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Published: August 13th 2010
Alright, where to begin. My flight from Tanna to Port Villa was supposed to fly out at 10am. When we got to the airport we were told there was a delay. Apparently, the workers had decided to go on strike 30 minutes before our check-in and were refusing to refuel or load the baggage. The president of Air Vanuatu had to fly down settle things. About 4 hours later we were taking off. We arrived in Port Villa and the police escorted us all aside to get statements for their investigation...Whatever that means.
A few hours later we were on our plane to go from Port Villa to Nadi, Fiji. As we were taxiing on the runway to turn around and take off it felt like all the tires on one side of the plane exploded. The plane started rocking and the wing ended up almost hitting the ground. It wasn't until I looked out the window and saw everyone running out and away from the terminal that I realized what was going on. Port Villa was having an earthquake. For an area used to earthquakes, even the locals on the plane were visibly nervous. It was a 7.6 earthquake, the largest in 10 years. Everyone was concerned about the ensuing tsunami but it ended up only being about a foot high. Needless to say, our flight was cancelled since they had to inspect the runway and the plane. Everything was fine and we took off the next day.
Anyways, Vanuatu is awesome. I will be going back there someday and I would tell everyone they need to go there. I'd say to go to a couple different islands rather than stay on one, but my 7/8 days in Tanna were fine with me. The volacano didn't disappoint and if it weren't for the earthquake it would definitely be the most memorable part of the trip.
I'm running out of time on my internet card and I have a lot more to write but it'll have to wait. I'll write again before I leave Fiji on the 18th...I'm ready to leave Fiji, it's overrated.
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Claire
non-member comment
Finally got on the stick
Hey Dan, guess who!? Someone from your recent past...I finally rediscovered your goodbye e-mail and decided to write--aren't you glad? Sounds like you're having a blast--I'm so jealous! Hope you do make it to Europe--we were in Italy a month ago and had a great time--awesome wine, shopping, food, and lots of churches...luckily didn't get hit by lightning, although it was warm and humid enough. Take good care of yourself and have fun.