FIJI BLOG 2

 My first few days in Fiji were kind of a whirlwind, people talk about wow, 6 months off to do whatever you want amazing.  Well let me tell you once you have started a long vacation, it is kind of daunting you wake up in Fiji in November knowing you won’t being going home till May.

You soon understand that you are also in charge of meeting people, organizing things, but all at a much slower pace.  I stared by exploring Seashell Cove Resort and soon found, it was not much a resort as Canadians would classify as a resort.  It was clean, quiet and had wonderful staff.

Also an amazing view both at high tide

And low tide

Being from a land lock province, tides were fascinating to me.

I met some more fellow travellers and this was to be a common thing, before cell phones, cheap phone rates and easy world wide communications, new arrivals were a big deal.  It was fun to meet discuss where they cam from, where they were going, long trip, short trip, beginning of trip, end of trip, etc.

Also as my trip progressed was fun to hear about news from home, politics, and hockey were also discussed among most Canadians.  Occasionally I got mail from home, but more about that later.

Here are Ricky from Switzerland and Veronica from Boston, one of the first Americans I met on the trip and one of the most atypical Americans I met.

One thing I learned if you wanted to do something other than lay around by the pool or go for a swim in the beach, was up to you to organize your activities until I became part of a fun group which I soon did. 

So one day we went to a little island excursion to do some snorkeling and this was a very cool trip for a number of reasons, first time snorkeling in warm waters, so many fish to see.  Alas I was on a super tight budget of $35/day so no underwater pictures.  There are pictures of our beach and awesomely detailed map of where we went

During on excursion we went with a local named Raymond to a sugar cane field, then a lovely beach for lunch and swimming.  On the way to the beach, we went across a bridge in a mini-van but before venturing across the bridge Raymond asked 3 of us to get out and walk across the bridge, later he told us it was to test the bridge.  You judge yourself to the truth of the story from the picture of the bridge.

A couple of random photos, first a sugar cane crop

This where our local guide Raymond lived with his wife and kids

And here is his lovely family

BERLIN WALL PHOTO OP

BERLIN WALL PHOTO OP 

The year is 1989 and the world was a much different place than today.  Your writer of this blog was in a serious relationship that many thought and hoped would lead to marriage, kids, suburbia you know the drill and who knows it may have.  At that time, 2 work buddies and myself were thinking about a trip to Europe for 3 weeks.

The deal was each of us would select a place to go and we were going for Oktoberfest so Munich could not be on thew list.  I selected Salzburg Austria, one work cohort selected Amsterdam and the third selected Berlin.  Now I will admit I was not crazy about going to Berlin at that time, as Berlin lied in the heart of East Germany and having a Canadian passport that listed I was born in West Germany, did not know what kinds of concerns this would raise.  I was game to go though so plans were made.

I am not going to go into details of the trip, just the circumstances that lead to this photo.  We boarded a train in Amsterdam bound for Berlin, a night train so we could sleep on the train and save money on a hostel room.  Our first indication that going to Berlin was going to be a bit different than most countries we had visited was when the train stopped entering East Germany and instead of a conductor asking to see our tickets, we were greeted with 3 I am guessing were police officers or soldiers, as two of them had very scary looking machine gun type weapons. 

Now imagine this, 3 Canadian guys, mostly drunk, passed out, and in some foreign language we hear some asking for something, we think they are asking for our tickets, so we are showing them our tickets half asleep, hoping to pass out again, then being prodded with the barrel of a gun.  Let me tell you that wakes you up in a hurry and leaves a memory for life.  Staring into the barrel of an automatic weapon, has the amazing ability to sober one up in a hurry.  They wanted to see our passports, not our tickets and after examining for what seemed forever the train moved on.

Now Berlin, was an amazing place at that time as this was the beginning of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.  German people were getting out through Czechoslovakia and Hungary as they were easing restrictions on traveling to the west.  Unlike other European countries at that time, no signs were in English, the four languages most signs were in, German, Russian, and not sure of the other 2, maybe Polish.

A couple of things we found out after being in Berlin for a couple of days and partying with the locals, one they felt if there was a war, they would be the first place invaded so party like there may not be a tomorrow, second thing was there were still people trying and dying getting from East Berlin to West Berlin.  We were there in early October 1989 and someone had died in September of 1989 trying to get their freedom, shocked me as I had heard nothing on any news outlet back in Canada.

We went to the museum at Checkpoint Charlie, that was a combination museum/art gallery was an amazing place.  It detailed the many ways people had gotten from East Berlin to West Berlin and let me tell you was a testament to mans desire for freedom.  The art was very powerful and made one think.  I often wonder what became of this museum/art gallery after The Wall fell.

Now we found out from the locals was you could not get near the Berlin Wall anymore, there were barricades and such and armed police officers stationed there.  The reason being there had been quite a bit of vandalism and destruction of The Wall.  On the East Berlin side you could not get anywhere near The Wall or they would shoot you.

We quizzed the locals extensively about security, and consequences if you were caught trying to get near the wall.  After many beers, some of them told us kind of a way to do, that was less risky.

Now the picture attached to this blog, you will see I am standing right by the wall so how did I pull this off, well an interesting story and shows how crazy, stupid Canadians can be.  Well relatively simple really.

We found the place where the locals had said the security was the least amount and only some minor metal security fences.  So while two of us casually walked along the barricade the “designated photo op” person wandered in a different area and at a time of his choosing he hoped the barricade ran for The Wall, stopped for a brief time until security started approaching and then ran for safety of streets far away. 

Now while he stood at The Wall the other two of us took as many pictures as we could till our buddy started running. 

Yes, we spent 3 separate days going to The Wall to get a picture of each of as at The Wall.  Now imagine standing at The Wall trying to remain calm, while watching security people, and guessing when the right time was to start running.

To this day I am not sure how serious they were about chasing us, and what would have happened if we had been caught.  By the way, when I mean security people, basically soldiers, they were in full camouflage outfits with military style weapons.

It was worth it for this picture, which was taken by a good friend, who then blew it up to a large photo and framed it and gave it to my parents for Christmas 1989.

I still remember coming back from a work shift in Fort McMurray in November, little over a month after getting home and turning the TV on.  What did I see people standing on The Wall with sledgehammers smashing The Wall, people dancing on The Wall.  I remember standing there for like 30 minutes not moving, not believing what I was seeing.

I am so glad I was able to see The Berlin Wall before it came down.

Also am glad I was able to spend a day in communist East Berlin, which was an experience to say the least, another blog entry some day.

Steve's Trip Blogs Pre-lude

 

Welcome readers to the first of what may be a long number of blog posts.  I am attempting to document my two large trips I took, each being roughly six months in length and a number of shorter trips as well.  These blog entries will be my best recollections of the adventures and misadventures I had in on my trips.

This will be a short blog and a few pictures to show how I have changed over the years.

These blogs will cover,

Trip 1 November 1992 – May 1993

Amsterdam – Aug 1993

Woodstock 1999

Trip 2 October 2000 - April 2001

There may be some other trips as well and I will update this blog entry as I document the trips.

Well come on now, let us start our journey.

Trip November 1992 - May 1993 Pre-Trip Details

Let’s jump in the way back machine and mossy all the way back to 1992.  It was a different world, little or no internet, I think it existed but not for average people, no cell phones, and staying in touch over long distances took effort.  A phone call across Canada, let alone the world was quite expensive, remember the days the first 3 minutes was cheap and then it went up drastically.

There we find a much different Steve, one who is busy with his career, a good little corporate employee.  He is doing his best to fit in with what he thinks society wants from him.  He had a good number of suits in his closet and there might have been more suits than regular clothes. 

Deep inside though there is a yearning to see what is out there in the world, most of all at this time is a desire to see New Zealand, where it came from I do not know.  At this time I did own a book on New Zealand, which I still own, but other than that I have no idea where this desire to see kiwi land came from.  Remember this was decades before Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson was just starting his film career.

So after ending my first long term relationship, which some of my friends thought would lead to marriage and kids and house in the burbs it was a time for a change.  I decided a major change in my life was required and I needed to pursue it at all costs.  I requested and was granted a leave of absence from the corporation I worked for and had already decided if I did not receive it I would leave my job.  I was lucky enough to get a leave of absence and with my holidays, I had almost 7 months off.  This was February 1992 and I was not leaving till November 1992.

So then I set about planning my trip, 6+ months, where else would be fun to see as well as New Zealand.  I had plenty of people who were telling me I was crazy to focus on NZ and I should be going to the warmth and sun of Australia, but Australia, never really appealed to me.  Of course Australia was on my list but only for a month or so, and I soon added Fiji and the Cooke Islands.  I thought this would be a nice 6 months worth of adventures.

Australia, like some people think of it, including some who live there.

Australia, like if really is.

Fiji could be a 6 month trip in itself so many islands and places to see

And the final stop on my trip, a Canadian with very little funds by this time.

I had the countries I wanted to visit and now to do research and planning.  By the time I was done, I had my 6+ month trip planned out to the week essentially.  Yes, I even had a spreadsheet made showing where I was planning to go, for how long, activities etc.  Here is a little foreshadowing that plan lasted approximately 1 day after landing in Fiji, 😊

So, the next major step was to sell my brand new car which was a little over a year old.  There was no sense making payments on a car, that I was not planning on using anymore.  I think when I sold the car, is when most people thought I was serious about this trip, others thought I was having some sort of breakdown.  To me it made perfect sense and was the next step.

                                     Mine was Black 

The final step in my preparations, was telling my parents, I was planning on leaving Canada for 6+ months by myself, not knowing a single soul anywhere where my travels would take me.  I expected everything from elation to silent resolve.  It would not change my plans how they reacted but was hoping they would approve.

So on a Friday night in late March I presented them with my plans, letting them know I would have a job to come back to.  How excited I was for this adventure and turning a new chapter in my life.  I should preface this with the fact that in my house, there was very little affection shown, my parents both being former members of the military.

My mother was quite happy and excited for me and was pleased with all the preparation work I had done.  My father was less receptive and from that night till my return in May of 1993, he did not knowingly speak a word to me.  In fact shortly after telling my parents about my plans for this trip some neighbors dropped over and my father said and trust me I will remember these words, “Come in and hear how my son has ruined his life”

Needless to say, was a very quiet visit.  November could not come soon enough.

When I shared the news of my upcoming trips with friends, a close friend at the time Tracy Williams wrote a poem, that is the start of my scrapbooks and is below.

The adventure is ready to begin. November 5th 1992 would be the start of the rest of my life.

FIJI BLOG 1

 

So came November 5^th 1992 a cool clear day in Edmonton, I went to the airport along with a friend or two and my parents as I started my first big trip.  I remember my father walking with me, just the two of us, not saying allot and at the end of the walk just before going into security he gave me a letter to read on the plane.

I got on the plane found my seat, and will admit when I looked out the plane window after the door closed, for the briefest of moment’s I thought WTF am I doing.  Going half-way around the world for 6 months not knowing a soul anywhere.  I had a minor panic attack that lasted all of 10-15 seconds.

Now, seeing as it was 1992, my plane ticket was extremely important, back in those days, I literally had all my plane tickets with me for 7 months, tickets to NZ, to OZ, within OZ, to Cooke’s and home.  If I were to lose this, it would be a major undertaking to get it replaced.  I wish I had take a pic of if before I left, as would have been a cool before and after, but this an airline ticket after almost 7 months of travel. 

 

I was flying from Edmonton to Nadi, Fiji, on a very hopscotch route, Edmonton – Vancouver – Honolulu – Nadi.  It was not too bad a flight but made it tough for getting rest as we had to de-plane and board twice before landing in Nadi.  By the time I arrived in Nadi it would November 7^th as I had lost a day going across the international date line and had very little sleep.  In 1992 I had no November 6^th, it was a day that did not exist for me, I left Edmonton, November 5^th and arrived in Fiji almost 14 hours later and it was November 7^th.

So there I am in Nadi, enjoying the heat of Fiji, watching the luggage carousel go round and round, people took bags and went on there way.  I was excited to get my bag and get started.  Soon there were fewer people and still no backpack, not really important it only has everything I own for the next 6 months, no biggie.😟😨😣

Soon there were just one other fellow and me, and this is how I met Murray from Switzerland as we were the only two without luggage on the flight.  We went to the lost luggage and I tried to explain where I was coming from, Edmonton, no response, Alberta, no response, Canada, oh yes the luggage official had heard of Canada and assured me my luggage would be here within a couple of days.  Murray got about the same response.

I told Murray that I was staying at Seashell Cove Resort and he could come with me if he wanted to.  I had no idea what the place was like, all I knew was I needed some sleep and would worry about my luggage later.  As I was to find out on this trip, it was common for backpackers/hostels to have vans to take customers to their accommodations and sure enough there was a van waiting for me and had room for Murray.

The place still exists but has changed a great deal from the simple backpackers I stayed at.

I had booked I think, 2 nights at Seashell Cove knowing nothing about it, other than I think it was mentioned in Lonely Planet Fiji.(back then Lonely Planet guides were the best resource for backpackers)  I figured I would be tired and wanted a place to crash when I first got to Fiji.  I was very tired but not too tired to notice the lush vegetation on the way to the resort, someone commented on a coconut tree and soon we were screeching to a halt.  Out hopped our driver and up the tree he scurried, a few whacks of a machete later and we were eating fresh coconut.  The first of many coconuts I was to consume in the next couple of weeks.

We arrived at Seashell Cove and found my room would not be ready as we were there mid-morning.  I thought that’s fine, as I had no luggage, I would just sit by the pool, relax a bit.

Well, as I sat in the deck chair watching the ocean and feeling the warm breeze, I undid my shirt as I was quite warm.  My eyelids grew heavy and I thought, I will have a little nap, 10-15 minutes at the most.  Well I was more exhausted then I counted on and I awoke hours later, feeling hot and looked down to see a nice red stripe down the middle of my chest from the first of many sunburns.

It appeared that my bed was ready and away I went to explore Seashell Cove and what $15 a night got me.  I have to admit, I was very naive about backpackers and hostels at this point and so was not expecting much.

The place was lovely and clean and seemed to have fresh fruit everywhere, which was amazing.  Don’t get me wrong there were some things I had to get use to like showering in cold sea water and not sure if you have ever showered in salt water but tough to build up a lather of any sorts.  I remember to this day tracing out the pipe from our big drinking tank of water where we would fill our glasses and water bottles only to find it led outside to the rain barrel.

That’s right, showering in salt water and drinking rain water, not luxury accommodations but was clean and the staff were so friendly that I remember them to this day.

After getting settled, I watched the first of many sunsets from poolside, tomorrow would be another adventure and much more awaited, I was here in Fiji, settled in had a bed and had met my first traveler.