Given that Zoe, Hamish and I had all felt a bit sick last week, we'd pretty much decided that Taveuni was a bad idea. But everyone we spoke to had another compliment to add: "it's so beautiful you won't want to leave", "the waterslide was the best bit of my whole trip" etc so when we got back from drinks in town on Friday night we packed our bags, slept for 3 hours and then got a taxi down to the ferry at 4.30am. I think we all pretty much sl...

So we've arrived in Savusavu where I'm doing my first elective placement. The flight over was amazing though slightly scary - this tiny little propeller plane with 20 seats and the captain does the safety info. The views at dawn were spectacular! It was a little unnerving flying through clouds but the plane bounced along quite happily through them. Zoe and I were picked up by a taxi (Hamish managed to get himself on a flight to the other side of the island) and t...

We got to our hostel at about 7am very bleary-eyed and were given a second breakfast at the hostel. We ventured into town by bus and wandered along Main Street, the only street worth going to in Nadi. Zoe wanted to see the Hindu temple so we headed there. They told us were welcome to stay to watch the wedding, which we did (second wedding I've ever been to!) and then halfway through the wedding, the bride's father invited us to stay for food. Too good an opportun...

Los Angeles - "the City the World Loves to Watch" I arrived in LA at about 1pm local time after a lovely flight (I had the whole row to myself so managed to sleep lying down in cattle class and watched both Valentine's Day and The Blind Side - happy days!). It took me only 2 hours to navigate customs and then got the shuttle bus to LAX bus terminal. The Lonely Planet guide assured me that LA has a surprisingly good bus system and that more tourists sho...

Excited, sad to leave people, scared, overwhelmed. All at once! The biggest trip I've ever done: one year, 9 countries to discover, 2 elective placements, a job and one new language to learn: spanish! How the hell do you pack for that in one 20kg-limited backpack?!