Up until this weekend, my Samoa experience has been limited to the greater Apia area. Apia is the biggest town in Samoa with shops, restaurants and most of the trappings of civilization. I’ve kept to Apia either because of the impetigo, working on Tokelau accommodations or sloth. This week I met several people at my …
Tomorrow morning I leave Samoa for Fiji. That should begin several intensive weeks of travel. I will cross the date line for the 5th time from the 14th to the 15th of July. I will then rent a car and drive to Suva, Fiji where I will try to get my visa for Kiribati on …
Almost every night I get to tell the same story: the story of my trip. Most people I meet on my travels are just visiting somewhere for a weekend. Sometimes I’ll pull out my laptop and show them the Google Earth map and walk them through the places I’ve been and the places I’m going. …
I try not to purchase a lot of crap on the road. The only thing I buy from each place I visit are magnets, which is something I’ve done for years. When I’m done with this trip I’m sure I’ll have to install metal cabinets in my kitchen because there is no way my fridge …
Ok. Some news. I pretty much have been holed up in my hotel the last two days. Other than a trip to Apia on Saturday and today, I’ve just read and tried to recover. I think the boils have stopped spreading. Now it’s just scabs and sores. I think my attempt at bandaging it made …
I managed to salvage the missed Tonga flight. I went to the Air New Zealand office in Apia and got the ticket changed to July 11, which is when I should be arriving back from Tokelau. If the Tokelau boat can’t get fixed before then, I can move the date up a week. I also …
So I went to the Chinese embassy today and spoke to an official about my trip. She explained that I’d probably only get a visa good for three months and two entries at most. Because I don’t know the exact date of when I’ll be entring China, I will just get the visa when I’m …
It is as if I can’t escape Samoa. I’m now stuck here till Saturday because of flights to Fiji. I will have spent more time in Samoa than New Zealand. That doesn’t seem right. Travling in the Pacific is really slow. I’m going to need to pick up the pace and maybe cut down the …
Well, my Tokelau dreams have been shattered. The boat isn’t leaving until Saturday now. That would mean sitting around Samoa for most of this week still and then waiting another week for the plane to Tonga when I get back. I want to visit Tokelau, but not that bad. I’ll have to put that off …