FIJI / VANUATU CONFERENCE

7/12/18

Left KOA at 2000 h for HNL... to catch a 0125 flight from HNL to NAN (Nadi, Fiji). All went quite well and we landed to Nadi about 10 hours later after a 1.5 hour layover in Apia, Samoa. We got some sleep on the plane so we weren't too tired once we got to Nadi. We decided to take a taxi to down town Nadi and walk around for a while because we couldn't check in for our flight to Port Vila until 1200 h (leaving at 1500 h). The Pictures posted below are mostly from our walk around Nadi.

However, after we checked our luggage in to Air Vanuatu and made our way through customs to the departure lounge we sat for quite a while in the new airport international flights area. 1500 hours came and went and still not plane... the flight board said the flight was delayed until 1550 hours. 1550 hours came and went and finally the flight board listed the flight as canceled!!! Our only chance to get to Vila was gone, at least for one day. We scrambled to cancel hotel reservations while they scrambled to figure out what to do with us for the night. After about 2 hours we were taken to a new hotel and put in a room with meal vouchers, etc. They took pretty good care of us but we are quite disappointed. We have hope (and they has said) that the flight will go on time as scheduled tomorrow but we are not confident that they will get the plane repaired in time.

For now we are just being thankful that we can get a good nights sleep and, hopefully get back on schedule tomorrow. We received some solace tonight when a NZ airways flight was canceled .... after the passengers had been in the plane and on the tarmac for 4 hours... !!!

Tomorrow is another day!

Our home for 10 hours... not too bad a flight but very cramped and very full. Since it stopped in Apia, Samoa, we had a LARGE load of Samoan travelers. I was very fortunate in that I had one of the few open seats next to me (and not a 300 pound S).