Andy and I have always loved traveling. We have been to the United States, South Africa and some parts of Asia. LIke most parents with young children, we sort of gave up hope on the idea of travelling again once the third baby arrived. I still have the travel bug so pretty much every few months I will tell him I'm holiday dreaming. Here's the thing, I kept it up so much that it got to the point where he gave in! (It works ladies - nagging works?! lol)
So earlier this year, we took the plunge and 'spontaneously' booked tickets to Fiji!
A few things stood out for us when considering destinations that made us choose Fiji:
Less than 4 hours so we felt that it was perfect duration for young kids
Majority of the population speaks English
Water is clean enough to drink
We heard about how laidback and chilled everyone is
Let's talk about the check-in experience. We get to Sydney Airport, we're lining up at the check-in line and Maddi was next to Andy in the queue. I was in front of him with Mabel in the stroller, Mikayla was in between us and we were next in line to the counters. This next part I remember so clearly since I remember thinking it was the beginning of a horrible holiday. Here's a recap of the events that followed:
I was half up to the counter with Mabel
Andy was struggling with the airport luggage trolley and all the carry ons
He ran over Mikayla with it
[Andy]: I did NOT run her over, I simply bumped her
She cried and I rushed to her straight away
I forgot that the stroller was hooked with some hand luggage
The stroller fell backwards
Mabel was in the stroller...
LUCKILY, Mabel's was fine since the bag behind cushioned her fall
It was so embarassing and bad that the manager rushed to me to make sure I was okay. He then asked if I was travelling alone (pretty sure he was terrfied I was going to answer yes) to which I said "No, I'm with that guy" and pointed to the bloke who just ran over his daughter with a luggage trolley. Til this day I have NOT told my mum about this incident, because the last thing I need from her is a "I told you so..." I can't let her be right haha.
Anyways, so I always knew that when travelling with kids you're supposed to pack light. BUT how the hell do you 'pack light' with all the nappies and formulas. You can't just leave all the tins in the checked-in luggage just incase it gets lost?
Andy was constantly reminding me everyday leading up towards to trip to make sure we weren't going to carry too much stuff onboard. I had it all worked out (and yes, I really thought I had it under control):
I'll hold Mabel and my side bag (filled with 1 tin of forumla and the girls water/milk/food)
Andy carries the BabyZen Yoyo and his backpack
Maddi wallks with her Trunki
Mikayla walks with her toy bag
Well we get to the aisles inside the plane annnnd then Mikayla decides she wants to be picked up. Okay, no problems, Andy just picks her up with his free hand (we were expecting this) and we're still good. I go first, and Maddi is behind me so Andy asks her to follow me while pushing her Trunki and surprise suprise; Maddi goes all "I caaaan't doooooo it", with no hands left we grind to a halt. Another point to the horrible holiday counter.
Side note: Definitely recommend the Babyzen Yoyo for anyone who travels. It's so light and compact that it's approved as carry-on hand luggage for most airliners. So as soon as you're off that plane, your kid can go in it straight away! No more walking/carrying them all the way to oversized baggage to pick up your checked-in stroller.
The flight experience was actually great, the kids had an awesome timne! Mikayla especially loved it, I think she thought that she was in a racing car (although I'm not sure how she knows what that feels like) because she kept saying "vrmmm vrmmm".
Arriving in Fiji was very welcoming; the amazing staff at the airport saw that we were struggling so they immediately offered to help us around with all the luggage. Seriously very friendly and we could not thank them enough.
My friend highly suggested staying at the @interconfiji and honestly, it was a little out of our price range but my friend assured me that it was worth it and boy was she right! We loved the whole experience there. The resort it self was just BEAUTIFUL!! One of the main reason we picked @interconfiji was that the resort is nestled amongst 35 acres of tropical garden. It's also located on the beautiful & picturesque Natadola Beach; supposedly Fiji's best beach with miles of pure white sand and clear blue waters.
There was plenty to do for both adults and kids; they had facilities like a 24/7 gym (we actually went to the gym quite a bit... because we had to walk past it every day on the way to our room😂). There's also a kids club called Planet Trekkers which included an activity centre as well as a games room (with Wii's and PlayStation's set up as well as fuse ball and air hockey tables!). Unfortunately the girls were too young to be part of the club but I'm positive they enjoyed watching their cool parents 'demonstrate' how to play all the games.
Let's talk about the staff?! Oh my gosh, I am blown away by how great their service is. Everyone seemed to love kids in general, we felt so welcomed and we were able to just relaxed the whole trip. I remember one night we all went out to a fancy dinner to celebrate my 30th and Mabel was very unsettled. The staff happily offered to push Mabel around in the stroller so that we can enjoy dinner. It's little things like this that left such a lasting good impression that we won't hesitate to ever come back.
Seriously @interconfiji you are guys are the best! I have already raved to all my family and friends about how great the experience was. We had the best 7 days there and can't wait to go back. Thanks so much for accommodating us! See you guys again soon!
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