It was funny waking up this morning to think that technically speaking I would in LA in time for lunch considering I was on some remote island in the Yasawa group of islands in Fiji. The reality was I was just going to live perhaps my longest ever day due to time zones! With another island buffet breakfast to set myself up for the day I soon returned to pack my bags for one of the last times. I know my bag so well now! After packing my bags and having a shower and everything else I do in the morning, I had much of the morning to kill as my boat back to the Fijian mainland did not leave until about 2.
One of the things I haven't done on the island yet is kayaking which was surprising considering it was a free activity. I opted against this in the end in favour of another bracelet making session, this time in the art of weaving together these long leaves. I was pretty bad at the whole concept though as it was so fiddly and required a fair bit of patience. Basically using one of the long leaf things we had to split it long ways into 4 sections. From here we did the same thing to another leaf but just half way down, and then from here weaved the sections together until a bracelet was formed. The whole concept is hard to explain!
After finishing this time consuming activity, giving my bracelet away again because I would never walk through US customs with a foreign plant round my wrist, we said goodbye to the two Americans I had been with since the start of Fiji. They were heading northbound onto island, which meant they left at 11 instead. This therefore left just me and my Danish friend, although we met a German couple last night too and as we were all heading south bound we ended up having a game of rummy 500 together. I am getting pretty good at the game now!
Come lunchtime I went for my last island lunch off the big menu, going for the burger and chips today which was pretty nice. After lunch we played some more cards and with everyone on like 450+ points going into the last game I mucked up and finished on less than 400! I swear they didn't shuffle the pack properly. I did have to check out prior to this although my island bill kind of did not sweeten the blow of losing. From here is was basically a waiting game for the ferry to arrive. I had been worrying prior about catching the ferry from Mantaray Island to fly out on the same day, and it didn't help when people were saying it was unreliable and prone to breaking down. It was typical for me considering my worries that it ended up being late in the end.
Arriving an hour or so late, we eventually boarded the ferry back the mainland. It was nice before leaving though as the island staff did a goodbye song for us. With quite a few pick ups en route it did not allow for much time to be made up, although when reaching the open channel to get back to the Mamanucas, it went a little fast through some ridiculously rough seas! It was nice though because the boat had free wifi which I also love having. It wasn't until about half 6 when we finally arrived back into Nadi, although with my anticipation of getting to the airport so strong I forgot my bag!
Eventually I arrived to the airport just over 2 hours before my flight was scheduled to leave. Check in was really quick however, followed by me strolling past security which took me from panicking about being late for the late to having a wait of in excess of an hour to begin boarding. To kill the time I had a look round the duty free shops, before getting myself a portion of chips to try and get rid of the large amount of Fijian coins I had in my wallet. It was nice here as well to have one last chat with some Fijian locals who are just so friendly, although I was predominantly around Americans!
Before long it was time to board my flight which was the last one of the day, taking my seat which always seems to be near the back of the plane. Watching a film to start with called Grudge Match about a pair of boxers who came out of retirement for one final fight, I was supplied with a chicken roll described as an evening snack by the plane crew. From here I surprisingly had a pretty decent sleep arguably getting around about 5/6 hours on and off before waking up again when the lights were turned back on. When waking up I put on another film about a disease which spread round the world, getting a breakfast consisting of egg, hash brown, sausage and the other standard extras in the process. It was frustrating however because the tv screens got turned off 10 minutes before my film ended!
Landing before the scheduled arrival time in the end, I landed before I left technically. This was because we crossed the international date line meaning I went back 24 hours. Prior to arriving I had been warned by my American friends on the Fiji trip that US customs were a nightmare. To be fair I thought I was proving them wrong after getting through passport control without any major problems, but then when queuing up for bio security this dog started barking at me because of my shoes. This meant I had to go for further checks and hand in my shoes and bags while I waited in a room. Eventually they let me leave the airport, giving me back my shoes which they had cleaned!
After changing up my last remaining Fijian Dollars into American Dollars, I walked out the airport ready to walk to my hostel which I opted to walk to as it was only about 6 miles away. I thought it would be as simple as heading down to the beach and across to get there although I was proved wrong as it was hard enough just getting out of the airport. I eventually got out, following the road right round and down to the seafront, although I soon realised that a big marina was stopping me from going to directly to my hostel. It wasn't until around about 6 when I finally arrived into hostel based just a minute or so from Venice Beach.
One of the main benefits of my hostel was free Wifi, as well as free breakfast, and after checking in I surprisingly just collapsed on my bed because I was so exhausted. I didn't stay there for long though as I couldn't just arrive in LA and go to bed. With sunset not until 8 now being in the northern hemisphere, I managed to catch the sunset over the impressively big beach. I only checked out the beach though as I plan to go Venice Beach tomorrow. When finally going back to the room I just crashed out and went to bed, I pretty tired.
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