rtw rookie

rtw rookie: planning fiji

RTWrookieBula! It’s RTW Rookie, ready to share the next leg of my round-the-world adventure. We’ve talked RTW dreaming, planning, flying, and starting in Hawaii thus far. Let’s not stray too far from the beach… Next up: planning Fiji!

We’re spending one week in Fiji (by the way, Bula means hello in Fijian). To be perfectly honest, I’m still not completely set with my Fiji plans. However, time is ticking! It’s fine, I’m not too concerned. And don’t worry, I’ll keep you folks abreast of any major deviations (and would seriously appreciate any feedback). In the meantime, let’s check out what we have in the works.

first landing

Photo credit: First Landing Resort

First of all, this is the part of the trip where we cross the international date line.  I’m severely time-zone challenged. My assumption is that our flux capacitor-propelled plane will reach 1.21 gigawatts and shoot us directly into the future.  If anyone has a better explanation, please utilize the comments section.

After Doc’s time travel magic, I land in Nadi. This is the largest of the 330+ islands that make up the country. While researching Fiji, I became seriously overwhelmed. Remember the 330+ islands? How do you narrow things down when you only have one week?

Once my travel partner talked me off the ledge (read: told me we’re not spending all five months on Fiji), we narrowed things down. In the end, we decided that our best bet is to split our time between the main island and the famous Yasawa Islands.

the itinerary
  • Day 1: Land in Nadi, which is on the main (and largest) island of Viti Levu, and travel to Danny’s Village Homestay on the Coral Coast for a night. Danny’s is located on the beach, and all meals are included in the price of a room. Best of all, it offers a bit of insight into a Fijian community. You can visit the town’s school or church, go hiking, and enjoy some local food. After watching some enthusiastic youtube videos about Danny’s, I thought this would be a fun place to get an introduction to the country and local culture.
  • Day 3: Planning for an early wake-up call before hopping a boat out to the Yasawa Islands and heading to Oarsman’s Bay Lodge on Nacula Island–smack in the middle of the Yasawa Islands. We’ll be staying in a double bure. The bure is walking distance to the beach, and on-site activities cover everything from snorkeling to massages to volleyball. I see no issue making myself at home here.
  • Day 4 – 6: Island hopping, of course. How do you get around the outlying islands in Fiji, you ask?  Well I had the same question, and the most common answer I found was the Bula Pass. The Bula Pass by Awesome Adventures can pretty much take you anywhere you want to go. Plus, you get unlimited rides for the length of your pass (5 to 21 days). We’ll probably get a 5-day pass (~$225 per person). This will include our trip from Denaru (near Nadi) to the Yasawa archipelago.
  • Day 7: After checking out of Oarsman’s, we’ll head back to Nadi. Here, we’ll spend one more night at First Landing before we shove off for New Zealand.
so…any thoughts?
I do want to talk budgets on Fiji, but this may be something we need to review after? We aren’t planning nearly as much in advance as we did for Hawaii. And as always: looking for feedback. Are we doing it all wrong? Are the other 328 islands better? Help a rookie out.

Deuces!

RTW Rookie
@RTW_Rookie

The Lazy Travelers are two transatlantic best friends who have mastered the art of exploring a new city. Though Ashley is based in London and Carolyn is in Philadelphia, we'll use any excuse to reunite around the world. We’re professional bar hoppers, pub crawlers, and food testers, and you’ll never see us zipping around, checking things off a list of “must-sees.”

11 Comments

  • RTW_Rookie

    Vinaka, Lazy Travelers! As you can tell, my Fijian is RAPIDLY improving (vinaka = thank you, if you didn’t guess).

    As experts in relaxing and imbibing, do you ladies know the beverage of choice in Fiji? Missed that during my research.

  • The World Wanderer

    Okay, RTW Rookie, can I tell you how impressed I am with your Fijian!? Bula is seriously their favorite word, and you will eventually wish that every country used that greeting…seriously. I can teach you how to say Hi my name is RTW Rookie if you’d like, but the pronunciation is a bit different from the spelling so maybe I’ll have to message you it.

    Anyway, Fiji is one of my favorite places! A couple tips. If you land and it’s almost night time, you will notice fires EVERYWHERE. I freaked a bit, but it’s just burning sugar cane, so nbd. Next, if you have time, try to go on the Sigatoka River Safari. Sigatoka is on of the main towns on the Coral Coast, and they take you upstream and into the middle of Fiji to a village. Such a great experience. Plus, they take you by jet boat, and on the way back you do 360 turns. Adventure and culture in one tour!
    The World Wanderer recently posted..Music Monday: Hero.My Profile

  • Wondering&Wandering

    Hey, looks like a great plan! My boyfriend and I are heading to Fiji in a couple of weeks and are thinking of following a very similar itinerary. Wondering what you guys budgeted or ended up spending while you were there. Thanks!
    – Alex

    • Lazy Travelers

      ahh you will have an amazing time!

      we budgeted about $200/day in total for our RTW and stayed pretty close while in fiji. island hopping ended up costing more, just because you have to get a pass on the yasawa flyer. i would definitely say that it’s worth it, though!! feel free to email me with any specific questions 🙂

      thelazytravelers [at] gmail [dot] com
      Lazy Travelers recently posted..new york staycation at the kimberly hotelMy Profile

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.