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The Happy Compass

The Happy Compass Discovering the world through the eyes of a 7yo. Start date: October 8 2019. Boston - Brazil - Arg

27/02/2025

2/28/25 Bats. Fascinating to watch! And listen to! :)

26/02/2025

2/26/25 I jumped it!!!

I told them to call me Sammy so they can cheer for me without worrying about how to pronounce my name :)

25/02/2025

2/25/25 This was beautiful and inspiring

24/02/2025

2/24/25 Fiji - Time for homework :)

23/02/2025

2/24/25 Well... the storm didn't disappoint. It started a few hours late, but totally justified canceling flights coming into the island. I'm glad it's wasn't worse, and I'm glad it happened during the day so we don't need to guess what all the noise is about...

Henry went for a run in the heaviest rain... mom worked hard hard hard and made a lot of progress with things that were a bit behind... Henry got a lot of the homework done and went into town with our driver to get the laundry done. A productive day all around :)

23/02/2025

2/23/25 Another driving tour, another amazing waterfall swim after a loooong stop at the Blue Lagoon beach.

Today was constant 5 minutes rain, 5 minutes sunshine. No exaggeration! :)

22/02/2025

2/22/25 The calm before the storm... literally. Everyone here is preparing for the storm we are expecting to hit tomorrow night. Well... not quite sure what to expect. Our host has put away all the small items around the yard, the kayaks, the bikes, etc... they taped our kitchen door, that one is facing the ocean and that's where the winds and rain will come from. We counted our food: 5 eggs, bread, some cheese, butter, 2 sausages, corn, onion, one avocado and some canned fruit. We decided it's enough for 2 days so we are not worried :)

We took a lazy kayak trip along our beach and Henry did a little snorkeling and a lot of digging. Mom worked on the beach, on the porch and later on... in bed :) Lazy day, I guess we needed to recover from all the adventures of the day before.

22/02/2025

2/21/25 We took a day with a private guide recommended by our Airbnb host. Great idea, as always! Connect with a local who knows all the secret spots... what a full day we had, and it was not stressful or even tiring. We went at our own pace, got to meet some awesome ex-pats, witnessed people cooking on an open hot spring, took a "mud bath" (only the young one!), nice lunch spot on the beach, visited the three resorts where my seminar will take place and... the highlight: swam in the Nakawaga waterfall!! All to ourselves! Our guide needed no GPS, no names no instructions... he just drove us to all these hidden spots. :)

20/02/2025

2/20/25 More photos and impressions from the first day, and another travel hack.

I looked at the map to see what's around us and where we could spend the afternoon... and realized we are 500m away from one of the best resorts on the island - Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort. More over, they have a dive store on site open to public and a restaurant. So we walked over, 10 minutes, and discovered the better beaches, the pools, beautiful dock over the water and ... KIDS! :)

Dress up a bit, be nice, buy a drink and you could spend the day at nice hotel or resort without having to pay for the night ;)

Henry learned to never be bored. There is always something to discover, to do, to tinker with, and he always finds the fun side of every situation! I love this quality in him and I hope to continue to nurture it with trips like this, unplanned, unstructured and full of unexpected twists and turns.

Somehow Henry managed to "crash the party" and organize everyone to build a dam and a lake together. They watched in anticipation to see which side of the dam would burst first. They cheered in excitement when the dam broke and frantically started to fix it again. The little ones refused to go to dinner :) Finding joy in the little things...

We decided we will be back to try some of the activities opened to the public, like the fishing trip. I've never been on a fishing trip before and not sure I'm excited about that (i hope they have a shaded area where i can hide)... but i know Henry would absolutely LOVE IT and I can't wait to take the photos!

20/02/2025

2/20/25 First day in Fiji. It will take a little bit of getting used to the heat, humidity, bugs and quiet... Great opportunity to be in the moment, admire the birds, the fish, the flowers, the people.

Henry jumped into action right away. Our host has kayaks, snorkel gear, paddle boat.

We didn't come prepared for the bugs... need to go into town to get sprays, creams, etc.

Glad we got water shoes. We used them right away.

Great internet at the house but not on the road... that's a bit frustrating...

Tomorrow we hired a guide. We like to meet the locals and make connections.

It's a bird paradise where we live right now. If we sit quiet on the porch for 10 minutes, they start to show up.

19/02/2025

Finally at our destination. We're not even tired. Beautiful place.

19/02/2025

Off we go on the "baby plane". Last flight, #4

19/02/2025

This is undoubtedly the longest travel we ever took, and honestly it could become stressful for anyone with a lower tolerance to change and unexpected events. But, Henry and I have learned go with the flow and we can make the best of each situation.

1st flight: Boston to Seattle, 6 hours. We woke up at 4am to catch the 7am flight. Henry watched movies, mom slept as much as possible, refilling the depleated batteries. :) Landing in Seattle is always such a treat, with the majestic Mt Rainier rising up from the clouds! This mountain is so beautiful! From the skies or from the ground. Easy connection in Seattle, good Korean noodle food, we were happy!

2nd flight: just a couple hours from Seattle to Los Angeles. Amazing views is Mt Rainier and lost in the clouds Mt Hood. Too bad... I love seeing all the volcanoes lining up... but not this time. Henry did a little homework, mom put out some fires... seems like first day away didn't spare us of all kind of surprises. Happy there is texting connection from the plane so we can communicate home. LA lunch was yummy and healthy, a rich avocado egg sandwich with a salad so fresh that it felt like it was just picked up from the runway :)

8 hour layover in LA... trying to figure out what to do... no options seemed attractive enough so, time for the kid to learn a great travel hack. ;) We took the first free hotel shuttle from the airport, happened to be Hyatt Regency. Comfortable lobby, nice restaurant, even a pool, if it wouldn't be that cold. Definitely more comfortable and cleaner than any airport waiting area. He was pleasantly surprised... "so, are we just going to hang out here?" :)) Yup!

Henry's idea: geocaching! Amazing as always, took us to the best plane watching spot and a local favorite burger joint.

3rd flight will be the challenge: 11 hours from LA to Fiji... overnight, and we are skipping a day because of flying west over the date line. I never really grasped this... we depart on Feb 18... arrive on Feb 20 (!!) What about coming back? Travel back in time??

It was a long flight but we both slept, very well. We arrived rested and ready for action... at 6am.

4th flight will be short and fun, on a small propeller plane that will take us to Savusavu island, our final destination. Our host will wait for us at the airport and take us home.

All in all... this adds up to almost two days of travel.

18/02/2025

So happy to pick up where we left off last time on our adventure around the world!

Fiji Bound!

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