We arrived in Nadi (pronounced with an unwritten “n” that makes it rhyme with candy or con-dy), Fiji, at about 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 10, after leaving Iowa at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 8 (recall that we time-traveled via the International Date Line). With very little sleep in the past 24 hours, we now had a full day ahead of us in this exotic new land. It just so happens that today is the nation’s birthday!

Bula! Welcome to Fiji

Customs processed our paper entry form, stamped our passports, and sent us to be reunited with our checked bag. After everything was x-rayed to enter Fiji, we found a large ensemble of singers and musicians decked out in colorful garb in the lobby serenading passengers coming and going. Dad’s plane arrived just before ours, and he was seated nearby enjoying the show. We found him and a taxi right outside for a ride to the Hilton Fiji Beach Resort and Spa.

Hilton Fiji Beach Resort

The resort staff were very welcoming with everyone greeting us with big smiles and a cheerful “Bula” (hello in Fijian). We enjoyed a complimentary fruit beverage upon arrival, and a pleasant surprise, they had our rooms ready! I responded to an email from the hotel earlier in the month asking about our flight time and estimated arrival. That must help them avoid storing luggage and leaving tired guests without a room until the afternoon check-in time. Wonderful!!!

We road the Bula Express to our rooms which are set up in condo-style buildings along a long, narrow road parallel to the Resort Road that we came in on by taxi. The hotel complex is over .5 km in length along the beach, so this complimentary Bula bus is needed for moving guests and luggage around.

Staying at the resort with Tony and me are my dad along with Sandy and David. Sandy and David became good friends with my parents when they all lived near Denver. Our other cruise companions, Mary and David, are spending their pre-cruise days at a different resort and we’ll join up with them on the ship in a couple of days.

There are many, many employees in this hotel complex, and every one of them greets guests and each other with a smile and a “Bula!” I wonder just how many Fijians are employed in the tourism industry. As we walked around the resort, we thought it odd that the pools were empty and just a few guests were wandering around until we remembered how early in the day it was. It sure didn’t feel like morning at all to us time travelers. Hopefully a quick nap or two and a full night’s sleep tonight will get us back on track.

Snorkel Gear Testing

We purposely didn’t plan any outings on this, our Fiji arrival day. One thing that Tony and I did want to do was test out our new snorkle gear that we purchased back in Iowa. We plan to take a couple of snorkeling excursions while on the cruise and we want to get used to them before we’re in the ocean. So we suited up and headed for one of the many beautiful resort pools to try them out. They worked great, and we can’t wait to use them in the open sea.

Flowers everywhere!

The housekeepers collect flowers from the plants along the hotel walkway to decorate our rooms. We had several blooms decorating flat surfaces in our rooms; plural because we had a separate living room and a large balcony. I will begin the plant picture posting now – can’t resist.

Fiji Day

As I mentioned, it is National Fiji Day in honor of their Independence Day from Great Britain in 1970. The hotel is having festivities to celebrate. We were still at the main set of swimming pools when the Fiji Flag raising ceremony was performed with the national anthem. Kids were then invited to come out of the pool and cut the Fiji Day cake. There was a long table set up to display local fruits and veggies, some familiar to us and some not. They love hot peppers here. I sampled coconut bread, Fiji donuts that have rum in the batter, a dollop of very sweet flan type dessert, and a piece of the very rich, very dense Fiji Day cake. What a yummy second-breakfast or was it elevensies?!

Today was the day for food. We ate on the plane, had smoothies at the Deli, had our “elevensies” snacks by the pool, a late lunch at the Nuku restaurant, which is right by the main pools, and supper at the Koro restaurant where Dad, David, and Sandy joined us. Definitely had enough calories to sustain us!