Previous Trip Notes:
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 1: The 29.5-Hour Trip To Nanuku
It was not an uncomfortable wake-up. We had an 8:58am flight from MSP to LAX. Sadly, there is no way to bring the NSPpeanuts into the Delta Lounge without paying the $50 per guest (for a child!!!) fee, so we opted to go to the Escape Lounge, which NSPwife’s AMEX Platinum gets us all access to through Priority Pass. We enjoyed some light food, and of course celebratory Mimosas.
Kick-Off Drinks in the Escape Lounge
We had an easy flight, and landed in Los Angeles around 11:15am. Our gate was immediately next to a Delta Lounge, so I flew in to grab a couple coffees. We made our way to the baggage claim and headed outside to pickup the National Rental Car shuttle bus. This would be a learning for us…as we waited nearly 20 minutes for the shuttle, and then due to terminal construction, took nearly 45 minutes for what should have been a 10-minute ride. Our Executive status with National allows us to pick any car, so we grabbed the largest SUV we could find, and loaded up. After a short 10-minute ride to the Hyatt Regency LAX, we checked-in, threw our luggage in the room, and then jumped back in the car.
We wanted to show the girls the Pacific Ocean, so opted to head to the Santa Monica Pier; however, we of course stopped for lunch at In-and-Out Burger. NSPpeanut became immediately obsessed with the burgers and is now likely a life-long fan.
First Taste of In-N-Out Burger
After lunch, we made the easy ride to the pier. We parked right next to the pier and enjoyed arcade games and ice cream.
Santa Monica Pier
Santa Monica Pier
We made our way back to the Hyatt, where we arranged outfits for the late-night plane ride, consolidated some luggage, and took NSPpeanutToo’s car seat to be held for the week at the bell desk. We then made our way down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Conveniently, Hyatt Globalists receive unlimited free drinks between 5pm-7pm. We took full advantage, and then headed up to the room to watch Michigan Hockey ultimately beat North Dakota State in the Regional Finals of the NCAA Tournament. By this time, it was really late for us given the time zone difference, and a bit of delirium was creeping in:
It was then time to jump on the short hotel-airport-shuttle. One pain point booking Fiji Airways with Cathay Pacific was that the seat assignments would never hold, and Fiji Airways would not help. Not ideal when traveling with kids. On an 11-hour flight. In economy. This forced us to arrive at LAX a few minutes before the check-in opened (3 hours in advance) in order to try and secure seats together. You know, with our 4-year old and 8-year old kids. Luckily, we were able to secure 3 together, with my seat directly across the aisle. Disaster averted.
On a side-note, we had a harsh learning when trying to secure open Business Class seats in the months leading up to the flight. Typically, if a seat is available on points, you can simply upgrade your seat. And in fact, you can do that with Cathay; however, what you cannot do is upgrade only select seats in your reservation. I had, mistakenly, booked the flights under 2 reservations: 4 seats going out, and 4 seats coming back. About 5 months before our flight, 3 business class seats opened up on points. BUT, Cathay could not upgrade only 3 seats, it was an all-or-nothing option. They wouldn’t (or couldn’t) split a PNR to create 2 reservations for us. Fiji wouldn’t help in any way. After over two dozen calls over multiple days, the seats got gobbled up. Sigh. Economy it would be.
Sadly, the security lines were painfully long, and the walk through the terminal even longer. Not ideal when schlepping with 2 children at 10pm west coast time (not to mention 12am where we live). We finally arrived at the heart of the Tom Bradley International Terminal. NSPwife had Oneworld Emerald Status courtesy of her American Airlines Platinum Pro status. Fiji Airlines was a partial member of Oneworld, but that status would only be enough to get 2 of us into the lounge. Graciously, maybe due to the fact that our two children were effectively comatose, they let all four of us in. There were some amazing Pho and Asian dishes (Cathay Pacific is one of the airlines this lounge services), and we filled up given a daunting 11-hour flight (in economy!) was ahead of us. NSPwife and I each had a single glass of wine before we headed to the plane.
The flight itself was uneventful. Luckily no one was sitting next to me. And we all managed to get about 7 hours of sleep, far more than what I thought we would get. The food was what is expected.
Economy Breakfast
Enough to sustain, but nothing to celebrate. The service was good. And we arrived in a downpour, tired but ready to get to our destination…only a 2.5 hour drive away.
Back on Ground
We booked our transportation through Xplore Fiji. The driver was waiting for us when we arrived at the baggage claim. We would definitely recommend the service. Despite being Easter Sunday, we stopped at a place about 20 minutes from the airport for coffee and breakfast pastries. The coffee didn’t stand a chance against the jetlag, and after another 15 minutes fell asleep until about 15 minutes from Nanuku.
Pulling into the resort was a great feeling. A flight from Minnesota to California. A long layover and some sightseeing. A long flight in economy. And a long drive to the resort. 29.5 hours. But we had made it.
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