Fiji / August 1998
This was the trip of a lifetime for a high school kid. I toured with a singing group for a few summers and this particular year we ended up over in Australia and Fiji for 2 weeks. I can’t remember where we stayed or what cities we were in. I remember climbing palm trees, a 15 minute boat ride out to the most amazing reef I’ve ever snorkeled in my life and sneaking coral on our tour bus before the driver pulled over and made all of us empty our bags of it because it was getting stinky. I also remember an amazing market where I bought a shell necklace that I still have today. It was incredibly hot there and I ended up getting so sick for a couple of days, not the best memory, but a strong one! We stayed at a combo of hotels and with some amazing local host families. One particular questionable decision I made was sleeping outside on the ground on straw mats one night with 2 friends. We woke up soaking wet from humidity and dew, luckily nothing bit or ate us for breakfast.
