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Volunteer Travel / Fiji Travel / Island Travel / Voluntourism / → All Tags

Beat the End of Summer Blues with a Volunteering Trip to Fiji

Summer may be winding down, but don't get out those winter coats just yet. If a couple of weeks in a warm climate helping kids sounds like a better option than schlepping through the snow, take a look at Projects Abroad's voluntourism trips to Fiji.

Projects Abroad is one of the leading organizations for pairing volunteers with opportunities around the world. In Fiji, Projects Abroad is based in Nadi on the main island of Viti Levu, where they work primarily with children. Care project volunteers work at kindergartens, orphanages or at centers for children with learning disabilities. Most volunteers become teaching volunteers, to assist teachers in the classroom.

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New Routes / Airlines / Airline News / Continental / Fiji Travel / → All Tags

Continental Is Ready For Winter With Flights To Fiji

Most of the east coast is getting ready for some winter weather this weekend, and after the middle of the country was blanketed with snow a couple weeks ago, it’s already time to go somewhere warm. Continental Airlines already has been promising tropical locations to much of Orange County, California, and now they are going a little farther.

Having a little extra cash in the budget after beginning to equip their planes with in-flight WiFi, the airline now has its eyes set on Fiji. You’ll have to connect in Honolulu or Guam, but it’s just another option to get to one of the ideals of paradise. Right now there are no US based airlines that fly to Nadi International Airport, so we say this is a good thing. Not that there’s anything wrong with taking Air New Zealand to get there or anything, but we just like options. The new flights start today.

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Airline Fees / Air Pacific / Fiji Travel / Airfare Deals / → All Tags

Airfare Taxes and Fees Flatten Our Fijian Dreams

One of our biggest pet peeves when it comes to booking flights is the do-si-do websites do with displaying airfares; get us all excited with super cheap prices, but then tack on another couple hundred dollars in taxes and fees before checkout. One of the biggest offenders, aside from Ryanair. that is, is British Airways and their "JFK to LHR" specials which quickly turn a tasty $250 one-way into a sour $730 roundtrip.

Why must websites and email promotions tempt us so; why not just display juicy deals with taxes included? Our most recent disappointment comes at the hands of Air Pacific, Fiji's national airline. After we received a press release boasting of "unbeatable" $565 roundtrips (and no mention of taxes or fees) between LAX and Nadi, Fiji, we nearly choked on our chocolate donut.

For a moment, thoughts of gently swaying palm trees and scuba in crystal clear water danced in our head, but arrival to the Air Pacific website revealed that actually, the price with taxes comes to nearly $900. So much for tropical daydreams. Wake us when airfare sales actually return to being sales.

Related Stories:
· Flight Specials [Air Pacific]
· What It Really Costs to Fly Ryanair [Jaunted]
· Airline Fees Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: superciliousness]

What Recession / All-Inclusive Resorts / Turtle Island / → All Tags

Turtle Island Offers 'Getaway' for $2,079 a Night

In this economy, common wisdom holds that travelers are flocking towards all-inclusive packages to get the most bang for their vacation buck. So we should be overjoyed about a Fiji getaway offering 7 nights for the price of five... but what's that? It'll cost you $2,079 per double-occupancy room per night for starters? Well, never mind that, Turtle Island.

Turtle Island, best known as the place where Britney Spears and K-Fed honeymooned during their short but memorable marriage, about which she wrote a poem touting its "magical nights filled with stars" and "romantic fires." But recent reviews on TripAdvisor charge the included food is not fresh and the beachfront cottages are filled with bugs. The most damning charges that the resort refused to honor a two-couples-for-the-price-of-one deal -- and only made their guests aware when they had already arrived.

Add a $2000-a-head round-trip ticket to this $10,000 getaway, and you'll come home broke and sunburned. No wonder Britney's staycating this year.

Related Stories:
· Sell Your Gold But You Still Won't Get Into Goldbar [Jaunted]
· 2004: Britney Spears Honeymoon Poem [PopDirt.com]
· Britney Spears & KFed: The Turtle Island Honeymoon [HC]

[Photo: IanL]

Tourism Marketing / Fiji Travel / Tourists / → All Tags

Fiji Flushing Away Tourism Dollars

Avoiding problems by avoiding tourists...

Fijian tourism is suffering, and it's not just because of military coups. Nope, the thing that's really killing 'em is an incident last year in which a drunken Fijian soldier urinated on a Japanese tourist on board an Air Pacific flight.

Believe it or not, said the Fiji Times:

Urinating on a tourist on an international flight is a high-profile incident which gains global notoriety.

And getting peed on is only half of it. From cab drivers who overcharge tourists, to shop vendors working the hard sell to gum-smacking customs officers, the tourism industry is doing everything it can to give the country a black eye, the newspaper says. While there aren't any quick fixes listed, we've gotta figure that making it to the airplane lav in time would be a good start.

Related Stories:
· Urinating on Japanese Tourist Hits Fiji Tourism Badly [Stuff.co.nz]
· Coup Travel: The South Pacific's the Place [Jaunted]

[Photo: Wikipedia]

Tourism Boards / Travel Advertising / → All Tags

Coup Travel: The South Pacific's the Place

A recent campaign for selling a holiday to Fiji from New Zealand used the headline "What a coup!" to try to entice vacationers. Doesn't sound too tasteless, unless of course you remember the country's military coup late last year.

Travel to the island country in the past year has been a bit disrupted by political instability. Case in point: The military-led government has just instituted a state of emergency to keep a grip on power.

The Advertising Standards Authority took a good look at the "What a coup!" campaign and said it was offensive, "but not offensive enough to breach its code of ethics". Makes us wonder what the bloody hell would break the rules.

Related Stories:
· Fiji Coup Ad Questionable [stuff.co.nz]
· Ask An Aussie About Fijian Coups [HotelChatter]
· Fiji Travel Stories [Jaunted]

[Photo: Alex Kehr]

Celeb Travel / → All Tags

Tori Spelling Married in Fiji

Tori Spelling visited the altar a second time this weekend with a new hubby, Dean McDermott, in tow. Unsatisfied with a quickie Vegas wedding, the wedding party jetted to Fiji instead.

Tori moves fast: she just got divorced a month ago (and was engaged to Dean while she was still legally married to her first husband), Spelling and a few friends headed to Fiji so she could tie the knot on the beach. Both Tori and Dean wore white (guess those rules don't apply in the South Pacific) and stood around barefoot as they proclaimed their love.  

We're accepting bets as to how long you think this one will last. Right now our money's on the amount of time it takes to fly direct back from Fiji to LA. So notorious, indeed.

Related Stories:
·   Tori's Sneaky Wedding [Sky Showbiz News]
·   Toned-down Tori ties knot No. 2 [Boston Herald]