Fiji

Booking a vacation in Fiji was one of those crazy VISA card moments. We couldn't really afford it, but we had a week to burn before leaving Australia for good and we thought "Heck, we'll pay this off later when we're working in a rainy office dreaming of faraway tropical paradise".

This was our second visit to the South Pacific following a thoroughly enjoyable visit to the islands of Vanuatu. The setting was very similar and Fiji served up a healthy dose of down-to-earth tropical island goodness, allowing us to luxuriate in a modern hotel, enjoy the laid back facilities and forget about the rat race, due in large part to the lack of mobile Internet (Stephen Fry's worst nightmare).

We opted for the all-inclusive package despite the room-only Internet deal being entirely reasonable at about 70 GBP per night. The thing is, if you're going for a complete chill-out, then you don't want to be totting up every drink and food purchase to try and beat the all-inclusive rate. Strangely, we find we indulge less on the all-inclusive packages than we do on the room only rate. We eat and drink freely when the urge takes us rather than fluctuating between scrimping and blow-outs.

Anybody familiar with our usual vacation outings would find this holiday completely alien to us. Rarely do we choose to sit on a sun lounger for seven days and not explore the local sights and adventure highlights, but on this occasion that's exactly what we needed. Web site be damned! We needed a period of unadulterated chilling and Fiji hit the spot. At first, island life seemed basic and lacking, but by the end of the week we completely clicked with the slow pace of life and were disappointed to be leaving.

The weather was very changeable at this time of year. Frequent showers and cloudy spells limited the tanning opportunities and would frustrate hardcore sun-seekers. Otherwise, big thumbs up for Fiji. The perfect place to get away from manic life and completely unwind. Bula!