#USAroadtrip – Page 14 – Over 50 Aussie female solo traveller USA road trip and beyond

Sydney to Nadi

Getting to Sydney airport at 3:30am is not much fun, although no traffic. The flight to Nadi was good except I hope I don’t experience another flight surrounded by 8 children under 5. If they were my family that would be totally different. Luckily it was only a 4 hour flight.

I have a 10 hour stopover in Nadi. Note, if you have more than a 6 hour stopover, you cannot check your baggage through to your final destination. I could not use the Business lounge until I checked in my baggage and could not do this until 5 hours before my flight. So you drag your luggage around until check-in time or pay for the luggage to be stored

Better Solution – 5 minutes from the airport, the transit centre offers a range of facilities. They pick you up and take you back to the airport in time for your next flight. You can have a shower, use free wifi, watch a movie in a comfortable room with lounge and beanbags and have a 20 minute foot massage, they store your luggage and they have an area for you to have a sleep as well for $38FJD.

I also had a 60 minute body massage for $100FJD. All of this equals $88aud.

The full body massage was wonderful except when I fell off the massage table. That is a problem when you are vertically challenged and try to jump onto a massage table which is waist height and fall in an embarrassing naked heap on the tiled floor. After being assisted onto the table my dignity was restored.

Pre travel excitement and packing

I have three sleeps until my flight from Sydney Airport to Los Angeles with a 10 hour stop over in Nadi Fiji. Travelling with a stopover can reduce the price of a flight substantially. A flight from Sydney to Los Angeles is approximately 15 hours and I find breaking up the trip assists reduce jet lag.

Packing is always tiresome. The rules seem to be “halve the amount you have packed” and wear layers, especially when the weather fluctuates from a low of 4°C (26°F) to a high of 28°C (83°F). But how many layers can you pack with a luggage weight limit of 23kg (50lb). How do people travel with less than 10 pairs of shoes? A pair of walking shoes, thongs (flip flops), reef shoes, and normally a pair of shoes for each outfit but I will control myself and take one pair of stiletto sandals and one pair of closed in stilettos. I can always buy more on my travels but that will mean an additional $150US in excess baggage.

Luckily I had my son’s girlfriend assist with culling my wardrobe. Now I can buy lots on my travels.

Want to go USA road trip

1 March 2018

The yellow pins show where I have been and the green pins are where I plan to visit over the next six months. When I find something interesting I add the green pins to my map. These include haunted houses, best small towns to visit in each State, movie locations. I will change the green to yellow as I visit each place.