Fiji & New Zealand | FindPenguins

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Fiji & New Zealand Traveler
Tanoa International Hotel at Nadi, Fiji
January 13 in Fiji ⋅ 🌧 75 °F
I landed around 4 pm and felt so happy to be here in Fiji. The energy is warm and welcoming. The native people at the airport were greeting the passengers with a big smile and “bula bula,” and there were musicians playing traditional Fiji music near customs. Customs itself was a breeze.

I found out I’m on the 10:45 am flight to Savusavu tomorrow. I exchanged currency, took the shuttle to the hotel, and realized a good chunk of the conference crew is already here. We’re guessing there are about 25–30 people at the hotel tonight, and I’ve met most of them already.

The conference is small overall, only 110 attendees, and it officially kicked off tonight with a welcome dinner… which we missed. 🤷‍♀️

Still, about eight of us ended up having a really nice dinner together at the pool bar. I ordered the fish tandoori, and it was excellent. 🐟✨
The weather keeps shifting between cloudy and drizzly, then suddenly sunny again. It’s definitely warm, and somehow even more humid than Florida. This is their summer, and it’s monsoon season. ☁️🌦️🌞

A few Fiji facts I’m filing away: there are 14 provinces and 14 different dialects. Nadi is on Viti Levu, the largest island in Fiji. Savusavu, where I’m headed tomorrow, is a town on Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second-largest island.

It’s lovely here, and I’m ready for bed. Back home it’s after 5 am, and I’ve got an early morning to get to the airport. Goodnight from the other side of the world.Read more
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Fiji & New Zealand Traveler
Fiji Here I Come
January 12 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 46 °F
The silver lining is I had an awesome night's sleep.

Up at 5 am and now back at the airport.

Last night I met Sherry from Oklahoma a well as Dennis and Donna. We all piled in the uber this morning, and beat the shuttle busses of people pouring in. This is a big plane!

I got some coffee, which is a no no prepping for this cleanse. But I wanted coffee. Blueberries to balance it out.

I think there are at least 15 people on our flight who are going to conference from what I've counted. The small plane for the next flight only seats 19 people so hopefully we all fit. We will be a day late arriving on the 14th likely (don't have final flight info yet). This is a day late as the registration is on the 13th. Mind you, Figi is 17 hours ahead of eastern time. I emailed to let them know I won't make it for my first scheduled massage.

Sherry is an accountant (CPA) who has her own business consulting on how to avoid paying taxes by investing in real estate. She is starting a subscribed YouTube channel that is to be released this week. I'm enjoying getting to know her. We seem to be travel buddies now. It's nice to have another head in the game trying to figure everything out. Sherry is resourceful and good with maps.

12 hour flight ahead of me. I'm going to escape in a John Grisham. Fiji, here I come!

I've got the whole row to myself!!Read more
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Fiji & New Zealand Traveler
Sonesta Resort
January 11 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 52 °F
Yes, the flight tonight was canceled and they are putting us on the flight tomorrow morning at 9:30. We received vouchers for a night's stay at Sonesta Resort and a $70 dinner voucher.

In the midst of the mayhem at the airport when I found out through the TelegramX thread that the flight was canceled (there were no notifications from Fiji Airways), I met Sherry from Oklahoma. Sherry seems to be in her late 50s and is an accountant. We stuck together for the last few hours. We found ticketing, got our vouchers and instructions to be at the airport at 6:30 am tomorrow, and then waited for over an hour to get on a shuttle to go to the hotel.

I also met Dennis and Donna, a couple also from Oklahoma, and Natalia from Long Islsnd NY.

I'm freshening up and going to go down to spend my voucher at the restaurant.

We have an Uber reserved for tomorrow morning.Read more
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Fiji & New Zealand Traveler
Terminal B... Flight Cancelled
January 11 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 59 °F
Realized I wasn't at the right terminal which i was questioning after walking around and not seeing any international flights. Found out I had to go to gate 64c and then get on a shuttle to terminal 4, then walk a mile, through a tunnel to Terminal B.

Terminal B is gorgeous. Feels like a swanky mall. I still have 5 hours to kill and haven't even been assigned a gate yet, so went in search of some hot tea or cup of hot water to make my own tea... but ended up with eggdrop soup and 4 fortune cookies.

As I'm writing this, i heard from the group that our flight was delayed until tomorrow morning. 😬Read more
Traveler😭
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Fiji & New Zealand Traveler
LAX
January 11 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F
I have a 10 hour layover in LA. The flight is delayed two hours which means I will probably miss the last flight, unless they are holding it for an extra hour for all of us. I've put a call into Fiji Airlines and I'm waiting for a call back.

I know when I arrive to Nadi, I have to go through customs, find the ATM or money exchange and then go to the domestic flight area.

Here in LA, Ive been randomly walking around, stretching, had some lunch of a vegan pita with hummus, quinoa, cucumber, tomato and feta. It tasted a lot better than it looked. Not a fan of this airport; food selection is not so great which is surprising for California.

Not sure what gate I'm leaving out of so I'm just wandering around. I don't see any Fiji Airlines stations.

Heard from another attendee of the conference that the ATM wouldn't accept her card in Nadi, so she used all her dollars to turn into Fiji money. So I went to the ATM here and got more money. A lot of places in Savusavu don't use credit cards. They told us we should have between $500-$1000 Fiji money. I have $440.

On the last flight I popped on the Firefly ejected l electric stimulation pads on my legs. They send electric pulses to the muscles making my legs jump. I think they really made a difference.

Hopefully soon I'll hear back from the airline, meet others on the flight going to the conference and get this show on the road. Are we having fun yet?

I need a book to read.Read more
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Fiji & New Zealand Traveler
TIA
January 11 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F
I checked my bag, and made it to the gate. I feel discombobulated. I have no pockets on me, so threes no handy place to put my phone, passport, global entry card.

My backpack is heavy, and my scarf, water bottle, and other items attached by d-clips are flying around all over the place.

Who knows if I've packed appropriately. I feel like I've already failed. I'm sure I packed too much, but i did leave some space.

My connecting flight out of LAX is delayed 2 hours already, leaving after midnight PST so I will have a 10 hour layover in LA. I plan to walk around and get some real food. Also there will be several people who are going to the conference on the same flight, so I will start to make some new friends.

After my last international flight to Portugal, I think I have some PTSD. It was a serious of canceled flights, rescheduling flights at layovers, having to get my checked baggage and recheck it 2 times, hours at customs, missing a flight, rebooking... and barely arriving in time.

So far everything is going great, besides my nerves. 🤩Read more
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Fiji & New Zealand Traveler
On my way
January 11 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 73 °F
Waiting for the Uber. Thinking about how long I'm gonna be in these clothes. I slept in them last night too. 🤭

Super excited!
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Trip start
January 11, 2026