BULA! Welcome to Fiji!

BULA!

Those of you who have been following along with Pause The Moment know that I have been so excited for this press trip to Fiji. Some of you might remember that this trip was supposed to happen back in April but a cyclone whipped through Fiji and canceled our plans on impact. Fast forward seven months later and I’m boarding my first of two flights to Fiji.

I decided to fly from Boston to LAX one night ahead of my scheduled direct flight from LAX to NAN (Nadi, Fiji) in order to break up such a long haul flight to the South Pacific.

Although, I don’t particularly enjoy Los Angeles, the twenty-four or so hours that I spent in LA had me yearning for more. I didn’t visit the city, I didn’t go out and do anything interesting. I simply enjoyed some down time with some friends. It was exactly what I wanted to do with my short time in LA before my flight to Fiji.

DELAYED

When I arrived at LAX on Sunday evening my flight had been delayed. I had been suffering from a terrible head cold at the time so I really wasn’t in any rush to hop on a plane anytime soon. Actually, I wasn’t interested in traveling at all due to the pulsating headache and thoughts of how much pressure flying would have on my sinuses.

Once I was all checked in I made my way up to the food court area to meet with Stefanie of Sparkloft, and four other travel bloggers that would be accompanying me on the #ExploreFiji press trip.

Lesley, Stef, JD and Matt

We hung out and chatted for a few hours while we waited for our flight to arrive. Once it was time to board, I was a complete zombie. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that I didn’t even see take off. I don’t even remember finding my seat. I was that exhausted.

Eight hours later I awoke feeling super refreshed. I couldn’t believe I had just slept eight hours on a plane. That was definitely a first for me. The fact that our direct flight from LAX to Fiji with Air Pacific was only a little over 10 hours, made the journey that much more enjoyable.

During our descent I happened to spot one of Fiji’s only over water bungalow resorts from the sky.

Although we wouldn’t be staying in an over water bungalow during our trip, the first glimpse of a brand new country was exhilarating. I’m really going to Fiji!

NADI TO TAVEUNI

Once we arrived in Nadi, we waited to board our domestic flight to the island of Tavenui. Before we knew it we were in the air yet again, this time on an 18-passenger Pacific Sun flight to Taveuni.

The views as we cruised over some of the 300+ islands of Fiji were absolutely out of this world.

MATANGI PRIVATE ISLAND RESORT

After a 20 minute boat ride from Taveuni to Matangi Private Island Resort, we were greeted by the wonderful staff with a welcome song as we approached the shore.

Once we were all settled in with our welcome drinks in hand, we were shown to our private ocean view bures.

Here’s a look inside my Ocean View Bure at Matangi Private Island Resort below.

The bure was a very unique circular shape which had a front porch area, indoor/outdoor shower, an incredibly comfortable bed and more.

The ocean waves crashed just mere steps from my room. Although we didn’t have much time to fully explore the resort, I thoroughly enjoyed my one-night stay at Matangi Private Island Resort.

If this is what my trip to Fiji is going to be like for the next nine days, I might never return home!

How many of you would like to plop yourselves down in one of these chairs? Leave a comment below if you dream of visiting Fiji!