Emily Kydd
Well I am back for another instalment in my travel life. After being stationary in Vancouver for the last two years, I’ve wrangled an internship for myself with the UN disaster response agency in Suva, Fiji. I’ll be taking off the end of July and returning the start of November. I have been to Fiji several times, and of course the Pacific region is a bunch of islands after my own heart, so I’m thrilled to be returning. This time around I’m hoping for a great experience for my job, but who knows, maybe I’ll find some time for diving (with bull sharks!!), hiking, surfing, and whatever else happens to creep up, including massive insects. Emily Anne
Travel Blog Posts
November 1st 2011
Hello Faithful Fiji Followers, It is with my deepest sorrow to announce this will be my last blog posting from the great nation of Fiji. Not only does this mean that my trip has come to a close, but you will have to wait until I go traveling again to laugh at me from the comfort of your computer chairs. Shucks! Well, that is, unless you are very lucky and something ridiculous happens on my flight home and I live to tell the tale. For my last few days in Fiji, and described in the spirit of Maria Von Trapp, whose biography I read, I decided to spend my time focused around two of my favorite things. The sun and the sea. I’ve come to the conclusion that these really are two of my favorite things ... read more
Don’t Walk so Fast!!! It might be a Crime!!
Published: October 27th 2011Oceania » Fiji » Ovalau » LevukaOctober 28th 2011
Well hello all from Ovalau Fiji!! I am in my last week here in Fiji, so I’m thinking of bombarding you with blogs to make up for lost time, like when children behave only at Christmas and then are tyrants the rest of the year. So I finished my last day of work at OCHA, worked my butt off right till the minute I walked out the door. My last two days at work consisted wrapping up reports from the big Pacific Humanitarian Team forum the week previous, as well as attending and reporting on a coordination meeting for the drought that is occurring in Tuvalu right now. I know, nobody knows where Tuvalu is, and isn’t it ironic that there is a drought on a little tiny island in the middle of the ocean? Indeed. ... read more
October 21st 2011
Well hello all, I have not written a blog is some time, for some reason my abilities to update greatly decline as the span of my trip goes on. I did this same thing in Central America and got messages from strangers asking me what had happened to me. So here I am not disappearing off the grid! I’m sitting in a workshop for the next 5 days, so maybe by the end of the week I can have a finished blog Lets see where did I leave off… I guess it was with the fire-walking…yes that was a while ago… since fire-walking I’ve dived with sharks and zipping across large ravines, I have also welcomed a ginger Nurse from home for her 3-week holiday. Ok, I’ll tell the full story… SHARK!!!!! A terrifying word thanks ... read more
August 30th 2011
Well I have been in Suva for over a month now, and boy oh boy has it been a time. You all know that I am no longer a vagrant, I have a flat, a job (though the pay leaves something to be desired), and I have figured out the yoga schedule at the Indian cultural centre. And as exciting as all of those things are, I have actually done some cool things too! First adventure to note was the hike that I took with 15 other young ex-pats outside of Suva called Joske’s Thumb. It was a hike that was straight up to a large thumb like rock structure poking out of the rainforest-y mountains that is somewhat iconic of Suva. Did I mention it was straight up? But the day was not rainy and ... read more
August 29th 2011
Well it’s that time of year here in Suva Fiji, the Hibiscus Festival. Technically it’s called the Vodofone Fiji Hibiscus Festival, but here in this blog we’re not into obscene amounts of product placement. Hibiscus is the largest festival in the Pacific, and it’s a pretty huge deal here in Suva. At the core, it is a beauty pageant. On the outside, it is a carnival with rides, games, sugary food, street meat, and bouncy castles. Somewhere in the middle there are 7 categories of contestants, all competing for the crown of either Queen, King, Lady, Teen, Princess, Prince, and the Adi Senikau (transgender people), all sponsored by various Fijian companies, and all with some sort of social issues that they are fighting for (or against, depending on the issue I guess). With all these categories, ... read more
August 11th 2011
Greetings all, I have been firmly implanted here in Suva for about a week and a half now. In that time I have managed to get a mobile, a place to live, start at work, and receive even more mosquito bites on my legs than before. Fairly productive I would say. I have also managed to not eat any fast food, have been to a few yoga classes, and met seemingly a million young ex-pats at the Yacht club during a night out. Busy busy. But going back to the start… I flew to Suva after being on Taveuni for a few days and got a room at the South Seas Private hotel. It was a big rambling colonial house that seemed to have a never ending amount of twists and turns and rooms at dead ... read more
July 30th 2011
Bula friends!! I am here in Fiji, and boy oh boy is life grand!!! After an epic cross ocean air travel experience, which I shant dwell on (except to update everybody on the fact that I still do, and will forever more, hate LAX airport), I arrived at 5:15am into Fiji. So, in other words, my flight was on time!!! Which is great, except that I had kind of planned on it not being on time, and had booked my flight to Taveuni, the outer island I was heading to, for hours later in the day. Yikers. Have no fear loyal compatriots, if there is one thing that vast amount of unplanned travel joined with avid watching of the Amazing Race has taught me, a wink and a smile to the right airline worker can go ... read more
The Oregon Trail, without the Typhoid and oxen
Published: July 18th 2011North America » United States » Oregon » Portland
July 17th 2011
Well hello to all!!!!! After two years away I am back to the travel blog and ready to write. As many of you know, I am preparing to leave for a three-month internship in Suva, Fiji. This internship is part of my Masters of Arts of Disaster Management, and I will be working for the United Nation Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affaires. Bit of a mouthful? Indeed, there will be a test at the end. Ok, fine, OCHA for short. I’ll be working for the Pacific Headquarters in Suva, which is the capital of the Fiji and a pretty intense hub of the Pacific region. And by “intense” I mean like 100,000 people, and by “working” I mean unpaid slave labour. Anyways, that adventure will commence this week, as I am leaving Vancouver on Thursday ... read more
These Boots Were Made for Walkin´!!!
Published: May 10th 2009Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Northern Pacific Coast » Leon
May 10th 2009
Why hello all, I am currently, while sitting in Leon, Nicaraguia, exceedingly over heated, sunburnt in odd places, and insanely sleep deprived. Which means this blog will probably be utter rbbish. I´m overheated, because well, its freakin´hot down here. Typical day is over 35, and today seemed to be sitting at around 63. Also probably made a difference that I started the day by watching the sun come up after hiking through the night up a volcano. Sound inane? kind of. Because last night was this months full moon, I went on a Full Moon night hike with the QuetzalTrekkers out of Leon. This is a partner organization of the trekking company I hiked with up in Guate, where all the proceeds go to helping local street children and its all completely volunteer run. Very very ... read more
May 1st 2009
Hello helloooo, Hope all is well on this last day of April 2009, can´t believe my trip is going so fast, maybe I should think about booking a ticket home...or not. Anyways, Im in Alegria, El Salvador, a small town in eastern ES, after spending some time in the capital and in north. Capital cities of developing countries are typically fairly unplesant, San Salvador is no exception. Arriving in town I was greeted with the hustle of a metropolis, the poverty of the third world, and the grime on my feet to show for both. SS does host the classy distinction of having the second largest mall in central America, the Metrocentre, though sickeningly, coming from the consumer background I do, I was unimpressed. Ive seen bigger I thought, ugh, Metrotown, West Ed mall, Mall of ... read more
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