Shutter Diaries 1.0

Celebrity treatment - a solo guest experience

terepictravels — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 06:37:00 GMT

A remote island setting located on 160-acre sanctuary surrounded by beautiful tropical gardens. Spending my days lazing on a daybed, wondering through lush rainforest and swimming in a private lagoon. Experiencing the laid back lifestyle in a nature lover's dream. It can't get any better than that right?

As I am escorted through the hotel lobby the staff offer warm greetings of welcome, the room key is presented and I am shown to my overwater villa.

I smile as I take in the ocean views, I begin to explore the private pool and deck which gives me direct access to the ocean below. The Resort Manger had earlier announced to me that I would be having an unique experience during my stay, I am the only guest for the next three days.

Being a solo traveller has it's pros and cons, picking where and when you travel is always a benefit. I have been traveling for well over a decade, sometimes I travel with friends and family, but mostly I travel alone. In 2012 my trip was a solo experience and my second visit to Fiji. I had carefully calculated the best time to travel i.e. outside of school holiday, when the weather would be warm and I wanted to see more of Fiji so I made plans to fly to Vanua Levu, Fiji's second largest island.

My stay at Koro Sun Resort & Rainforest Spa has been one of my top travel experience, along with the complimentary upgrade, I had a private activities guide, who would take me on new adventures each day. The restaurant chef would be waiting for me at meal time, he would wave, then duck into the kitchen to begin preparing my meal. I dining with the resort's owner who was visiting from America. I was also invited to attend the staff's Xmas party and joined the staff volleyball team who were compete in a local tournament in the local town of Savu Savu (from memory I think they won and were the best team on the island). These are just of few of the many ways the staff went out of their way to make me feel welcome during my stay.

If you have any reservation of traveling solo, just do it, you never know what experiences you will having and the people you will meet until you try it. You may not be as lucky as I was to be a solo guest and receive all of the benefits that I had, but since my trip to Fiji I have had this experience for the second time.

Celebrities and people with a lot more money than I have, pay a fortune to have this experience when the travel. Has happen to you before? I would love to hear how your experience was.

Photos: Vanuatu 2015

terepictravels — Sat, 23 May 2015 07:31:00 GMT

Thangkyu Tomas

terepictravels — Sat, 23 May 2015 02:08:21 GMT

Upon hearing we had travelled from Sydney the first words our shuttle driver said to us was "Thank you Australia, you have been good to us." Only minutes before I saw two Royal Australian Air Force planes standing on the edge of the tarmac with a team of busy workers offloading military vehicles and medical supplies.

Several months ago my sister mentioned that she wanted to travel somewhere for her 35th birthday, I eagerly invited myself and a decision was made that Vanuatu would be our destination. Flights and accommodation were booked. We were all set to go, or so we thought.

Four weeks prior to our arrival mother nature conjured up one of her finest tropical storms to date, on Friday 13, March 2015, Vanuatu experience their worst natural disasters in history. Cyclone Pam had left behind a trail of catastrophic damage to the country's infrastructure, communication, food and water supplies and displacing 45 percent of the nation's residents.

Damn you Pam!

Over the next several weeks we learnt that our resort was back up and running and guests were welcome. There was no doubt in our minds that we still wanted to go, we were assured that we wouldn’t be a burden on resources. As planned we boarded our plane and set off to the unknown.

During the remainder of drive our driver continued to tell us his story, he was from a small island off Efate which had been completely destroyed, his house in Port Vila had been severely damaged and lost its roof. It would take weeks if not months for supplies to become available to begin to rebuild.

Pacific Island nations frequently experience cyclones are extremely resilient and recover very quickly. Crops were re-planted within a few days and life was continuing as normal. The friendly hellos from locals, laughter from the children and cheerful sounds coming from the villages was proof of this.

On my final night in Port Vila, while lying in bed I heard the gently pitter patter of rain outside, I began to think about the driver I had met on our first day, how was he coping with all this rain and no roof?

Even though I did not fully understand the full meaning of the "thank you" at the beginning of our journey, as the days evolved we learnt that many tourists had cancelled or postponed their holidays, Tourism is one of the main sources of income for Vanuatu and continuing with our holiday was helping their recovery.

As the say in Bislama thangkyu Tomas