Fiji - Here we come!!!!!

The bags!
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Friday seems an age away now, let me think to recap our journey to Fiji...

We made our way slowly to the airport, stopping off in the shopping mall to grab a bite to eat and let Matthew run off some energy in the park there.  We also do some last minute shopping for nappies, not quite what I had in mind as a memento from New Zealand but never mind.

sink into beautiful beds

We say goodbye to the motorhome, cant say any tears were shed on that one, though Matthew did kiss it before we departed.  Saying that he had tried to kiss a kid in the park earlier on in the day so it doesnt take him much!  Steve accidentally decided to keep the keys to the van, not sure why, but they soon came looking for us at the airport when they realised.

On the plane. Not ideal but seemed to work.
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Checking in our luggage was fun.  We had 10 items.  The guy on the counter was miserable before we turned up (I nearly said to him "having a bad day" on arrival, but thought better of it.  Unless I am much mistaken (and I shall check) on their website it said 20kg each to Nadi. No mention of number of pieces.  But it turns out they use the same allowance as to USA, which is 23kg each and 2 pieces each only.  Now this was actually good for us as weight allowance went up, but having 10 pieces caused the guy to have a bit of a fit.  What annoyed me was that they included the car seats and pushchair in these 10 pieces, which other airlines dont do.  We wasnt helped by having to transport the fishing rod and sun tent either!!

Comfort for Lloyd
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So after I pointed out that it was a fairly stupid academic exercise I pushed 2 of the pieces into other bags (nappies everywhere, was a sight).  The guy by this time was extremely miserable, and I wasnt much happier.  He then informed us that the bassinet seats were taken, despite me having rung Air New Zealand (yes Air New Zealand) to book twice previously.  Apparantly it now works on a first come first served basis (which again I shall check with them on their website).  If we had known that we wouldnt have sat around in a shopping mall car park for half the day so that we werent sitting in the airport for ages!

Bye Bone Shaker
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Anyhow, Im not so bothered as at least we didnt get collared on the weight, which was my big fear.  He did add up the weight of every single item which I thought was very pedantic  as there was no way we were over 8*23kg.  He also informed me that I was lucky as we had 2 full allowances for the children, at which I informed him no we wasnt as we had bought 2 child seats and therefore paid for the allowances!!! Sodding idiot.  Never fly Air New Zealand, absolutely crap experience.  Before I finish my moan on this they also insisted we check in the pram and gave us some piece of rubbish which had a broken buckle, meaning Matthew could escape from it at any given moment.  This he did at some inopportune moments, like when we were trying to go through security!

Matthew takes a nap
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Enough, its off my chest and I feel better now.  I shall be writing to Air New Zealand about our experience with them on my return home. And I shall never fly with them again after this trip.

Our flight was perfect though.  The cabin crew were very good, and both Lloyd and Matthew behaved impeccibly.  It was unfortunate that Steve had to hold LLoyd the whole journey though, and I was left to fend with Matthew.  On arrival 2 young chaps behind commented to each other and us that our kids were excellent travellers - I think they were shocked.  Lloyd only cried at take-off as he was trying to get to sleep and it was all a bit noisy.  And Matthew didnt cry once and went to sleep when a woman suggested to him it would be a good idea to lay down!  Perfect!  Which was a good job really as both me and Steve had stinking headaches!

We reach Nadi around 10pm.  It takes a long while just to get the bags, then go through x-ray and get out of security.  We then spend the best part of 90 minutes in left luggage, which seems to be this room where someone is asleep all the time.  We didnt have enough money, the ATM was broke, and we were all tired.  It was quite stressful trying to sort it all out, but eventually we managed to get rid off most of the bags (leaving us with 1 clothes, 1 nappy, and 1 electrical equipment bag).   We go in search of a taxi as by this time the airport is empty and closed for the night!

The taxi ride was interesting.  Im in the back with Matthew and LLoyd and Steve in the front.  Matthew has on a seatbeat which will probably snap his neck if there is an accident, and I have Lloyd in the baby carrier on my front, with the seatbelt wrapped round LLoyds bum and my neck.  I think we all would have died in an accident, its fair to say.  Steve is in the front positively scared out of his wits by this mad taxi driver who seemed like he was being towed by the car in front he was that close, and also seemed to be almost asleep.  I was trying to talk to the taxi driver to keep him awake, whilst Steve was holding on for dear life.  It then crossed my mind more than once that we could be being kidnapped as part of the coup that was going on, and was this really a taxi driver.  The journey took much longer than I had thought, and I even wondered if we were going in the right direction!  At that time I thought to myself that I must be the most stupid parent on the earth bringing my kids out here to Fiji, and very irresponsible.

Eventually we go through some gates and enter what I can only describe as Paradise.  Even in the pitch black it was immaculate and truly beautiful.  The whole area is gated, with hotels hidden away behind beautiful Fijian vegetation.  It was in stark contrast to the earlier part of our taxi ride through Nadi, which reminded me very much of Cairo in Egypt.

The Sofitel hotel we are staying in was only opened in December 2006, and is perfect.  Quite contempary in feel, but with a Fijian touch.  And after living in a motorhome for 2 months its just what the doctor ordered.  We sink into beautiful beds at around 12.30 am on Saturday morning and are all very happy.