Wow! Fiji!, by Jeffrey Veen

Wow! Fiji!

A photo of the beach in Fiji

I took what felt like a four-day flight from the US to Australia this weekend. Somewhere over the vast Pacific, a flight attendant came on the PA to tell us that all lavatories were suddenly malfunctioning, and we shouldn't use them, and it was really a good idea if we didn't even look in just now. Beverage service would be understandably cut short, too.

Hmmm... I kinda had to go, and here we are a few hours from our destination and their wonderful flushable toilets. A slight worry set in.

About 10 minutes later, the captain came on to say that yes, indeed, the lavs were busted. But he had decided to put us down in Fiji for repairs.

Wow! Fiji! How exotic! How exciting!

As the plane descended, I looked out at the black sky, and then saw a few tiny lights below. We landed, taxied to a gate, and I watched as a not-very-exotic looking ground crew fix the problem. We all lined up, used the newly functional restrooms, and off we flew back into the night.

Wow! Fiji!

This entry was written by Jeffrey Veen and posted 25 September 2005 at 11:18 PM. It was filed under Travel. | View blog reactions

Comments

1. On 26 September 2005 at 9:22 AM Nathan Smith wrote:

Well, now at least you can tell people you've been to Fiji. Although, that brings up the question of what constitutes having visted a country. Do airports count, or does one have to drive through an area to consider it visited? Or, should one have to actually set foot on soil to count it? If we go by the drive / set-foot rule, then I've been to 76% of the US (mapped it on some site awhile ago). :)

2. On 26 September 2005 at 10:26 AM kathryn wrote:

if it were me, i would have kept thinking about the plot of the tv series lost....

3. On 26 September 2005 at 12:10 PM Bill wrote:

I just can't stop thinking about the poor soul who discovered the problem. "Not a good idea to even look..." Hope no one was in there when it did what ever airplane toilets do.

4. On 26 September 2005 at 3:15 PM richard wrote:

As long as it wasn't like that Seinfeld episode with Kristin Davis...

5. On 26 September 2005 at 3:58 PM John Dowdell wrote:

"Or, should one have to actually set foot on soil to count it?"

Soiling the soil should do it, counting as a countable visit, shouldn't it? ;-)

6. On 26 September 2005 at 4:07 PM alex wrote:

Welcome to Australia, hope you enjoy our... err... toilet facilities, I guess! Looking forward to your WE05 talk, has the topic been announced yet? we05.com still mysteriously says "To come"...