Five Go Mad In Paradise - Travel Tips for Samoa

Beginning with a Public Service Announcement: 
The sun is a hot and burning thing (surprise!), wear factor 50 sunscreen at all times. Ideally, wear a rash vest whenever swimming/snorkeling. Kiwis can become a tad complacent about sun exposure in other countries. "Oh, you guys actually have an Ozone layer so I can forget to re-apply my Factor 30 for five hours when swimming". Most of us got some degree of sunburn on the first day and, not being one to do anything by halves, I got sun-stroke and had to skip the Giant Clam snorkeling expedition the next day. I was very disappointed, not least of all because of all of the quality innuendo that I missed out on!

Speaking of weather, it was the start of the rainy season when we arrived in early November. It rained once on our first day, it was monsoonal but brief. Other than that any rain was at night and the temperature averaged around 31 degrees.

Make the most of your duty-free allowance: Wine is expensive and usually not very nice. It's difficult to store it at the optimum temperature in the tropical heat. It goes off quickly, especially once it has been opened, so do not order it by the glass unless warm kerosene is your tipple of choice. Apparently, we drank all of the decent Chardonnay that they had on-site in the first five days and the last bottle of Substitute Sav that we ordered was corked, or more accurately in these screw cap times ...screwed.

Take local cash: ATMs are like Unicorns over there and a lot of places do not have EFTPOS. You will need it for transfers, taxis, food, and drinks and pretty much everything outside of the resort. Most local attractions like swimming holes etc charge a small entry fee and you will need cash for those. If you do forget to go to the bank before leaving the exchange rate at the local airport is surprisingly good.

In terms of packing your own tasty snacks, you are allowed to take food in so long as it is sealed. We took a LOT of cheese and crackers. Possibly too much cheese as we were frantically inhaling it two hours before our flight was due to leave. Poor Ruth turned into a back street dairy pusher in an attempt to divest herself of the last of it. Pays to bear in mind that you can't take it back into NZ once it is opened.  

Tours: The cost of booking tours through the "Tour Desk" is eye-watering. Even the guy actually working on the tour desk thought it was a better option for us to get a taxi for our day trip.  

And speaking of taxis, be sure to lock in any taxi quotes at the reception desk. Our transfer from RTP to the Sheraton went up ST$20 overnight from the rate we had been quoted the day before.

• Service: Island time is a thing, service can be a bit haphazard, just go with it. One day I waited an hour for a tuna sandwich (they were probably sending out for extra tomatoes*) but hey, it's not as if I had anywhere else that I needed to be. I have since read a few Trip Advisor reviews around the speed of food delivery that seem somewhat mean-spirited. It's not that anyone is deliberately dawdling, it's just that time moves at a different pace there. Embrace it, go for another swim while you are waiting, they haven't forgotten about you. Actually, sometimes they have forgotten about you and that is when all of that cheese comes in pretty handy!

Our cheese supply for one week

It does pay to be very clear when ordering your food and beverages. Especially if you have any major food allergies. *On four occasions my increasingly heartfelt request for "no tomato" in my tuna sandwich was reinterpreted as "kindly take ALL of the tomatoes that you have lying around in the kitchen and place them in my sandwich. "Not a major for me, I'm not allergic to tomato, I just hate it in sandwiches, but if you have any serious nut allergies or similar I would advise being extra vigilant.  And I have almost forgiven Clare for launching into a rousing chorus of "Let it Go" when the third tomato infiltrated food item was placed in front of me. And yes, I do hear you saying that the definition of insanity is continuing to order the tuna sandwich expecting a different result. I think it had turned into something of a running joke by the fourth attempt.

Natural Hazards: If you are nervous about Tsunami risk be aware that the resort is an absolute beachfront experience. We felt one tiny earthquake while we were there. It was enough to cause us to cast a wary eye out to sea and actually read the Tsunami evacuation instructions in the room. That done we went back to eating our cheese because if you worried too much about these things you wouldn't go anywhere. Maybe just don't watch "The Impossible" before you go!

• Take reef shoes, or buy some in Apia for the princely sum of ST$10 (approx NZ$6). There are a lot of rocks in the water. And be careful around the coral, obviously for ecological reasons but also because of coral cuts. They can become infected very quickly in a tropical climate.

Also Mosquitos, Samoan mozzies are vicious and apparently had not eaten for a month when we arrived. They latched onto us like millennials on an almond latte.  Take mozzie repellant. Based upon our experience the local specimens have developed something of a taste for Aeroguard and none of the "natural" options gave them a second's pause. Much as I hate the chemical warfare approach, the only things that seemed to work were Deet and Bushmans. Both of which are the rough equivalent of hosing down your body with liquid Napalm.

Ideally, take one of those plug-ins (the plugs are the same as NZ over there). We spent the week comparing the size of our mozzie bites and passing around the antihistamines and anti-itch cream like party pills. On the bright side, there are no malarial or dengue-fever carrying mozzies there so you may be itchy but you won't be in mortal peril.  However, Zika Virus has been a thing over there and although there are no current outbreaks it really does pay to avoid being bitten if you can.

• Tipping: As in most of the Islands, tipping is appreciated but not expected. We decided not to tip individual staff as we went along. Instead, we made a team donation to the local school when we checked out.

Cost-wise overall we worked out that our stay cost us approx NZ$100 a day on top of our pre-paid accommodation.  This included food, drinks, and excursions which makes the resort incredibly good value. We had rather a lot of cocktails and none of us are bird-like eaters so we were pretty happy with our final bill.

Wifi is expensive and patchy. If you have Vodafone's $7 a day roaming package you will be fine but if you are going to be relying on the local Wifi I would suggest that you do not go on holiday with any deadlines hanging over your head. 

Speaking of heads, if you want to do the flowers in your hair thing it's good to know that those beautiful hibiscus flowers close up at night leaving you looking as though you have purposely tucked a piece of decaying vegetation behind your ear.  Go with the Frangipani at dinner time. And always check any potential adornments for ants BEFORE attaching to your person.

And finally...

As It Turns Out, You Can Go Home Again

So today is Marty's Birthday. 

I don't say "would have been" because it it still is. It is a still a day to celebrate his life, his spirit and his quintessential Marty-ness.
A month back in the UK with the people that I love has made me braver. It's funny how we draw so much strength from the people who have our backs, and our fronts, and our hearts. 

It has been a month of confronting the past at every turn and drawing strength from that to face the future. 

And for every moment when I been almost physically punched in the chest with grief and longing for him to "just come back dammit" there has been a moment of pure joy and and a growing conviction that I will be OK.

That although things will never be the same that I can get through this, that I am getting through it, and that there are still a lot of things left to be grateful for.

It was not the trip I was expecting. I anticipated more tears, and a lot less laughter.  More painful moments and less beautiful, hilarious ones.

There were many speed wobbles. 

Meeting my one year old niece for the first time and looking at her lovely little face and thinking "M will never get to meet you now and he would have loved you so much" 

He would have picked her up and casually carried her around on one arm as though it was the most natural thing in the world.  He was always the baby whisperer. 

Babies, as a rule, cry when someone hands them to me, they hang on like limpets knowing that they are in the hands of a hopeless amateur. clinging to whatever they can grasp about my person...so many broken necklaces.

M would also have been been down on the floor for hours giving her walking lessons. 

Many times we would have people to stay or go and stay with friends and they would call a couple of days later to tell us that the baby had started walking after a few coaching sessions with Uncle Marty.

I'm sorry you missed out on that Saoirse, I'm sorry that you and your brother will miss out on him, I'll do my best to make it up to you both, we all will.

And then there was walking along South Bank in London, looking at the lights on Tower Bridge and thinking "last time I was here you were right next to me" and yet I could still hear him in my head saying "I still am sweetie"

And going to the National Theatre alone because it was always one of our places. 

There is a story behind that one. My Dad was a big theatre guy, he took me to RSC when I was seven to see "Much Ado About Nothing"

I don't imagine that I understood much of the plot at that age but I remember him returning me to Mum and proudly saying that I had "laughed in all the right places".

When I went back to the UK on my OE Dad started taking me to the National Theatre and when he died Marty and I agreed to try and see something there whenever were in London.

Our first outing was to see "An Inspector Calls".  Not having been to the National before Marty was blissfully unaware that the average length of a play there is approx two and a half to three hours.

So we get to intermission, I was in a seat closer to the aisle than M and employed our usual theatre strategy  which was for whoever is in front to head straight to the bar before it becomes a complete scrum. 

Once I had secured our drinks I began the "Marty Hunt" this was a game that featured prominently in our marriage due to Martin possessing disappearing skills that would have made David Copperfield envious.

After five minutes of futile searching I resorted to phoning him. "where are you?" "I'm outside waiting for you, I've got your coat from the coat check" 

"Why have you got my coat now?"

"Because we are leaving?" This last was delivered in a what I can only describe as an "I love you but sometimes you are not very bright" tone.

I was very confused by this point  "are you not enjoying it, I think it's really good"

"What?, yes of course I enjoyed it, it was great"

Ahhhhh

"You do know it isn't finished yet don't you?"

"Of course it is finished, we've been in there an hour and a half, how much more can there be?"

"About another hour or so"

"F*uck"..(long pause)... well I did think the ending was a bit sh!t"

"What, somewhat "inconclusive"?"

"Yeah....I'll just come back in then shall I?"

We laughed about that for years. And sitting in the theatre, without him beside me, it still made me smile...through the tears.

It rather sums up our story really, It was a wonderful play but the ending was a bit sh!t and somewhat inconclusive.

So Happy Birthday my love. We will have a whiskey or two for you tonight, I will have people that we both love around me and we will swap stories and remember you and all of the ways that you made us laugh.

I'm sure that there will be some tears but so long as we can smile through them I know that you will be happy.