Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

Good travel agents arrange wonderful itineraries. Great travel agents step in and fix things when things go south. Lynette Wilson is an Olympic gold-level travel agent.

It is too complicated to explain the ways in which our flights to Fiji got screwed up. Suffice to say, multiple people at two different airlines told me they’d never seen an itinerary so screwed up (and one person said to me “I didn’t even know the system could do that.”) Lynette sprung into action on Easter Sunday to get things fixed. She was at the Fiji airport before 8am two days in a row talking to people at the airlines to get things back in order. She even went to go get the airline people pastries as a thank you for all they did.

I truly believe that without Lynette and her team, I would have just given up on the entire vacation and turned around and gone back to bed. After this experience, traveling to the South Pacific without Lynette’s help feels almost irresponsible.

Plus every hotel we stayed at was fantastic, the diving was amazing, and she got us some truly unbelievable deals at some of the hotels.

Bula!

Perfect! Simply perfect! To me, that is the best description of our long-awaited, Covid-delayed trip to Fiji, arranged by Lynette Wilson and her staff. Originally our Fiji trip was to be a stop-over on the return from Australia. And then came Covid and plans were put on hold. The planning for this trip started in 2018/2019 for a 2020 trip, fortunately all the companies we were working with either provided refunds or kept our deposits active, including the airlines, so we did not lose any money nor were trip deadlines involved. Fiji opened to travelers and we decided to travel. And we are so glad we did.

We stayed at Savasi Island Resort, Clifftop Villa 4. The villa was a recent addition to the resort, complete with its own 25-30 pool and lava stone waterfall. Our villa was completely secluded and private from other villas. We woke up in the morning, from our bed, to a view that overlooked the pool, that overlooked the ocean. Simply perfect!

The activities at the resort were varied and you could do as much or as little as you wanted. We did several snorkeling trips, visited and swam at a local pearl farm too. Also visited a local family-operated cacao farm and chocolate producer. They make only 150 bars of chocolate a week. Delicious!

One of the highlights was an early-morning beach walk. We really didn’t walk on the beach so much as we were walking on the ocean floor when the tide was out. We were joined by Orecina, the resort guide. He was very knowledgeable and even found some ocean spaghetti for us to try. Salty!

We enjoyed meeting other folks and having evening sundowners on the lodge decks overlooking the bay/ocean. At the lodge, where breakfast, lunch and dinner were served, it has wonderful views of the ocean and blow holes. The food was quite good and I was even able to get a few recipes from Chef Walter! And it was also very fun trying Fijian words and phrases.

Thankfully Lynette’s travel staff was able to help with airfare/routing to and from Fiji. Our departure and return flights had segments dropped, and the offered routings had us doing a return flight with 2 red-eye flights. Not what one expects when paying for business/first! Fortunately Lynette’s team was able to get that resolved and we stayed overnight at a nice hotel and departed the next morning.

Another plus for me on this trip was that I was finally able to meet Lynette, in person! On our departure she met us at the Fiji International Airport. Lynette has put together some amazing trips for us to Australia and now Fiji, so I was very pleased she could meet us. Not only did she meet us, but helped us with the VAT process and ticketing process. It seemed that everyone, when they saw Lynette, had a big and genuine smile on their face and were very pleased to see her. Again, perfect!

Vinaka!

I traveled to Fiji on a trip that began November 1, 2022 and ended on November 17, 2022. It was wonderful. My agent, Lynette Wilson, was so accessible to me every step of the way. She texted me and we were always in contact in case I needed her. Every thing went smoothly, from the transportation to the hotels, the charter flights and everything in between. Her choice of accommodation for me on Vanua Levu was just perfect. Savasi Island Resort was wonderful and there were lots of activities on offer. The staff was incredible, Fijians are some of the warmest and friendliest people on earth. It was a great introduction to Fiji. Then I did a boat cruise, which was great because I took a scuba diving refresher course. The snorkeling was fabulous in the Yasawa Islands. Staff on the boat were fabulous and the food actually was some of the best I had in Fiji. There were many activities on offer as well and of course the beautiful, transparent turquoise sea and beaches of Fiji were superb. The third accommodation was a high-end resort (that I had chosen) and was very good. But I found that Lynette, with her vast knowledge of Fiji, did a better job of guiding me to the resorts that fit me better. The third resort was beautiful and had lots of activities on offer, but they were quite expensive and that was a bit unexpected. (It was the Six Senses.) The staff was outstanding though and the food was very good. My personal concierge there was one of the loveliest men and made my stay so worthwhile. Lynette even met me in Port Dennaru to see me off on the cruise in the Yasawa Islands. She was fantastic and her knowledge of Fiji is unparalleled. Even my day room accommodation before getting on a late-night flight in Nadi was perfect and so relaxing. She thought of everything and had all my documents and vouchers ready weeks before I left. I highly recommend without reservation Lynette Wilson if you are planning a trip to Fiji. I am dreaming of going back as soon as possible!

This year we took Wendy’s advice and visited only one country to just relax after our multicountry international trip last year that involved plenty of Covid-related entry forms, paperwork, and testing. We targeted Fiji as a place we could easily slip into total relaxation mode and contacted Lynette Wilson to help us choose just the right island and resort on which to do just that. Boy, did Lynette deliver in spades! Once we explained what we were looking for in terms of activities, culinary delights, and relaxing, Lynette knew the exact place for us, Taveuni Palms Resort on Taveuni Island, run by Colleen and Barry O’Neill from New Zealand. This resort has only two villas and we stayed in the Beach Villa. Our 2-bedroom/ 2-bath house came with gorgeous outside showers, a full kitchen, dining room, living room, pool, and beautiful Fijian woodworking and design throughout. We had a private staff of seven that were shared with the other villa and what a wonderful and amazing group of people they were, especially Sia, Manoa and Veronika, whom we interacted with daily. The staff were so friendly and welcoming we felt like family right from the start, from their beautiful singing voices when they greeted us at their salu-salu welcome, seeing them every day, to the sad good-bye singing when we had to finally leave. With 5 different gorgeous venues at which to dine on our private grounds and beach, we couldn’t wait for mealtime! And we couldn’t be anything but breathless when we sat at exquisitely set tables with seashells, flowers and candles and ate the delicious gourmet meals, including the 4-course dinner each night. Since being home and dining out, we find that there is no comparison with the meals at Taveuni Palms created by Surnila, our day chef, and Bua and Ishi, our dinner chefs! For our 10-day stay, we had a great mix of relaxation and activities, including snorkeling with private-beach gourmet picnics on nearby islands, island hopping, and shelling. We even did a very challenging but worthwhile hike to 3 beautiful waterfalls with our very capable guide, Duncan. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect resort or island in Fiji to be surrounded by the beauty of its people and nature. On top of all this, just before we left the US, Fiji discontinued all of its Covid-related entry requirements and Fiji Airways withdrew its mask-wearing requirement. That made the entire trip extra easy and enjoyable. We can’t wait to return because after all, we’re now family!

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