Liane (blog follower) is our Travel Agent. She lined up an itinerary that had us arrive in Fiji and spend a couple of days in the tourist hotspot Denarau before shuttling off to our secluded island paradise on the other side of the tall mountains and out to sea.
Australia is so vastly large, and they don't have "interstate hi-ways" like we have in the US. So when Aussie families go on vacation - they don't load the kids into the SUV and hit the road (okay - I'm generalizing - many probably do that but how would I know). Instead - they cash in their Quantas points and fill up the airplanes with fidgety, sneezy, seat-kicking kids. Even business class is full of kids.
I swear this is not an exaggeration - when I got off of the flight I had trail mix falling off of my lap and down my shirt that somehow got on me from a kid throwing a fit on the other side of the 747. Since these lovable little rascals were all on their way from Sydney to Denarau - I was really looking forward to our secluded island paradise that was waiting for us on the other side of those tall mountains and out to sea. I read on the web site that there are no kids allowed on the island paradise.
Good work Liane.
I do some domestic travel for my job within Australia. I've flown to Melbourne, Canberra, and Brisbane. Quantas is consistently $150 more than the other airlines. Quantas is also consistently full. It's parents racking up miles so they can take their kids on holiday every year!
Liane worked out our itinerary from the US and 15 time-zones away from us. It was a lot of work for her and she stayed up into the middle of the night (her time) so she could talk me through the options. Over hours of phone calls I asked question after question after question... and she answered one after the other after the other.
I forgot, however, to ask a very important question...
"Hey, Liane! How, exactly, do we get over the tall mountains and out to sea?"
We arrived early to Nadi Airport on the morning of our escape from Denarau to paradise so we could beat the crowds. The airport is remarkably modern and efficient. We looked for our check-in counter "Royal Davui".
We saw American, Continental, Pacific Air, Royal Davui. There it is! "Hey Kim look - there is no line! Let's go check in even though we are early".
The guy behind the counter greeted us. Clicked on his keyboard and checked us in. He took our Bags and asked us to step onto the luggage scale. I mis-understood and put my carry-on backpack on the scale. He smiled and said "you too". "Huh?" "Sir we need you to step up onto the scale". I looked over my shoulder - "In front of all these people?" There was a 747-sized load of families weaving back and forth through the roped off lines next to us at Pacific Air. It was humiliating - but we each did it. And people looked and pointed because when you step up onto the scale - you are well above the crowd and on display. This was my first inkling that I should have asked Liane more questions about this leg of the journey.
Then after we finished that process he told us "wait over there" - and vaguely pointed towards a coffee shop. Bewildered - I asked "Where? Over where? (Frantically pivoting my head back and forth to look from him to wherever he was pointing and trying to triangulate exactly where that was) Will they make an announcement? How will we know where to go?" He said "Don't worry, we'll come get you" and he switched off his light, shut down the counter and left.
Hmmm. His computer screen must have told him that we are the last ones to check in? That's odd. I thought we were early. Let's go find where everyone else is waiting.
Ummm, Liane.... Umm , hello... no,no everything is fine. I have a question... what is "Royal Davui" airline? You got us in business class, right? Just checking. We never really talked too much about this part of the trip.. not sure? local travel agent booked this? okay... bye now. Yes, everything is great so far. Bye.
We milled around the coffee shop. I was nervous, as usual, that we might not be in the right place and annoyed that the stupid guy behind the counter was so vague about where we were supposed to wait ... and then a guy came out and waved us over to a security checkpoint that I hadn't noticed on the far wall. I was a little embarrassed that we went to the coffee shop instead of through security like everyone else did. I was so relieved that we were back on track - I quick slide stepped across the floor toward the metal detector, accidentally leaving Kim several steps behind me. I was anxious to get through security and find the rest of our Royal Davui travelers.
There was no line at the xray machine so we stepped right up. They asked us to take out our liquids and our laptops and place our bags on the belt -same as in the US and everywhere else. Pretty modern and familiar. I caught a glimpse of the waiting area through security and noticed that we were late and the other passengers had already boarded the plane and now there probably wouldn't be any room left in the overhead compartment for my backpack.
Man, that's a bummer... stupid coffee-shop-pointing guy sent us the wrong way and now we will be the last ones on the plane. How embarrassing. Maybe Kim will let me put my backpack under her feet...
We easily found our gate and stepped out the door towards our plane...
Royal Davui Flight 001
Liiiiiaaaannnnnne!
The tall mountains were probably 2000 feet. We were flying mostly at 3000 feet but sometimes I'd look at the gauge and it said 2400 or so. The mountains were looming in front of us like we were certain to crash into them (an optical illusion I guess).
Our pilot was texting with her cell phone during the entire flight. Seriously.
Hahahaha!!! Great pic! Hmm, thought it was supposed to be a sea plane.
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