. When I got off the boat I couldn't believe how basic the accomodation was and although the beach was spectacular I wasn't looking forward to 2 weeks sleeping on a wooden board in what resembled a shed and eating plates of rice every day. For the first 4 days of my trip I stuck to these smaller islands and stayed in very basic accomodation where you didn't know if you were going to get a shower and if u did then it was a trickle of freezing water. It felt as though I was cut off from the world. The electricity only worked for 4 hours a day, there was no phone or internet connection and to tell us what time it was the staff would either bang on drums or blow a conch to tell us it was dinner time.

Whilst spending my time on the northern islands I did a few trips and one morning walked to a village and visited a school which may have been remote but had surpringsly good facilities. It was interesting to see such a traditional village and the way of life for the Fijian people and how they brought their children up on a deserted island.

By the fourth day I woke up covered in bed bugs and could have cried after how horrible they were when I got them in Asia. When I told the staff they said I must have brought them from somewhere else and didn't seem to want to do anything about it but when I lifted the mattress up it was covered in bugs. By this point I wanted to give up on Fiji, I was hungry from eating only rice, I was tired from sleeping on terrible beds, and I was covered in not only bed bug bites but also mosquito bites which I had all down my face and neck. So once I got on the boat that day I begged and pleaded with the staff to put me in a resort that my friend was at and that was supposidly fully booked. When they said there was one space available I got off the boat as fast as I could.

For the following 6 days I spent my life in Paradise. I got to a resort which I admittedly had to pay a bit more for but it was beautiful. The accomodation was lovely and the food was incredible and I was also with my friends. After leaving there we headed to Beachcomber aka the party islands and had 2 of the best days I haev had travelling. The dorm may have had 126 beds and been full of noisy backpackers but it was so much fun and I had an amazing time. After that I went to the final luxury resort which topped them all. It actualyl didn't cost anymore than the others but had been fully booked for ages so it was again hassle to try and get there but once I did it was paradise. It was much more like being on holiday than experiencing the 'real Fiji' and the majority of the people there were not backpackers which made a nice change. The foos was increidble and we even had lobster one day!!!!

On the last day I headed to one final island which was nice enough but the weather took a turn for the worst and it started storming terribly. Getting on a boat in the middle of a storm is not fun and it was relentless and didn't ease up for the following 2 days. It is such a shame because the last island I was on was where the reality TV show 'Celebrity Love Island' was filmed and it was meant to look like paradise but I could see very little through the storm!

For the 2 weeks as a whole the weather was pretty nice and I enjoyed relaxing in the sun when I did get to certain islands. Although Fiji was an amazing experience I'm still not entirely sure what I think about it. Don't get me wrong every single island was beautiful to look at but it was very hit and miss as to what the facilities and the people would be like on each island. I had a lot of fun but I'm not sure that I would be hurrying back there and if I did I would definatly see what the resort was like first. Sometimes it doesn't really work out so well to go with the flow and I think I need to make more of a plan for my travels in future!

I'm off to LA next which I am unbelievably excited for!

Much love xxx