Review of South Pacific Tour

Highlights and Observations 

1.  Overall, the island nations are overly abundant with beauty! I wished we spent more time in the South Pacific scuba diving, kayaking, hiking, etc. and less on culture or history. Most of the cultural or historical sights were underwhelming. They were mostly traditions villages and marginal museums, except for 2 U.N.E.S.C.O. sights. The historical timeline of each island basically isn’t too complicated or different from each other; it basically consists of 4 eras: pre-missionary, missionary, WWII (Japanese vs. Americans), and today. And similar to many developing counties in African and South American, the indigenous inhabitants don’t have the means or interest (typical at their stage of economic development) to invest historical and cultural museums. 
2. The thrill of traveling through the South Pacific was damped by a group of old white British people who didn’t have the capacity to appreciate diversity. They view the countries we visited through their narrow viewfinder and applied their British filters. Instead of learning from or appreciating the culture, they insist on judging the culture. They’d ask questions like “does your government provide a means to recycle your disposable waste?” Most of the population in these countries is living on a diet of coconut, rice and fish. Their recyclable waste isn’t their main problem. Or the Brits would critique the food service based on Western standards: “The food was severed sequentially and not together. We ate our toast first, because we didn’t know eggs were coming.” “They didn’t provide salt. We had to ask for it. When they provided it, the meal was almost finished.” Maybe meals in the South Pacific are eaten in sequential order, but in the order it’s cooked. Maybe it isn’t customary to add salt at the table. Moreover, it seemed like the locals were trying to be accommodating to Western tastes and eating habit to please the tourist, but were falling short and therefore being criticized. The people on the tour put the shortcomings on blast; they loved to complain. It was their hobby. They complained about everything. Listening to complainers can be exhausting. Lesson to be learned: don’t travel with old white people who are set in their ways.
3. 100% Anti-Technology Group: a) all group members except myself printed a stack of paper with their flight information, I saved my flight information to a folder on my phone; b) there was no means to contact each other when we were not together physically, since no WhatApp or Messenger group existed, because most people did not have phones and those who did, did not have the necessary apps; c) no use of Maps.Me or any type of electronic maps; d) no sharing of personal photos on Instagram or FB, instead most of the participants still send postcards; e) no SIM cards for immediate online information like country stats on “Google”, or recommended restaurants or “things-to-do” on TripAdvisor or Wikitravel; f) no Kindle downloads of Lonely Plant offline. There is so much information available to today electronically, since the tour participants were not taking advantage this information, it was like traveling with cave people. 
4.  From the trip I obtained a cursory understanding of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. I also learned a lot about the food and tried a lot of new foods that I’ve never tried before. 
5. Both the UNESCO sight of “Rai Mata” in Vanuatu and “Nan Moda” l in Micronesia were highlights for me along with trying Kava in Micronesia and visiting the Mt. Yusur Volcano on Tanna Island, Vanuatu. Not surprisingly Vanuatu and Micronesia are also my two favorite country visits on this trip. 
6. The slow pace of the tour and decent WiFi in the most of the hotels allowed me catch up on organizing my life and coordinate future travels plans. 
7. My first time to visit a clam farm. 

 Challenges and Improvements 

1. The $50 for Internet access at the Wallis hotel was too expensive. 
2. Trip notes should include the cost and usage limits of the WiFi at the hotels, if WiFi is not included, or provided in limited quality, with the room. 
3. Too much time spend on Wallis there wasn't enough things to see or do there. 
4. The zoo/park and Martine Museum in New Caledonia were boring. Visiting the art museum and aquarium would have been better activities, in my opinion. Or at least more suitable to my interests. 
5. The transport vans in Port Vila, Vanuatu were of extremely poor quality. There had no shocks absorbers. Sitting in the back, I felt every bump. It was extremely uncomfortable. 
6.  Not enough physical activity on the trip. But that was partially my fault, I had the full itinerary prior to signing up, I recognized there wasn’t a lot of physical activity. The trip did, however, covered most of the countries that I wanted to visit and that’s why I signed up. In retrospect, the trip was clearly suited for old retirees. The focus was nice hotels and lot of cultural village visits and traditional dancing.