Fiji Trip Status Update (25 Oct 2006)

[BT Humble]

• Have confirmed Myself, Commanda and Jacques.  Mrs Humble can no longer come along due to study commitments, so she will be taking a skiing holiday to New Zealand in June instead! :-)
  
• We therefore have a spare space on the trip, if anyone is interested.  I do need a firm commitment (such as booking flights) though;
  
• We will be departing Sydney on March 20, returning April 3;
  
• We will be travelling to Vanuabalavu from Suva on March 25, returning April 1;
  
• We're still working on getting Bruce's laptops to either Australia or Fiji
  
  

That's about all of my news.  Commanda, Jacques?  Anything to add?

BTH

[41south]

BTH - I would love to join you but I have committed to doing a 100K walk (in 24 hours)in support of Oxfam on April 14 and 15, so it's just too close. Please keep me updated for future trips.

Cheers

Colin.

[richhagen]

Hello,

I can, and would love to, travel to FIJI in March if it would be of assistance to your mission there.  

I am about 300 miles from BruceS and will be traveling to the St. Louis area between now and the departure date not too far from Bruce's place.  Depending upon the total weight, I should be able to take some, or all of the laptops with me on the flight, and should be able to make arrangements to pick up the laptops.    

I have been checking flights.  There are flights most days from here to Nadi, Fiji, and from Nadi to Suva.

The latest flight would be if I fly from Chicago on 23 March to arrive in Suva on the 25th of March, I would then be arriving on Air Fiji flight 504 at 0915AM local time.  Although I would likely coordinate the arrival time on the 20th or 21st to coincide with your arrival from Sydney.  

I would tentatively depart from Suva on 01 April at 06:30 PM local time on Air Fiji flight 511, although I would again likely extend the stay a day or two to cooincide with your departure.  

I do not know for sure which flights would work with your flight to Vanuabalavu.  I have found that there are only two flights per week to the grass strip airfield there, so I would likely have to coordinate with you to make the arrangements for that leg of the trip.  If you have Paypal or something similar, I could forward payment for that leg of the trip in advance, but I would need to ensure I knew the logistics such as maximum baggage weight, and any additional passport/visa/paperwork information that may be required specific to that leg of the trip.  

I would like to confirm my participation with you, provided it would be of benefit, before I purchase the tickets, as the best fares are non-refundable.  Rich Hagen

[BT Humble]

Glad to have you aboard, Rich!  My only requirements were Enthusiasm and Commitment, and I feel safe in saying you've displayed both of those! ;-)

Nadi and Suva are both on the Fijian "main island" of Viti Levu, about 200km apart.  We'll be doing some work around Nadi for a couple of days first, so if you can get a flight to Nadi that might be better.  We'll take buses between Nadi and Suva, because it's MUCH cheaper and you see a lot more of the countryside.  The buses can be anything from an air-conditioned Greyhound-style coach to a 10-seat minibus to a 40-year-old school bus with no glass in the windows (for full local flavour).  Prices range from about FJ$10 to FJ$35.

If you just want to collaborate on the Vanuabalavu part of the trip and fly direct to Suva that's OK too.  I've sent you details of the flight to/from VB, just make sure that you book that one and leave a couple of days on either side for your international flights, as flights to VB can sometimes be delayed by a day or two due to weather, etc.

I've e-mailed you directly with more details.

Sorry folks, but that's the party for next year's trip filled up!  Thanks to everyone who expressed interest, I'm still planning to go back in 2008 though. ;-)

I'll post another call for anyone who wants to help with "stuff" early in the new year.  I'm a bit busy with arranging a house move at the moment, and we still have 4 months to arrange things anyway.

BTH