Over and over I have spent a lot of time reminding myself that this is all worth it. I continually made jokes to my friends just before leaving that I made a huge mistake a year ago when I presented this idea to Bouey. Next thing you know, I was on a plane after the emotional roller coaster of goodbyes and the stress and chaos of getting out of the country, only to find myself with a stomach ache from the food on the plane.
From there we got off the plane in Fiji to a pretty amazing sunrise and some pretty fierce heat. Customs was a breeze in Fiji as we were greeted with a group playing acoustic guitar and singing local tunes with a soothing South Pacific flavor.
Off the plane we made our way to the money machine only to find that we could not withdraw money. After some further investigation and runaround we finally figured out a way to get some cash. From there we met the Margaret, the travel agent to book our stay at Walu Beach. We lugged our 300 pounds of camera gear, clothes and laptops to the bus station that was about 5 blocks away, and then sat in the rising morning heat for about 35 min waiting for the bus to the marina.
From there we proceeded to work out our situation for our boat ride to our island. On our boat ride we did ourselves the courtesy of sriding on the top deck and setting the stage for a nice sunburn in the intense Fijian sun. After we arrived in our little paradise, our exhaustion and idocy helped us finish off that sunburn with a nice nap in the hammocks for a couple of hours sealing our sunburned fate, but only on our stomachs.
Then it heated up and the mosquitoes came out to assult both of us. Between the heat, no air conditioning, and our sunburns it was nearly impossible to sleep. Our third morning was welcomed with a nice headache from the local Kava we drank with all of the local guys the night before. This was followed with rain for the remainder of the afternoon.
Our last night was plagued with some pretty annoying roommates and the unfortunate news on the phone that our paperwork for the vehicles is still not in order. All of this and you might ask , "Is this all worth it?" Was this crazy idea something that should have never gone farther than a conversation over a couple beers?
As you travel around the world, as in my past experiences, you encounter a great deal of adversity as we certainly have. However, as we meet people like the Tarns, who are travelling with their 3 year old daughter around the world for the next 6 months, drive down coastlines the seem to look like paintings and are greeted by the smiling faces and laughs of people from around the world, the adversity pales in comparison to the memories that you end up with on a daily basis.
And in regards to my jokes with my friends, this continues to be the best decision I have made in a long time.
