Once Chris had been working for BOAC for a year , we could enjoy staff travel. Which we proceeded to do. This was a round the world ticket that took us to
Hawaii
Getting long distances was quite a slog in those days, as the plane had to land regularly to refuel and change crew. The flight to Sydney would land at New York, San Francisco, Hawaii , and Fiji . We had been intending to fly eastwards, but flights were full, and our travel was standby. So we rapidly reworked a westward route, with a very short connection in New York, but fantastic work by ground crew there got us through emigration and onto the next plane just as they were closing the doors. We had to get off in Hawaii as the leg to Fiji was full
I think it would be fair to say that neither of us was impressed by our short stay on Honolulu. But we did rent a car, and once one got away from Waikiki Beach, it improved.
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Fiji
The holiday really began in Fiji. Now that was exotic and tropical. It was also expensive, so although we rented a car, we slept in the car one night to save money, and another night was spent at the airport waiting for the incoming Air New Zealand flight that took us on to Auckland. But in between we stayed at a wonderful hotel called Korolevu.
Here we met 2 Australians, Lyn and Gerry Zarb, who knew some locals from a previous visit, and we went to the native village one evening to drink Kava - now that was an intersting experience. It is a sort of semi-narcotic drink make from crushing roots, then filtering the mush, and drinking from a communal coconut shell that is passed round everyone. Neither Lyn nor Chris fancied drinking it, so Gerry and I had to drink more than our fair share, in order not to appear rude
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We did not stay long in New Zealand. With staff travel being standby, we had to ask about likely flights out whenever we arrived in a country, then tailor our stay accordingly
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Sydney Australia
We rented a car in Australia, driving south then into the Blue Mountains, sweeping north inland, and ending up with the Zarbs in Sydney
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Hong Kong
And our final stop was Hong Kong, where we stayed long enough to take the cable car up to the Peak, take a boat trip round the colony, view Red China from the New Territories, and over-eat at a Viking Buffet.
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