Arriving at Koro Sun

As I said before... we made it to Fiji!... and, well, we made it home, too. It's been a little over 12 weeks since John and I looked at each other as we flew over Madison on our return flight. "Can you believe we're almost home?" John asked me.  The truth is, Fiji felt like a dream from the moment we checked into our "day hotel" for our 10 hour layover in Nadi, Fiji, where we stayed in our tiny hotel room watching The British Office and CNN coverage of the just happened Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Adjusting to being home was much more difficult than I imagined, and it took at least that long to mentally sort out the trip. Upon our return, I felt completely unmotivated and uninspired. For the sake of telling everyone else about our experience, I suppose I should back up and not start with our conclusion.

So, thanks for being patient with us as we unwind, digest, sort through photos, get back into the swing of things...

Here's our story, little by little. 

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We arrived at our destination!: Koro Sun Resort, Savusavu, Fiji


After a two hour cab ride from La Basa to Koro Sun Resort in Savusavu, we were ready to get to our villa and relax. We arrived to a group of the staff at Koro Sun singing a welcome song. Before we could even get out of the car, people were taking our bags. "Oh you must be Nicole and this must be Lauren!" I heard someone say as they handed me a coconut to drink and placed a frangipani necklace around my neck.

We turned the corner to find more of the staff sitting on the bare floor in front of chairs, waiting to rinse our feet in cold water and then massage sugar and coconut oil up our calves and feet. It felt amazing, special, and unexpected. This is exactly how every guest arrives at this resort.

One of the staff guys, Romanu, went with us up to our villa to show us around. The villa was on a hill above the resort, providing the seclusion and privacy of a home with the connection and amenities of a resort. It was the best of both worlds.

The view from every room in the villa was gorgeous. We were giddy with excitement to get to stay there for 20 days. The first few days we experienced a few hiccups that maybe I'll talk about later, but the staff at the resort was always ready to help and very accommodating.

LE was ready for Fiji!

Made it to Fiji

We finally made it onto the plane after what seemed like an incredibly long evening. John walked around with LE in her infant carrier to get her to fall asleep without fussing. Thankfully, it worked, and we were given permission to carry the carrier on the plane and keep it in the vacant seat next us.

After getting settled in the half-full plane, three flight attendants came to check on the carrier, verifying that it’s safe for the plane. The last lady to check on it mistakenly told us that we had to take LE out, which woke her up and made her cry.  We finally got her to go back to sleep before we took off, and they brought a bassinet that attached to the bulkhead for her to sleep in during the flight. I must say, she slept well-- certainly better than I slept. John and I were both surprised at how quickly the flight went by. 

When we arrived to Nadi, Fiji, at around 5:30 a.m., we were greeted first by about 6 Fijians right at the plane’s door and then by three Fijians playing guitars and singing loudly as we walked the short jaunt to customs, which, by the way, had no lines and friendly staff.  John and I were both very surprised by the number of people who were awake, at work, and happy before daybreak. 

John and LE at our day hotel, the Mercure, in Nadi.

Since our flights were changed to a more inconvenient route with a long layover in Nadi, our travel agent got us a room for free at a nearby hotel, the Mercure.  We took the hotel’s shuttle, checked in without issues, and made it to our room to rest. John apparently wasn’t tired, but LE slept and I half-slept. We got up, went to the main courtyard for the complimentary breakfast buffet, and then headed back to the airport to catch our noon flight. The people there were very friendly, wanting to hold LE and talk with us.

Here's LE below at the Nadi airport just before we got on the plane. 

For whatever reason, they had us all board, sit down, and unbuckle our seatbelts and sit in the unairconditioned plane while they filled the gas tank. LE was a sweaty mess.

Views in flight

We landed in Labasa, Fiji, ready to take the 2 hour bus ride to our resort in SavuSavu. The airport in Labasa was just a small building with one office and about 30 chairs. There was no security or air-conditioning. Our luggage was simply brought in on a rolled cart, and everyone just grabbed what was his. I walked around with LE while John waited for our luggage, and two ladies asked to hold LE, kiss her face, and take a picture with her on their cell phone. Having a baby makes you an instant celebrity.

Here's the landing strip.

Here I am with LE, standing in the parking lot of the airport. You can kind of see the landing strip in the background.

After we got our luggage, we found our way through the crowd to the man with a clipboard who apparently was in charge of getting the surprisingly large group to our resort, Koro Sun, outside of the town SavuSavu. Almost everyone rode in a van to the resort, but since we had little LE, we were sent in a cab with just one other passenger. That’s when we learned that the reason there was a group going to our same small resort is because there is a Tony Robins conference later in the week at Tony’s resort down the street from Koro Sun. They all arrived a couple of days early to adjust before transferring to the Tony’s resort for the conference.

Our cab driver pointed out a number of highlights along the way and answered a lot of questions that we had about the island and SavuSavu.  There were cows, horses, and pigs tied up along the roadside here and there, and a lot of rainforest and natural flora. It was a pretty drive, but we were thankful to finally arrive at Koro Sun!

P.S. Wholly cow I was pasty when I got there!! I look sickly in that photo. Yikes!

Fiji here we come!

We’re on our way! We got to Los Angeles without issues yesterday. LE didn’t make a peep on either flight, and she made friends with everyone she could get to look at her. She’s certainly personable.

We had all day today to do whatever we wanted in the city, and, to be honest, we had a hard time filling the time. Here’s what we did.

See it? 

Now do you see it? 

Yep, we drove up to see the Hollywood sign. It was a really pretty drive. LE loved every minute of it.

Ok, maybe she didn’t realize that she was enjoying it.

We drove back down through Beverly Hills. Took the stroll down Rodeo Drive, Sunset Boulevard, and the neighborhood that Jennifer Aniston lives in. We saw lots and lots of super fancy cars. And we ate at Roni’s Diner, an uncrowded, unpretentious, inexpensive restaurant with outdoor seating. It was the perfect spot for our lunch.

Did I mention yet that it was a beautiful day? Blue skies. Some clouds. Lots of sun.

After lunch, we headed down to Hwy 1 to drive up the coast. We stopped at a park to let LE “walk” around, and then we headed up to Malibu for a quick peak at Pepperdine. The views are so pretty there. 

Then we drove back and waited and waited and waited. Time was moving s.l.o.w.l.y. Hopefully that isn’t an indication of what it will be like on the flight!