Oceania Diaries, Part 1: Fiji
To start this long journey, I left home around 10am on Aug 21.
I had booked the international flights while we were in the Bay Area, so I first had to fly from NY to SF just to start the journey, with a layover in Atlanta. We boarded the Atlanta flight but shortley after got kicked off because of a mechanical issue. That put my SF–Fiji flight at risk, so while standing in line at the gate for customer service, I asked Claude what to do. It told me to download Delta’s app and also contact online help on their website in parallel. The app only had a flight for the next day. The online help was not automated and I was able to talk to a nice human, who put me on United’s direct flight to SF. I paid nothing out of pocket. Thank god the customer service representative was human. It should always stay human, it is not for robots!
In SF, I exited, checked in again at the Fiji Airways counter, and boarded close to midnight. All I had was a shirt, a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, pyjamas and my wife’s hoodie. It was winter in the southern hemisphere, so I thought a lot about buying warmer clothes, but decided against it. I wore everything except the pyjamas on the plane and listened to sleep music the whole way.
We landed in Nadi around 6am on Aug 23. It was a little chilly. The security line took an hour, and I was already missing my wife and our cats. The people behind me did not understand personal space and kept touching my bag. At the security point I filled out a form and got a 3-day visa. I exchanged $105 and received 206 FJD after fees. The banknotes feel like something between paper and plastic, plus, they have animals and plants on them.
My plan was to walk the whole day: airport, breakfast, beach, tourist spots, Airbnb… Totaling to around 14 km. But I was tired, and I wanted to save as much energy as possible for the race in Sydney, so I took a taxi to breakfast and walked the rest, with Garmin recording. That is where I made my first mistake. I got in without agreeing on a price. Inside, the driver kept offering to be my private driver for the day and plan a tour. I told him I only wanted to go to my destination, but he kept pushing, so I got angry and threatened to get out. My Airbnb host had said the airport ride would be 30 FJD, and breakfast was about halfway, so it should have been 15. He charged 25. I took a photo of the feedback QR code in the taxi, got out and memorized the license plate. A nice Fijian man who saw me asked how much I paid, and when I said 25, he told me it should have been 12 to 15 and that I should complain. The difference was only 10 FJD, about $5, so it was not about the money. I was angry at myself first, then at the driver, and the day started badly. A few days later the representatives from the tourism department returned to my email. I told them I already left the country. They said they took the necessary actions. It was nice to see someone followed up with the complaint, I appreciate them.
Breakfast in Nadi was eggs, bread and hot water, nothing special. Afterwards I changed from my shirt to a T-shirt and walked to Wailoaloa Beach. It was a Sunday morning, so the beach was empty. On the way I noticed that traffic drives on the left and the steering wheel is on the right. I also noticed that every house has a dog, and the dogs are very skinny. One came out of a yard and scared me.
I sat in the shade for a while and collected some shells, then took the village roads to the Airbnb. The roads are dirt and mud, the houses are one story, and kids play in the streets. Another pack of dogs barked at me, so I chatted with some men sitting outside a house until the dogs left. When I told them I was from Turkey, they said, “Wow, far.” Along the way, everyone, kids especially, smiled and said “bula” when they saw me. It is like aloha in Hawaii, something close to “life.”
Near the Airbnb, I had lunch at a modern-looking restaurant with a lot of reviews. It was fine. While walking to the Airbnb, I passed through the “city center” and I could tell people had realized I was a tourist, because they wanted to talk and sell something. One recommended I try out kava, a powder that numbs your mouth, and said it is neither a drug nor alcohol. I said no thanks. Another one started talking about Trabzonspor and Salah, which I did not expect at all.
I made it to the Airbnb around 1pm. It is a Muslim family home run by a woman. Her husband was watching TV when I came in, not caring about anything else. Their son, the son’s wife and kid were also living there. My room was separate from the others. The woman turned on the AC for me and showed me the portable wifi modem. I slept for a few hours. It was noisy, but I was too tired to care.
Around 4-5pm I got up and went to the only tourist attraction around, a temple. There was nobody there, and I finished seeing it in 5 minutes. On the way back I had dinner at the same modern-looking place since I did not want to risk. I had kokoda and pasta. Locals pronounce kokoda as “kokonda,” just like Nadi becomes “Nandi.” It was dark on my way back, so I walked quickly, passing Christian gathering places where people were speaking into microphones, loud and passionate.
On Aug 24, I woke up at 4am. I had paid the host to wake up at 7, make breakfast and drop me off for my 9am flight. But when I checked my phone, the flight was delayed by 12 hours. 12! I could not believe it. I confirmed it from several sources and told the host. They were kind enough to serve breakfast at 10am instead and have me leave at 11am. Breakfast was an egg sandwich, tea and a banana. I also messaged my Auckland Airbnb host. I was supposed to arrive at 2pm and now it would be 1am. She was really nice and understanding. Fiji and New Zealand share a time zone, 19 hours ahead of the Bay Area, so at least I would not need to adjust my clock again.
A few people from the host family took me to the airport, where the airline gave me a meal voucher due to the delay. Then I had to kill time, which was boring. All I could do was sit on uncomfortable metal benches and try to watch videos on spotty public wifi. Around 3-4pm I got sleepy. I ate with the voucher, and when check-in opened around 6pm, I went in, walked around the gift shops, and bought a magnet. The delay was caused by the weather in Vancouver they said, which delayed the plane coming to Fiji. There was also a jet fuel problem in the region, but apparently it did not affect us. Landed in Auckland close to midnight.
Published: Oct 29, 2026.
Last edited: Oct 29, 2026.