The Travel Tales of Julia Sheldon

My goal was to get to 30 countries by my 30th birthday. I had a plan for 2018 of how to make this happen:  I would go to an island near Australia with my friend from Philippines in July when we both had some time, and then go to a different island for my 30th in October. But then I had to return to Canada from Australia in April and leave Aus for good in September, and my dear friend had lots of work travel on the go so we simply could not make our travel plans work. Luckily, my friends decided to go to Fiji in February and invited me along, so that was Country 29. And then in July, once I knew I'd be back in Canada as of mid-September, I set out recruiting people to join me on a 30th birthday trip in the Caribbean somewhere. I did a whole bunch of research on good deals at all-inclusives vs. rented apartments vs. hostels, and cool things to do in a week, and weather patterns (read: hurricane season), and eventually settled on Aruba. Originally, there were 6 people who sai...

February 23 Bula! Welcome to Fiji! 6am flight from Melbourne to Brisbane, then on to Nadi, Fiji. Landed at 3pm, and was definitely not expecting mountains or a musical welcome. It was gorgeous, and immediately I felt the humidity of the tropics. In the 80 minutes it took to get to the Fiji Hideaway Resort, I learned that it takes 9 hours to drive around the biggest island in Fiji (which we were on). Their four biggest industries: water, sugarcane, lumber, and gold. There were roadside hot corn stands all along the drive. Fiji is part of the British Commonwealth, so Queen Elizabeth is on all of their coins. The drive was incredibly lush and green and gorgeous. Homes appeared to be made of tin or concrete, with several rooms. Upon arriving at the hotel, I was greeted so warmly. Met up with Tom and Katie, my Aussie travel buddies from Queensland, and enjoyed an absolutely stunning sunset before dinner. I was wiped and passed out before 9. February 24 Wok...