The Departure

Canberra was pouring when I hopped into my bus at the Jolimont Station and it was raining all the way to Sydney. Sydney Airport was hectic as usual, however, I didn’t expect the longest line to check-in was for my flight to Nadi. There were a lot of young families, couples, and, possibly, schoolies queuing. The flight was better than expected as Air Pacific offers private multimedia entertainment. I have never been to Nadi before so I did not expect it to be as familiar as it was. The modest airport, long tourist lines, taxi offers and humidity all reminds me of Bali or any other local airports in Indonesia. The noticeable differences were the language and people, not to mention the singing Fijian waiting for us in the arrival hall. It was both familiar and foreign for me.

I’m glad Nikki had already arranged taxi for us to go to Suva because it was already dark when I, Elise, and Elle finally managed to get out of the airport after the long immigration queue. Suva is four to five hours drive from Nadi if we follow the maximum speed limit. However, as expected and been told by Kati, the taxi drivers was speeding. He pointed at the speeding limit sign on the road and said ‘We will get in Suva at 3 AM if we follow that sign’. This sounds very familiar.

We were all relieved when the taxi finally reached Colonial Lodge in Suva.

Finally.