Day Fourteen: Kuata to Nadi and home to LA

this was our last day... *tear* we were bummed that the wonderful journey was on its last leg, and we would heading back to the real world tonight. we said goodbye to our new friends in the morning as they headed further up the island chain, and took refuge on a hammock. this happened to be the only day out of our time in fiji when it rained, which is weird considering it was "rainy season". but it brought a whole different experience to the island (mainly it wasnt as hot). as the rain hit the ocean, it calmed it more than before and left the orchids and flowers with a beautiful clean look. you realize rain is natures bath, everything after ward looks clean and refreshed (but only speratic rain, non of this oregon everyday stuff). we hung out till the boat came at 3:30 and then said goodbye to our new friends and wonderful island. it was sad to leave, but the memories we made through out the trip will last forever.

we had timmed it up just right that we would get back to the marina around 6, and our flight would leave for LA around 10:30. or so we thought. after having 3 out of the 3 flights we had taken with this airline be delayed, we werent going to hold our breath. everything seemed fine as we reached the airport, all was fine as we watched the passengers depart from the previous flight, and then 10 minutes before boarding, they announce there will be a delay, but not just any delay. instead of leaving at 10:30, is was no postponed until at least 2:30 pm tomorrow!! no kidding. not to mention that they had only 3 people to help all 500 passengers get set up with a hotel for the evening and all their meals. not to mention after that, we had to re- go through customs again and match up our original entry forms with one out of a pile of hundreds from all the people that had gone through today. did i mention that fijian time is nothing like the quick paced, efficientcy we are used to in america? i took 2 hours to find a hotel and go through customs. luckily this wasn't our first time doing this and we were able to request the same novotel that we stayed in on the first day (im sure the nicest hotel in nadi). and we made some friends with an older couple in the line that were from orange county also. we had plenty of time to chat and learn about their travels. anyways, we finally got back to our hotel and had a wonderful nights sleep.

Im not going to blog about the next day, mostly because there are no pretty pictures to go along with it. lets just say, we spent that day hanging around the hotel, in the pool, in our room and not doing much of anything. our flight ended up leaving around 5:30 that night, and we touched down to LA at 7:30am on new years eve. What a trip!!!

After all that, we had the time of our lives. as we look back on everything we got to do, smiles streak our face because of the wonderful adventure. we were probably the least effected by it all. even though the schedule wasnt what we expected, it didnt ruin any other plans, we arrived every where safely, and had some random experiences because of it. we are so thankful that we had the opportunity to go, and can't wait to get back there again.

Moral of the story, stear clear of air pacific!!!! you will spend most of the vacation delayed, postponed and in airports waiting.