Escape the Cold! Do the South Pacific for a Tropical Vacation this Winter

As the temperatures drop and the days get shorter, many people dream of escaping the winter chill for the warmth and beauty of the tropics. In this episode, Tom dive's into why fall and winter are the ideal seasons to book your tropical vacation. From lower travel costs to quieter destinations, Tom explores the benefits of choosing a tropical getaway during the cooler months and how to make the most of your time in paradise.

In This Episode:

Why Fall & Winter Are Ideal for a Tropical Getaway

During the cold weather months, go south of the equator! Tom shares his experiences from his trips to Matangi Private Island Resort in Fiji and explains what to look for even if Fiji is not on your list of places to visit.

Lower Travel Costs

Learn how traveling during the off-peak seasons (fall and winter) can lead to more affordable flights and accommodations.

Less Crowds, More Relaxation

Say goodbye to crowded beaches and overbooked resorts. We discuss how fall and winter vacations tend to be quieter, offering a more peaceful and private tropical experience.

Activities to Enjoy in the Tropics

Whether it’s snorkeling in warm waters, enjoying cultural visits and events, or hiking in amazing tropical scenery, Tom talks about what you can do on Matangi Island and what to look for wherever you decide to go.

Support the Show:

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Links mentioned in the show!

Kava Ceremonies in Fiji

Matangi's Resort Website (it's beautiful!)

The Cabana Lounge Newsletter

Tropical Design At Home: Learn how to create your own personal tropical escape!

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Contact Tom at podcast@ceruleanbay.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:11

Hey everyone, Tom here, Therulean Bay, and welcome back to Tropical Escapes at Home. And it is a beautiful sunny day here in Houston. That fall weather is starting to set in, and it starts to remind me of the weather back home in San Diego, where it's nice and warm outside and there's almost no humidity. It is absolutely beautiful. And it always gets me thinking this time of year because this is when my wife and I start thinking about when are we going to celebrate our anniversary? Because our anniversary is this month and 31 years now. And it's actually a great time to go and travel, whether it's locally here in Texas, or we go down to Florida, or even if we're going to get on a plane and go overseas somewhere, because the kids are back in school, summer vacation's over. This is when you can really start to get some great rates at hotels depending on where you go. So yeah, I really recommend September, October, before the holidays set in, you know, you start getting into that Thanksgiving period. I would have any travel wrapped up before then. But that September, October time frame, great time to travel. And I mention that because there's just a lot of people we know who don't really get out a whole lot over the summertime. They're busy with kids. And I mentioned that because it's a great time for the adults to get out there and take a break. When those kids are back in school, maybe you can get away for a little bit. You know, you've got relatives that can come over and do some babysitting or watch the kids, or if your kids are older, they can watch the house. They're busy getting themselves to and from school. Once school started, we knew they would be busy and they had their little after-school jobs and things, but they would watch the house and me and Edna, we would go ahead and get away. And yeah, great time of year to travel. And yet it's also a time of year when I just already start thinking about next year and what might be happening in the spring. I personally start getting ready for the colder seasons that set in, and yeah, there's a lot of people who will say, yeah, Houston doesn't have a winter. Well, we do. It is short-lived. It is very hit or miss here, as I've mentioned before. Some winters are more mild than others, but for me, anytime the weather goes into the 50s or below, that's just too cold. Day or night, that's too cold. It is good to get out and do some yard work and things like that, and I will do that when it gets colder. It helps to get my mind off of it. But I start doing other little things too, like just repotting plants around the house, getting them ready so that they can grow some more and just kind of help contribute even more and more to that tropical sense. You know, when you have plants that have been hanging out in their pots for a long time and they're not really doing anything and they don't really seem to be growing, sometimes they just need to be repotted, and then when you do that, they just take off. I've noticed this is a great time of year to do that too. And then depending on the amount of light that the plant gets during the fall and winter time, you can really have some plants just start to take off, and it just really helps again to buffer that winter effect, and you've got all this new tropical growth growing in your home office or your living room or wherever your plants might be. And speaking of that, I've actually got two mango seeds that I was able to sprout. I found a little video on YouTube where they show you what to do when you have a mango, and in the middle you have this big pit that you need to clean up and then break into, and then inside of that is the actual seed. And after cleaning that, then there's a very simple thing that you can do. Um, just a quick side note here. You clean that husk really, really good, get some kitchen shears, snip off the top of it, peel it open, and inside there's an actual seed, and you can tell it looks like a big seed. And you just kind of rinse that off, pat it dry, and then get a paper towel and wet it, wring it out so that it's just damp and it's not dripping wet. And you wrap the seed in there, put it in a little plastic bag, and then put it away just in a warm spot, seal that bag, and then you leave it for about two weeks, and you'll get a little sprout on one end. And I just checked mine today, and they both have a little sprout. So then you stick those seeds upright in a pot of dirt, and you just leave the little green part exposed that just started growing, and you will get a mango tree. And I think mango trees are very, very cool to grow as house plants. I've seen them before, I've never had one. This will be the first time that I do it myself because I wanted to grow it on my own. A lot of potted plants are just expensive. So I thought, you know what? I'm just gonna grow my own and have my own little mango trees. They'll probably never fruit because you can only grow them so big in a house, and here in Houston, they won't survive the winter. So but my wife and I, we will go up to Restaurant Depot and we have a membership there. And seasonally they'll have these boxes of mangoes. I think you get like six, and this year they were about$7 for six big, beautiful mangoes, and they were so juicy and wonderful and sweet, and we just love mangoes. But yeah, I thought, you know what? After working at Ethan Allen way back ago, like 20 years ago, where they had very high quality fake plants in the store, I remember selling a mango tree that was like$195. It was big, it was probably about six feet tall, and God knows what they're going for these days. But I thought,$195 for a fake plant, I said one day I'm gonna grow one, and here we are 20 years later, I'm finally starting a little mango tree. But I digress with that. Today I wanted to get into something I mentioned just when we kicked off the show about traveling, and with this time of year being such a good time to travel, if you are in the position where you can get away, maybe get some vacation time, you don't have to worry about small kids at home, this could actually be a great time of year to travel to certain places. Um, I am going to mention Fiji. It is a place I talk about quite a bit on the show, and we are gonna start getting into some other places as well, but I wanted to mention just about the adventure. I find myself kind of missing this because it's been a few years since my wife and I have been able to travel post-COVID. You know, we had to relaunch the business. There was a lot of stuff that needed some retooling. I had to go to work outside, but I think it's important to mention that a lot of people, maybe it's just out of habit, I'm not sure, think that really the summertime is the only time you can travel. And even when your kids are growing and maybe they're not interested in taking those family vacations, they start getting into their later teenage years or whatever, they have their little jobs or they're very busy with school. There's just other times of the year, especially when you go south of the equator, it's summertime there. So that particular year that we went to Fiji back in late 2017, early 2018, it was cold here. We had had a number of freezes already, and but we were lucky because our boys were already older, you know, they were 17, 18, 19. They could easily take care of the house and wrap the pipes and do those kinds of things. We were able to score a very reasonable seven-day, all-inclusive trip to Fiji. And the cost of that whole week was probably about$5,200 just for the seven days at the resort. And you might be thinking that's like super expensive. It's actually not when you compare it to a lot of other places. When you are looking at Tahiti, Tahiti tends to be more expensive. I'm not exactly sure why. And then there's other places in the world you can go where it's just more expensive to go. But Fiji, from the research that I've done, it just seems to be more middle of the road. I mean, yeah, you can go down there and spend a ton of money too, but you don't have to. There are more reasonable places that you can go. And I wanted to mention this because it's been a few years since my wife and I have been able to get down there, and we really would love to get back to Matangi Island. And I thought, you know, this would be a great topic for the show because it's a place that we've been before and it's worth going back to. There are several other resorts that we would love to try in Fiji. And maybe when the business gets more off the ground and we're able to travel a little bit more, we'll be able to do that. But for right now, I thought it would just be really worth it to tell you guys about why we would go back there again, even though, like I said, there are other resorts to go there. I've got a blog post about them on ceruleambay.com at that time that I did the blog post. This was last year. These were the top five resorts. Many of them are award-winning. But regarding Matangi Private Island Resort, my wife's only been there once. I was there twice. The second time I went back was to meet with a wood carver, and I was only there for two nights, and then I went into the main towns where I could meet some other artists too. So it really was not a vacation. I was on the go pretty much the two weeks I was there, did not set foot on a beach, and did not set foot in a pool. So really I was running around quite a bit. But getting back to Matangi, my wife and I were ready for a break. And you don't have to be a Costco member to book a trip to Matangi, but we found it just to be a lot easier to use them because they were so good and we've used them on a couple other trips too. They're just on point. I don't know. Costco has its travel agency thing together. When you go on their website, if you go to Costco Travel and you look at the different packages that they have, I think they have some negotiated deals actually, which are cheaper than if you go to an actual resort website directly and you look at the costs. They tend to be more expensive. And at least with Matangi, we were saving quite a bit of money going through Costco Travel. Plus, they handle everything. You can have them book your flights too out of the U.S. to get down to Fiji, but we did find it was cheaper for us to book our own travel and just have Costco handle everything upon arrival in Nandi, which is the main city on Vitilevu, which is the main island out of the whole Fiji Island group. So it is something that's worthwhile to look into. You could do some cost comparison there and see what you can get on your own, have Costco travel book the flight. But from Houston at the time, you had to fly to LA, and then there was a six-hour layover at LAX, and my wife and I, we were able to sample probably every wine bar that was there because a six-hour layover is a long one. And getting to LAX, we flew American Airlines because they code share with Fiji. And then at LAX you pick up your nonstop flight to Fiji with Fiji Airways. But now Fiji Airways does fly directly to Dallas, which is a good thing. And for us here in Houston, now we just only have to buzz up to Dallas. Very, very quick flight. I'm not sure what the layover there is, but if there is one, we'll find the wine bars because that's what we do. And then you can board your nonstop flight to Fiji. What's really cool with Costco Travel is they work with a company called Rosie Holidays, and they are like the top travel service company in Fiji. And they do all kinds of things from meet and greet services and providing ground transportation. They arrange day tours and excursions, and they help check in on your bookings to make sure that everything is booked correctly. The service is phenomenal. The people who work there are just so nice. But when you land in Nandi and after you clear customs, they'll have a representative from Rosie waiting, and she's got the little cool towel that you can kind of freshen up with. And she handed a little shell necklace to my wife and I, and they show you where to go because when you are flying to Matangi at that time, and I don't have the current flight schedules now, the layover in Nandi was very, very short. You only had an hour. So just as kind of a side note, if you are going for seven days or less, I would just recommend not taking any check bags. I would just do the carry-on thing because when you land, customs is kind of hit or miss. Sometimes customs just kind of pretty much clears everything very quickly. The second time that I went, I did bring an empty suitcase because I did want to buy some sample pieces and bring them back. And even though the suitcase was empty, they decided to have all the luggage from that incoming flight go through customs, and I ended up missing my little connection. Whereas when my wife and I flew the first time, we just did the carry-on luggage, and so there was no customs clearance. The flight from LA would arrive very early. It would arrive like at 6 a.m. in Fiji, and at 7 a.m. you would connect to your little Fiji Link flight, and it's a little turboprop. I'm not sure what the name of the actual aircraft is. I think it's called a De Haviland, if I'm not mistaken. It's a tiny little airplane. Again, I'm 6'5 and I cannot stand up in it. I mean, it works if you are just of smaller stature, so I'm all hunched over in there trying to get to my seat. But at 7 a.m., that little turboprop departs, and it's such a beautiful flight because they fly pretty much at a low altitude, and you're just out over the water, and the scenery is like a dream. It is absolutely stunning. And I actually do recommend the morning flight because with the weather you tend to have less thunderstorm activity. The flight's not going to be as bumpy because when you're in one of those little planes and it's bumpy, if you're prone to air sickness or whatever, it's not going to be a pleasant flight. Me, I'm okay. I don't have a problem flying. But when I went back the second time and I missed my flight with the empty suitcase, I had to wait hours at the airport. The next flight wasn't until 2 p.m. And let me tell you, the main airport in Nandi, when there are no flights going on, it's pretty dead. There's no activity. You can hang out at a little coffee shop there and get to know the staff very well because you're going to be there for hours. And then when I took the two o'clock flight, it was bumpy. I was like, wow, this is not cool. And it's a 90-minute flight. So let me just tell you about that. When you do catch your flight, preferably again, the one that was leaving at 7 a.m., it will fly you to the island of Taviuni, where they have a little airstrip on the very northern tip. I think they pronounce it Matai. It's M-A-T-E-I. If you Google map it, it is literally at the tip, the northern tip of Taviuni, a little tiny airstrip. And this little turboprop you'll land there and the little airport. It's just like a little outdoor bus station, is what it reminded me of. And what was just so neat is Matangi Island will have one of their reps waiting there for you. And they have the polo shirt with the little Matangi Island resort embroidery thing on there, so you know it's them. And the guy who picked up my wife and I, he picked us up in a Toyota tundra. And so they'll throw your luggage into the back and they'll cover it if it's raining. But then what you do is now you are on a 20-minute drive on a dirt road, which can be pretty bumpy, and it was just really cool. I mean, you feel like they're just driving you off into the bush. You really don't know where you're going. It kind of parallels the coast. Where they're taking you is to the quote unquote boat dock. And these are the kind of adventures that I love because there were no pictures of the boat dock. I just add this mental image of literally a little pier or a little dock that you step onto a boat. It is not bad at all. After this 20-minute bumpy little dirt road ride, he made a left turn through some bushes, and then there's this kind of outcropping of rocks, and there's a little metal boat with a canopy on it, and there's two guys from the resort in the boat, and they will come and they get your luggage, and you have your little carry-ons, they help you step over the rocks, and you climb into the boat, and maybe there could be a local resident or two that's in the boat as well, and they're just hitching a ride to get over to Matangi, because Matangi is literally a five-minute boat ride from Kamea Island, where there are little villages where people live. And many of the people who work at Matangi Island live on Kamea Island. You do have the option to go and visit one of the little villages there, Tongo Village, which was just an amazing experience. But, anyways, you get into this little boat, and now you're on a 20-minute boat ride, a high-speed boat ride to Matangi Island, and it is just wonderful. I mean, it just gives me goosebumps remembering it. I want to do it again so much. I love being out on the water on those kind of boat trips. I'm not a fisherman. I don't go do the deep sea fishing type of thing. I like being out on the water, going fast, you know, more of the recreational type thing. And it just the smell, the spray of the water, the scenery down there is just incredible. I always equate it to like something out of a Jurassic Park movie, which was filmed in Hawaii. And there are places in Fiji that look a lot like the Hawaiian Islands. But yes, it it just is wonderful. So again, just as a quick recap, to get to Matangi, you're flying from wherever you're departing from in the U.S., you get down to Nandi, connect to your little 90-minute turboprop. So after 90 minutes, you land at Matai Airport, then the resort truck will pick you up. It's a 20-minute ride on a bumpy dirt road, and then you get into the little boat, and it's a 20-minute ride out to the island. So just so you can connect the dots with that little adventure. And as you're pulling up to the island, you see it off in the distance there, and there you see people gathering on the beach, and they have their little local version of the guitar. I'm not a musician, but it's like a little simple guitar, and they're there singing and clapping, and you see somebody there, you know, they're holding a couple drinks for you, and the boat pulls up and they sing you this welcome song, and they're just clapping, and it's such an amazing experience. I I just we just have to go back. And the boat just kind of turns around and backs in a little bit, and you have to get out in the water. It's, you know, kind of knee deep. So you have to, you're not wearing shoes, you've got your flip-flops and your shorts on, and you get out into the water, and then you walk up on the beach. They take care of all of your luggage. They're going to take it to your beret, which is your private room, which is five-star and amazing and wonderful. And then you they will take you to the main dining room and they've got like a little welcome area, and they seat you there and they hand you the coconut drinks that they have, and it's just coconuts with the straw in there and the nice little flower and the coconut water inside. And, you know, you're tired. It's been a long trip to get down there. And, you know, you're you're kind of it's almost like you're in a dream state because, you know, depending on how well you sleep on a plane, it's an overnight flight out of LA or San Francisco, and I'm sure with Dallas, it's probably the same thing. So you're landing there very early in the morning, and you know, if you're like me, I really don't sleep on a plane very well. And being 10 feet tall, I don't really fit in the seats. And, you know, that's where, if we can afford it, that's where we'll fly business class. Because just as a side tip, Fiji Airways does not have a true first class on the flight, but their business class is first class quality compared to other airlines. So it's expensive. And the first time I went down with my wife, we did fly economy, and these newer planes, I'm telling you, uh, I just don't fit. It's just uncomfortable. And the older you get, the harder it is to do that. When I was able to go back the second time, Fiji Airways actually had a sale, not to digress here, but I was able to get a business class ticket for super cheap out of LAX, and then I was able to get another return flight back to LA, so I lucked out twice with that. But it is something to plan ahead and consider, especially if you're tall like me. So, you know, after an overnight flight, you're tired if you don't sleep well on the plane, but they lead you to your beret and they bring your luggage in, and then you're on your own. And it is just like stepping into paradise. It is quiet, you don't hear any noise, there are no phones, there are no TVs in the beret, there is no internet service in the rooms. If you want internet, you go out by the pool or they have internet service in the main dining room. They will give you a Wi-Fi password. But Matangi Private Island, it's really a place you go to escape. You go to relax. They don't have any of the noisy water sports there. There's no jet skiing or anything like that. There's no parasailing. It's all the quiet stuff. It is an 18 and older resort, so there's no kids. It was a maximum of 30 guests. And the absolute beauty of this is you are never all in the same place at the same time. So, for example, in the restaurant, when you go for breakfast, there's a window where you can go and have breakfast. And I don't remember exactly what the hours are, but say it's just like from 7 until 11. While you're at breakfast, they will bring you the menu for lunch and for dinner so you can pre-order your next two big meals of the day. And that way when you show up during the lunch window and then the dinner window, you can relax with a glass of wine, have a cocktail. You've already ordered. Doing it that way helps them pre-plan for the kitchen. And again, because all of the food has to be brought in, they do grow most, if not all, of their produce, vegetables, and fruit on the island. And then the island of Taviuni only being 20 minutes away. I do believe that's where they get all of the other food needed for the restaurant, but it helps them plan their pantry. So that system really works for us, but because the dining windows are so open, you show up whenever you want. Not everybody shows up together. It's a beautiful open-air restaurant, and the tables are spread far apart, so you can just have a nice, quiet, intimate dinner, and there maybe will be three or four other couples in there having dinner at the same time. Same thing with breakfast. If you're an early riser versus a late riser, again, you're never gonna all be in there at the same time. During the day, there may be a couple people out by the pool, there might be a couple people hanging out in the dining room on one of the swinging day beds or the little outdoor living room area. People are talking, maybe reading a book, or you're just hanging out by the pool. They do offer scuba diving, they have snorkeling. There are a few other water sports like that, deep sea fishing, I believe that they have. So they have those kinds of things, excursions that you can go and book. They do have a trip to Taviuni where you can go see the Pearl Farm. They have a hike through the jungle where you end up at a waterfall, which we did not do, but we want to go do next time. So there are things that break up the guests, and you're never again in the same place at the same time. There's also the little optional village trips where you can go and the little boat ride over to Tongo Village. There was only one other couple in the boat with us when we went. One of the guides from the resort then meets up with one of the residents of the village, and together they gave us a tour of the village, and they show you the local school, and you know, the kids are out playing by the water, and you can partake in a kava ceremony. And for those of you who don't know, with kava, it is a tea that is made from the root of a pepper plant, and it is a very earthy, muddy looking thing that they mix together with some water repeatedly using a cloth or like a cheesecloth, and you gather it together and you squeeze it repeatedly to make the kava in a beautiful wood tonoa or kava bowl, which we do have some for sale in our little online store at ceruleandbay.com. They do this in a in a beautiful tonoa there, and then there's a little ceremony that they teach you about how to receive the kava and how it's passed among the guests of this little kava ceremony, which is really what it is. I'm actually going to post a link to the review that I did that's on our website for Matengi Private Island, and in there you can read about how the Kava ceremony works, but it is just it was just wonderful. In Fiji as a whole, the Christian religion is the predominant religion there. It is more on the conservative side when it in terms of behavior and dress. So just for awareness, when you go off into a local village or you're invited to a kava ceremony, it is recommended that you don't show up in swimsuits. Women are expected to at least cover their shoulders, cover their knees. There are sarongs available from the resort that you can wrap around yourself and go, and both men and women wear them over there. Um for guys, they recommend too that your knees aren't showing. Now it is hot. And when we went, it was the end of December. We actually flew out of Houston on Christmas Day. We celebrated Christmas with the kids before leaving. But again, you're flying down there into their summer, so it was hot and humid. And with me being six foot five, wearing shorts, my knees are gonna show. It doesn't matter what kind of shorts, my knees are gonna show. So, but they get that. They they were fine with that. But I wore a very light button-down shirt and Tommy Bahama type of thing. Um, you know, I didn't wear a t-shirt. I just wanted to be very respectful of the village rules, and they appreciate that. If you try, they see that, and then that's good enough. But we did take part in the Kaaba ceremony, and then they invited us into their little community center there where they had a lot of handicrafts on display. If you've been to our website and you've read the journey story that we have in our About Us section, I do give a description of what it is like in the community center there and just the things that they have for sale, beautiful wood carvings, Tappa bark cloth, which is made from the bark of a mulberry tree. It's a very thick, paper-y type of product that they end up with, which then they paint using different colors and different cultural designs, and Tappa has its own myriad of uses from artwork to clothing and such, but I've got some beautiful pieces I brought back, which then we framed. And the things that we saw in there were really a big, huge part of the inspiration behind Cerulean Bay. When I was there, that's what really got us started. And when you know local artists are producing these beautiful pieces of art that you just can't find anywhere else. If you go on Amazon or you go on eBay or you go wherever, you'll find random pieces here and there that people have procured somehow. Either they went down there and got them or they ordered them from somebody that they know down there, and now they're offering them for resale. But we thought, you know, this would be really cool if we were able to buy in some quantity and resell here in the U.S. and provide a story. At the time I didn't know I would be doing a podcast or YouTube videos, but I just thought it was really worth showcasing these pieces of art because not a lot of people know Fiji and what it's about. I mean, a lot of people have heard of it, a lot of people have been there, they go hang out at the resorts, but then they come home after, you know, just kind of your standard trip. It's like going to Europe or, you know, visiting somewhere else in Asia or maybe going to South America. It's like anything else. You go, you book a trip, you hang out at the resort, see some of the touristy stuff, buy some souvenirs, and come home. We really felt that what we saw was so inspiring and just so wonderful, and the people are just some of the nicest people you will ever meet in your entire life. We wanted to do more with that, but not to go down that whole road of the inspiration behind Cerulean Bay because we did cover that in a different episode. But that's just one of the things you can do over on Tongo Village, is you can buy some of the handicrafts there. And then after spending the bit of time there, the boat takes you back to the island and then you're on your way. And some of the other things you can do on the island when you're on Matangi Island, they don't have an on-site gym, but you can take a beautiful nature walk. They have two versions of it. There's the easier one, and then there's the harder one, which is a literal hike up into the volcanic cliffs because Matangi Island, it's kind of horseshoe shaped, and it's part of a collapsed volcano from a gazillion years ago. But there are some very steep, rugged areas to the island, and there is a hiking trail through there. My wife and I took the easier one, which was still uphill quite a bit of the way, and when it's hot, it's hot. And they do give you a good walking stick because it does make it easier. But the walk was just beautiful. And the pictures that you can take of the ocean down below and of the coconut palms and just the scenery, you're not going to get scenery like that in Houston. You're not going to get scenery like that in Florida. It's it's just breathtaking when you go. So, you know, you go do a hike like that, come back down, you can change into your swimsuit, rinse off in the little outdoor shower they have by the pool, and then get in the pool. It's so refreshing. The cocktails that they make at the bar are very good. They're a little on the strong side, but I love that. I love a good cocktail with a good kick. And at the time they had a wonderful drink called the Hurricane Flora, which was, I guess, a Fijian version of a Mai Thai or something. Fruity drink, wonderful rum in it, but yeah, it'll kick you. It'll kick you in the rear. It's a good one. And just so you know with the name Flora in that cocktail, the island is privately owned. It is an Australian family that's owned it for generations, I believe. And at the time that we were there, Noel and Flora Douglas were the owners, and their daughter, Christine, who is just one of the nicest, loveliest people you could ever meet, she is the general manager of the island. When I went back the second time by myself, she was the one who introduced me to the woodcarver who helped get our whole business started. And I was able to visit with Christine and her dad and just the history of the island and how they came to be at Matangi Island and you know what it takes to run the place and the people they encounter. Just fascinating to listen to the story. It really was an eye-opener, and I really felt like I was just so fortunate to be able to have this experience, which then I could use to turn into a business back home, and it's become something that I just love to do. And beyond Matangi, we want to go and experience other resorts. And as I've mentioned before, there are people that we've talked to, there are people that we know that. Have been to other resorts that we haven't been to, but they're very trusted sources. They're very reliable. I do very, very thorough research online for any resort and read the reviews and, you know, be on trip advisor. I there's other places to review as well. And then if there's anybody that we know that's been, we talk to them just so that I can do a good review online. So any of the resorts that you find at ceruleanbay.com under our travel section. I really do spend some time, you know, just to make sure that you're getting the real deal when you're reading this information. But I wanted to share that about Matangi and actually a couple other things too. I mean, just so you guys are aware, they really do have a great on-site spa with a full suite of spa services. Really, really great massages there, and they have the different kinds of treatments that you can get. They also have the honeymoon package, which does cost a bit extra, but it is totally worth it because Matangi Private Island is home to Horseshoe Bay, and it is rated as one of the thousand places on earth you have to see before you die, and it is absolutely breathtaking when you go. We did the honeymoon package, even though we had been married so many years, because for us it was the honeymoon, it was the real honeymoon we never had. And the little boat takes you around into the horseshoe part. They drop you off there. You can choose the morning or the afternoon period because there are only two. So you can have the morning or the afternoon to yourself. You're there for four hours. And in either one of those, they will drop off a picnic lunch for you with a bottle of champagne if you want, and you can just hang out. They have an outdoor beret there with a swinging day bed and a place that you can just relax for the day. They've got some lounge chairs out on the beach, they've got some equipment in the beret to do things like paddle boarding, and I believe they even had a kayak there so you can kayak in the bay. We recommend going in the morning because we noticed as we were there, the tide starts to come in. So for the afternoon couple that's going to arrive, you don't really have much of a beach anymore because the tide's already in, which is fine. You can be up in the beret and you can still paddleboard and do things like that. But my wife and I, we like to lay out on the beach and to have a beach to go walk on. So we do recommend the morning period, that morning block of time. And then when your four hours is up at Horseshoe Bay, the boat will come and pick you up and they take you back to the resort. And then that evening is when you can have a wonderful private dinner over the water. They do have a wonderful over the water deck, which is covered with a thatched roof, and they've got everything set up there with flowers scattered about and little candles set up, and it's off the main path. So even if people are walking by, they're not walking directly by your table. You're just out over the water, and it's just dreamy and wonderful and romantic. So yeah, we really do recommend that honeymoon package. It's really something special. Even if you've been married for a long time, like we have, or you know, you're celebrating your anniversary, even if it's your birthday or just a special event, get the honeymoon package. It is totally worth it. When it comes to the accommodations, you know, in the berets, they have the beach view berets, they have the beach front, which are closer to the actual water. They have the tree houses. Since I was there, they've done some remodeling. They were doing some when I was there because some of the berets had their own little covered porch out front with a covered seating area, which is beautifully done. Some of them had that, some of them didn't. The one my wife and I had just had a very nice palapa thatched roof umbrella type of arrangement with two nice chairs underneath it. It was perfectly fine for us sitting out there just looking at the water. But I do think since then, according to their website, it looks like they've remodeled all of those, so they might all have porches now, covered porches in the front. But hopefully this little overview of Matangi Private Island has been valuable. We highly encourage people to go. As I mentioned, it is adults only, so 18 and older, and it's very quiet. It's for people who want to go and detach and relax. Again, there are activities that you can go and do. You don't have to do any of them. They do also have local musicians come and play, and then they've got cultural dancing as well. There is an evening where the island staff will come. If you're not by the pool or in the dining room, they will come to your buret. They'll politely knock on the door to let you know that the cultural event is going on, and they invite you to come and they encourage you to attend. And it really is a beautiful thing to do because these people want to meet the guests. They want to see who have taken the time to travel halfway across the world to come down there. They're just very interested to see who's coming to the island, and they just want to meet people, and we love that. My wife and I just absolutely love that kind of thing. So, yeah, that is your big tip for the day as we travel and as we meet others who have traveled to review worthy resorts that focus on authenticity. Those are the kinds of places then that I will bring to the show because those are the places that we really encourage people to visit. Fiji is one of these places that has resorts that span the spectrum in terms of price range. There are very inexpensive places you can go to, such as the youth hostels and things like this on the main island, which are very close to the airport. They have the mid-range hotels, which are on Denero Island, which is probably about a 20-minute drive from the main airport in Nandi at Denaro. You'll find the Marriott's and the Sheratons and a lot of the big global hotel chains are over there. Then you have places like Matanki Private Island, which are a journey to get to. There are other resorts like the Tokoriki resort. There's the Yasawa Islands, which have their resorts, which tend to be more higher end, more upscale. But again, there's a journey to get to them. There's a boat ride. Some of them it's you're using a seaplane. A Tokoriki actually has a helicopter that you can charter as well to get to the island. With Matangi, they have the boat that picks you up. So it's up to you. When you're booking a tropical vacation, what I really advise is consider what is it that you want out of the experience. Because this is what I have to say, just to help you save some money. If you're going just to go and hang out on a beach or you want to go do some snorkeling or some diving, or just activities that you can largely do anywhere at a hotel that's on the water at a decent beach, I personally would not spend the money or the time to go that far because out of LA, to get down to Fiji, it's a 10 and a half hour flight. That's long. And so you're having to come back 10 and a half hours too and then connect, unless you live wherever Fiji Airways is landing, San Francisco, LA, Dallas, you know, if you've got to connect onward, you're looking at more flight time. I would go someplace cheaper. I mean, you can do those things in Florida, you can do those things in Hawaii. You just don't have to travel as far. I think if you're going to go to a place like Fiji or any of the other places that we really promote here on the show, like Bali, the Philippines, Thailand, if you're going to go down to the Indian Ocean, you're going to go to the Seychelles, Mauritius, or you're going to go to the Maldives, don't stay at a big global chain. It's like, why? You can see that anywhere. Find an off-the-beaten path resort. I know it's very easy that after a long trip, when you land in the country, you just want to get to the hotel, take a nap, or get to the hotel and get in the pool, grab a drink. It is worth the extra little connection, the little extra car ride, the extra little boat ride to go to a place that is going to be off the beaten path. It's going to be away from the touristy areas. It's going to be quiet. Some of these resorts do have the more active water sports. I mean, you can go jet skiing and parasailing and do all of these things at some of these resorts. So, you know, if that's what you're into, these are available there. But what I'm saying is when you go to Fiji, I don't recommend going to Denero. I've been there, I toured it, I went and visited a lot of the hotels. I didn't stay there, but I spent two days checking out hotel properties so I could see it for myself. I did not feel like I was in Fiji. I stayed at a Ramada Inn for a couple nights when I went back to visit some artists close to the airport. It was okay. The beaches in Nandi are not pretty. The beach at the Ramada was kind of a muddy, sandy color. The water was not blue at all. The hotel was nice and it had a wonderful rooftop restaurant, great atmosphere, wonderful food. You can easily hire a cab and go into town and do some shopping and things like this. But if you're looking for the beauty of the South Pacific, whether it's Fiji or Tahiti or wherever you're going to go, I recommend going off the beaten path so that you can see those white sand beaches, that crystal clear turquoise, cerulean water. Those kinds of things, you're going to experience the authenticity of the people that work there. It's just such a cultural experience. And just one last note, while we were at Matangi, my wife and I, there was a couple that we met and they were there with their teenagers, and they had come from another resort. I think they were staying at the Liku Liku. We have not been there, but they have a lot of the activities. It's a lot busier. I think they have more of a social scene, all the water activities and things like that. They had spent some time there, and then I don't remember the reason why they chose to come to Matangi after, but I do remember when we were talking with them, I asked, which do you prefer? They preferred Matangi hands down. They, I think they had some money, so they travel every year and they go to different places. And in Fiji, they said Matangi was the most authentic resort that they had seen, and they had stayed at several. So they've been around, they kind of do this every year, every other year. I found that that meant so much to my wife and I because we didn't know. We had never been to Fiji when we were going to go originally with some friends of ours that had a timeshare there, and then they couldn't go. We were stuck with plane tickets that we couldn't get a refund on, and we couldn't even get a flight credit with. So we said we're gonna go, but we were adamant that we were gonna stay in a non-touristy area and that we wanted to really experience Fiji as much as possible. And it was within our price range, and it was life-changing. This year is seven years ago. My wife and I were there, and I'm still here talking about it. I started a business because of that place. I'm in touch with artists because of that place. I'm getting to know the South Pacific as I meet other people from other islands. When I went back the second time, I was able to go to Tonga and I spent a week in Tonga, met some wonderful people there. It was harder to import from because the artists that I met were not full-time artists. The things that they created were things that they did when they had time. They worked in the tourist industry there, they worked at the hotels or they were in the fishing industry or whatever it was. So to get things on a regular basis was a lot harder. And I didn't have time to really establish that personal connection with people like I did over in Fiji. But Tonga is also worth visiting as well for those off-the-beaten path kind of places. I think in Tonga, it's actually easier to find more inexpensive places to go. They'll have places where you're actually roughing it a little bit more on some of these outer islands, kind of like the eco lodge type of places. It's a bit of a different experience than what I saw in Fiji. But Matangi gave me the opportunity to do what I'm doing today. So while being mindful of your time, I just wanted to share that with you today. And I want to be able to do this with some other resorts. I am encouraging you to get out there and travel. And if it's not to Fiji, go somewhere. It is just so worth it this time of year, September, October, November, even if you can get away during the holidays, and you want that warm, wonderful tropical weather, and you don't want the hectic crowds of South Florida in December, January, where everything is double and triple the price and it's just super crowded. And we love South Florida, but I will not go there in the winter. I have friends that live down there, and we hear what it's like, and it's just not a place to go in the winter. You get all the snowbirds that go down there. Find a foreign country. Go south of the equator. It's summertime down there, and you're just going to have a life-changing experience. So that's my tip for you for today is to just get online, check some places out, go to matangi island.com. They are actually running some low season specials right now. I am checking out their website. And yes, low season is definitely cheaper. And just so you know, low season for Matangi is November 1st through March 31st. So it is a good time. Just one quick note about that, though, even though it is summer down there, it is the rainy season in these islands. And Fiji's rainy season is from November to April. Now, having said that, when my wife and I went, we left on Christmas Day, we were down there for two weeks. It rained once on the island during the day. There was one night where it rained, and we were in our beret, and you just hear the rain on your thatched roof, and you just hear it in all the tropical plants outside, and it's just dreamworthy. It's absolutely wonderful. But it only rained one day there. We did hear stories from the staff about other guests that have come, and it rained the whole time. That's very upsetting for some people. Other people take it in stride. It is part of the tropics, and whether you're going to Fiji or not, always remember the staff have no control over the weather. Be nice to these people because they are just some of the most beautiful people you will ever meet. And like I said, they have no control over the weather. So if you go to Fiji, you go to Matangi and it's raining, enjoy it anyway. When I went back in March, it was the end of March to go meet the wood carvers. I was there for two days, it rained the whole time. I get over to the main island, it didn't rain at all. So you just never know. But go ahead and check it out, and I am going to post a link to Matangi Private Island Resort in the show notes. And I'm also going to go ahead and put a link in there to the Cabana Lounge newsletter. It is now a monthly newsletter. Due to some time constraints, I'm just not able to do it on a weekly basis and have it be a top quality product that I want to share with you. So I am moving the Cabana Lounge to a monthly publication. When you sign up, you will get access to the issue that's currently available. But I just want it to be a very high-quality publication that I share with you for free. So sign up for the Cabana Lounge. I've also got the online Tropical Interior Design Program available for those of you that want to create your own Tropical Escape at home, but you're just not sure how to start or where to go for that. And, you know, if you're getting online and you're digging around, there's a lot of very generic information available about colors. And, you know, they're going to give you, well, use blues and use greens and use this and do that and do this. I get into a lot more detail about how to keep things authentic. I have the Tropical Self-Discovery Assessment, which is available for you where you can really learn what it is you love about the tropics, the individual things that inspire you about the tropics, so you can focus on those things, eliminate everything else, and use those things to create your tropical escape at home, recreating those things, bringing in their influences and such. So yeah, check out the Tropical Self-Discovery Assessment. And then there's the home transformation guide, which is literally a step-by-step process to take you through everything from A to Z about how to do your own interior decor and styling. I do get into interior design there as well, especially for the do-it-yourself crowd that's out there. You will be able to see what your limitations are in terms of how handy you are, depending on the extent of the project that you're looking at. If there are things that you're going to do that you're going to need to hire professional help in, I give you the guidelines about when that should happen. When do you need to bring in the outside help? Because now you're looking at a lot of money to bring in the pros, whether it's actual interior designers, contractors, what have you, I go ahead and help you narrow down exactly what it is you can do, what it is you can't do, when you should hire the pros. Because again, you want to keep the vision yours. And when you start bringing in the pros, sometimes they'll start bringing in their opinions about things and they can divert you down a path that really doesn't belong to you. You don't want to end up having somebody else's vision in your space. So work with them, make sure that you know what it is that you like. And the program that I provide helps you to put those guardrails up. It helps you to understand exactly what it is you want to see, and then you stick to that and you can create your tropical escape at home. So check out Tropical Design at home. I have a link to that in the show notes as well. And with that, let me know what inspires you. Let me know what subjects you might want me to talk about on the show. I'm very open to feedback. I want to know what's working, what's not working, what interests you, what do you find boring? What am I doing? What should I stop doing? So drop me a note at podcast at ceruleambay.com. Let me know your thoughts. All of your information stays confidential. I don't sell any email addresses or other info, but I will respond back. There's our YouTube channel. You can check me out there as well. Tropical Escapes at Home on YouTube. Feel free to like, subscribe over there. I would love it. So until we meet again, I wish you a lot of health and happiness, a lot of tropical inspiration. That inspiration can come at any time of year. Doesn't matter, hot or cold outside, find that inspiration. But for now, enjoy that fall weather wherever you happen to be living, just as the seasons are starting to change here and at your house. And let's just meet up again next week. Thanks so much for tuning in, everyone. You guys are awesome. Have a great one. Bye bye.