First time in Fiji- July 14th, 2019

I landed at Nadi International Airport about 11 hours ago. The flight took about 9 ½ hours from Hong Kong. It was my first time flying with Fiji Airways and I will, in fact, be flying with them seven more times, Fiji – Tonga, Tonga- Fiji, Fiji- Tuvalu, Tuvalu- Fiji, Fiji- Samoa, Samoa- Fiji and Fiji to Brisbane, so Fiji will be my new base for the next couple of weeks. It worked out a lot cheaper doing it this way, there are direct flights between Tonga and Samoa with other airlines, but it works out more expensive and it’s so much easier buying the entire Fiji Airways package.

 I was a bit disappointed with the flight! The food was good and the service was good, but the movie and TV selection were poor. They only included a handful of movies, mostly 90’s classics, some Bollywood movies and only two episodes of The Big Bang Theory, the other TV shows didn’t interest me whatsoever, but I’m lucky that I have enough content saved on my iPad and plenty of tunes. God, I miss Qatar Airways and all their glory so much!!!! 

Earlier, I was trying to figure out if I had broken a new record. I can’t remember if I had flown 9 ½ consecutive hours before without any stop. Beijing to Astana, a couple of years ago, was direct, but I’m strongly convinced that that flight had only taken about 7 hours, maybe 8 and also Bangkok to Zurich could have even been 8 ½ hours but I definitely need to double-check later on. 

Upon arrival at Nadi, we were all directed to the immigration line. We were greeted with some musicians playing some traditional songs. It was no problem, the customs official asked me a couple of really basic questions and then stamped me through. I’m going to be back in Fiji again, so many more times, so this time is only a quick 22-hour layover, just a chance to catch up on some much-needed rest and food. She wanted to see tomorrow’s confirmation for my Tonga flight, so that was ok, I had my entire itinerary printed out. I couldn’t fly direct from Hong Kong to Tonga so the stopover was necessary. I exchanged $100 USD at the currency exchange in the airport and got $12 USD less in Fiji Dollars because all the taxes and charges got included. That was a bit annoying and I should have gone to downtown Nadi to exchange money for a much better rate, but I was just too tired earlier and completely sleep deprived. I’m staying at a hotel, Nadi Ace Hotel, which works out at about 100 Fijian Dollars,50 USD for one night, about a 10-minute walk from the airport and it’s absolutely ideal. I’m fully thankful that they let me check in early this morning, 4 hours early in fact with no extra charge. It’s very unusual, I’ve only been gifted with an early check-in twice before, once in Qatar and another time in Nepal. They stated, on their website, that I would only be allowed to check-in at 2 PM. I went straight to sleep, after purchasing some snacks and water, and slept for a nice 6 hours and I felt great and refreshed. I then got up and walked back in the direction of the airport to buy some medicine. I’m trying to fight off a cold that I picked up in Hong Kong about 2 days ago during a heavy downpour while shopping in in Kowloon. I got some Codral and Strepsils and they cost about 40 Fiji Dollars, about $20 USD, so heavily overpriced, but there were no other options and not a lot to do on this side of the airport. I hope that I can wash away this bad cold because I want to be fresh when I land in Tonga early tomorrow morning.

There’s not a lot to do nearby. All the fun stuff seems to be taking place on the other side of the airport, which, according to my Maps.me App is about a 2-hour walk from my hotel. I spotted the beach while landing, but it’s about 6 kilometers away and I’m not really in the mood to go downtown, or to do anything too adventurous tonight. My flight to Tonga departs tomorrow morning at 7, so I’ll be calling in an early night reasonably soon. There is no Wi-Fi in my hotel room, though the reception area has Wi-Fi and also has a restaurant and a bar with a reasonably priced menu, average meal costing about 20 Fijian Dollars. There isn’t a big supermarket nearby, at least not within walking distance, so I’ve been relying on the mini shop, just across the road from my hotel.  There’s a petrol station around the corner and I bought some snacks and water earlier all for a more reasonable price. I got a nice chicken curry at a nearby restaurant earlier and it only cost 12 Fiji Dollars, about 6 USD. Most of the food here seems to be Indian and most of the locals also speak Hindi. There’s nothing else around, at least not within walking distance. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, it should only take about 2 hours to get to Tonga and I’m already looking forward to roaming around Tongatapsu and seeing the king’s palace. Luckily, I can just walk over to the airport tomorrow morning and don’t need to get a taxi, so I’m not planning on setting my alarm until about 4:30 am. I don’t really know what to expect in Tonga, I have a general idea, just by reading articles online and by watching videos on Youtube, it definitely doesn’t look like the most exciting place in the world, no tall skyscrapers or buildings, but still should be a nice relaxing couple of days and I hope to visit a traditional show or two.