Beachcomber was a totally different experience and I loved it too. More of a resort with parasailing, jet skis, etc. It is a small island you can walk around in 12 minutes time. A live band would play in the evenings and I was Bula king twice. The “Bula” dance was something like the Macarana and may have been made up by the band. A guy and a girl got to lead it. The word “Bula” is used as a greeting and can have different meanings.

  There are cabins on Beachcomber island and dorms. I chose the dorms which were cheaper.  I learned a traveler’s trick from an English girl that I met there who always carried a paperback book with her. It gave her something to do rather than just sitting by herself and looking bored. It could be used to ignore people and put down when she wanted to engage someone in conversation. Sort of like an i-pod.

  I wore a sarong which you wrap around and then tie it off and tuck the ends under. One thing I did learn that if you are wearing kahki shorts and get them wet in the ocean and then put on a red sarong you end up with pink kahkis. They had great meals and fans in the dorms. I took a large schooner back to the main island from Beachcomber and was then off to New Zealand.

I arrived at the airport in Fiji at Nadi at night and tried to save some money by going with a cheap hotel. They drove me for a ways to a hotel where I checked in and tried to get some sleep. The trouble was the bed bugs on the thin foam mattress and the other bugs crawling on the plywood walls. I wanted to be a good traveler and not complain but finally got up and walked around. The razor wire fence surrounding the hotel might have been a tip off we were not in a great neighborhood. I had paid for the night and they would not refund my money but I took a taxi back into the city and paid a little more for a hotel with air conditioning and a bathroom in my room. I felt better and slept great.

They had a pool which was nice but it rained a lot because we were just at the end of the rainy season and starting the high season. Later in my trip I talked with some girls who had been in Fiji the same time that I had and said it rained the whole time. I told them we could see it raining on the main island while sitting in the sun on the outer islands. I relaxed by the pool and then went into the city to look around. It looks pretty much like a tourist place with all sorts of souvenirs. I was told to trust the people with curly hair but not the straight hair people. I was told to avoid a trick where someone would come up to a tourist and ask their name. They would begin to carve your name in a ceremonial wooden object and then get upset if you would not buy it.

I started out in Fiji at the hostel on Mana Island. I tried to get into Beachcomber but they said they could not get me in for 7 days so I went to Mana first. Mana island has a fancy resort as well as the backpackers hostel. I got a room instead of staying in the dorm which was still cheap enough. The hostel at Mana has dogs, roosters, goats, and little kids running around. It is more like a village. The electricity would be turned off from 11:00 to 1:00 and 2:00 to 5:00 so they could pump water. They had pancakes and fruit with fish for breakfast. It can get very hot. I had a good base tan from Hawaii but still burned the first day there and had to spend the next day out of the sun. I bought a surfers shirt in Hawaii that protected from scratches but also blocked the sun so you would not burn. I wore my surf shirt after that to protect from sunburn. It was always interesting to see a guy from England show up and see how their pale skin turned a glowing red by dinner time. Usually they would spend the next day in the shade wearing a t-shirt and feeling the pain.

I met some great friends there. A Swedish girl, a Danish girl, a Canadian guy and his daughter, and a Scotish guy. We ran around on the island and had a good time hanging out. The Canadian guy was a martial arts teacher and he would climb the coconut trees and get the coconuts for fresh coconut milk and meat. This was a bit dangerous and also illegal we found out. He ended up with some scrapes from this venture. I met the Danish and Swedish girls when they arrived and they thought I was the surfing instructor because on my surf shirt.

We were around the tables at the main area when someone said the bonfire on the beach was ready. I was sitting at a table with some people and one of the girls was Irish. She told me to go to one of the other table where some of her traveling friends who were girls were and tell them to get their fannie’s down to the beach for the bonfire. I went over and told them that and a couple of the girls looked like they were about to beat me. Then they heard their friend laughing and figured out she had set me up. In America a person’s fanny is their backside, in England and Ireland the word fanny refers to a woman’s front side. I am told that when people come from the UK to America and hear someone talking about a fanny pack they are shocked. Two countries divided by a common language.

The group left Mana on the same day. The Scotish guy left in the morning in a small boat and unfurled the Scotish flag he had in his backpack when he left. The Canadian and Swedish girl left around 1:00 and the Danish girl left in the late afternoon. As I walked her to the dock she said, “Damn!” I asked here what was the matter and she said she was going to have to start all over again. She confided that when she had been in the airport in Nadi she heard a the Swedish girl saying she was going to Mana and she said so am I. She wasn’t planning to but it gave her a traveling companion. We had all had a great time together and know she would have to make a new set of friends at her next destination. It is one of the hard things about being on the road that one day you may have a great time with new friends and the next you are all alone. It can get lonely. It took me about 3 months to get over missing having friends and family around.

I actually left the next morning and they put me in a small boat with an outboard motor and a grade school age kid to pilot it. I had a big suit case and smaller case with all my clothes and camera equipment. We got to a point where you could not see land in any direction. I thought if we tipped over my suitcases and camera equipment would be lost but also I would not know which way to swim. I figured I would follow the kid and swim which ever direction he did. He guided me safely to Beachcomber island which had a band that played whenever anyone arrived. A bit different than Mana. They ended up being two different experiences but both great ones.

  I went snorkeling at a local beach and someone told me there were turtles around the outcropping of rocks. I was new to learning how to breathe with a  snorkel but decided to try to snorkel out and around the rocks. About that time a swell was coming in and I felt myself being dragged out to sea. I was only about 40 yards from the shore and there were other people on the beach but I was scared to death. The ocean is very powerful, I tried swimming as hard as I could and scrapped my arms and legs on some coral trying to get make in. I can honestly say that I was scared to death. 

  When I got back to the shore some people saw the scrapes and blood and suggested I get some hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin to clean up them up. Traveling it is good to take care of your feet, from blisters to scrapes wearing sandals. I always kept some hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin with me. I thought the ocean water with it’s salt would be good for healing but was told at the scuba shop that is actually has a lot of bacteria in it which can cause infections.   I came face to face with a barracuda on another snorkeling trip, it was in the rocks and we just looked at each other with me reversing direction slowly. I went to a luau with fire dancers, roast pig in a pit in the ground which was sort of a tourist thing but fun. The locals are friendly and call you “Brudda”

  I learned that good sandals are a must as the pair I brought with me cut the tops of my feet badly by the end of the first day. I found a great pair of Nike sandals that enter from the back with soft cushioning on the top straps that have been great ever since.

  There is a volcano on Maui that I decided to go to the top of it to photograph the sunrise. I left my hotel about 3:00 in the morning and started my trip. The road is very windy and slow. When I got to the top I discovered that even though I was in Hawaii the elevation at the top of the volcano made it very, very cold. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and freezing. The rag top jeep didn’t stop the wind and I shivered for a couple of hours till sunrise.

  Actually the sunrise that morning was not that great and I got ash in my video camera from the high winds. I can still see it in the viewfinder. They actually have a tour that they drive you to the top of the volcano for sunrise and you get to ride bikes down the volcano road which looked fun. I got some great photos of the volcanic landscapes on the way down.
 
 Overall it was a great time in Hawaii but kind of hard to meet people so it was a little lonely. I figured out how to solve that problem when I went to Australia.

  I had some interesting camera bags and he actually came up and asked me about them. We got to talk for a little while and he gave me his business card which had the word goat singers on it. He explained that the Greeks called actors Goat Singers and it was not a complimentary name. I have always enjoyed his acting in the movies he has been in and he was a really nice person.

  I thought this was a cool way to start a trip around the world in LA talking to a movie star. When I got to Hawaii I bought a carry on rolling cart and t-shirt in Honolulu before taking the inter island flight to Maui. The airport in Hawaii had a place where you could rent a bed by the hour and pay to take a shower. It was great after the long flight while waiting for the flight to Maui. When I got off the flight in Maui I was going to baggage claim and saw Pierce Brosnan picking up his bags. I said hi to him and he said a cheery hello and shook my hand. Two movie stars in two days. I had planned to save money taking the bus around Maui but once I got there that wasn’t the best idea. I decided to get a small rental car. The person behind the rental desk suggested that for $5. more a day I could get a rag top jeep instead. I said yes. It was bright red and fun to drive.

  Cruising around Maui in a rag top jeep was a lot of fun. I tried body surfing at Little Beach known for its waves and after a couple of hard tumbles was told that surfers sometimes have their boards broken at the beach. That did it for me, I did not want a broken back so I just enjoyed swimming and laying on the beach.

If you made some money, paid off your bills, had been working way to hard and could take some time off what would you do? I decided to take a year off and travel around the world. I thought of the countries that I would like to see and called the airlines to try to buy my tickets. After getting fares for a couple of countries I mentioned that I was taking a year off to travel around the world and the woman at the airlines suggested I buy a round the world ticket. I had never heard of this before but it was a really great deal. There is a group of airlines that work together to make this happen. United’s group was more mileage based and seemed to be more expensive so I went with the American plan which was based on how many continents you visited.  American also has mileage based plans but I found the per continent plan my favorite. 

The one rule was that you could go east for a year or west for a year and could not backtrack. My ticket was written by my local travel agent and had many pages. It also allowed me to change cities that I flew out of and the dates that I wanted to leave without a fee. I was told that if I could to buy a business class ticket as it was more comfortable and Beijing to London it really made a difference plus those hot towels were really nice plus you could go to the first class lounge in the airports between flights. It has gone up in price since I travled. My plan was to spend 2 weeks in each country that I visited. There were some that I wanted to spend more time in and some that I ended up wanting to leave sooner so this worked out great. I also took advantage of hostels and jump on – jump off bus tours which I will talk more about later.

For information about the current travel options which include around the world, multi continent, and single continent fares you can click this link http://www.oneworld.com/ow/air-travel-options . In the U.S. you can call 1-800-247-3247 to talk to the one world flight help desk. The basic info below is what I was able to get from their website and talking to them. You may want to ask them to make sure it is correct.

• ONE WORLD EXPLORER is per continent with a minimum of 3 continents
  COACH AND BUSINESS CLASS FARES
  3 CONTINENTS COACH $3,900. – 3 CONTINENTS BUSINESS CLASS $8,300.
  4 CONTINENTS COACH $4,400. – 4 CONTINENTS BUSINESS CLASS $9,100.
  5 CONTINENTS COACH $5,100. - 5 CONTINENTS BUSINESS CLASS $10,400.
  6 CONTINENTS COACH $6,000. - 6 CONTINENTS BUSINESS CLASS $12,000.
• It requires a 7 day advance purchase.
• It is refundable if cancelled more than 7 days before or 10% is charged if it is cancelled 7 days or less from the flight time.
• Minimum 10 days and maximum 1 year travel from departure date.
• Airport taxes are added to the air fares and a $125. fee is charged to change the city you are flying into or out of.
• Free to change travel dates if they are available during the trip. Double check this.
• The continent you fly out of and back to is considered one continent.
• 16 segments maximum, check how many flights per continent.