Oceania
The Pacific is known to be one of the most challenging regions of the world to travel in — not because of entry requirements, but because of the logistics. Flights may only go once per week, get cancelled often, might get bumped to the next flight (which may be the following week!) if overbooked, and is extremely expensive.
There are fourteen countries in the continent of Oceania, but in this blog we’ll be discussing the hard-to-reach Pacific Island nations; countries like Australia and New Zealand are probably the most accessible, so will not be discussed in-depth here.
How do you go about trying to figure out the best route for the Pacific?
The route you plan will vary depending on your needs and constantly changing flight schedules, but I’ll explain the process in which I mapped out the logistics to visit every country in the Pacific.
Since the Mt. Hagen Festival in Papua New Guinea was on specific dates, that was the starting point. From there, I analyzed the most remote countries and what airlines flew into each one; only Nauru Airlines and Fiji Airways flew into Kiribati, and Fiji Airways was the only airline that flew into Tuvalu, for example.
So I organized two loops:
The Nauru Airlines loop — Kiribati & Nauru
The Fiji Airways loop — Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, Fiji
This left the following countries: Solomon Islands & Vanuatu. There were direct flights to Solomon Islands from Papua New Guinea, which was my original plan before I had some unfortunate flight delays with Air Niugini and ended up missing the flight. Fortunately I was able to rearrange things to add Solomon Islands to the end of my trip with the Fiji Airways loop.
Vanuatu, on the other hand, is touristy enough where you can easily find a connection from most hubs. Therefore, it made the most sense to start and end the Nauru loops in Brisbane, Australia to connect the Solomon Islands, the Nauru loop, and Vanuatu.
The United Airlines Hopper loop — Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau
The third loop I did not do on this specific trip but covers the northern Pacific islands includes Micronesia and the Marshall Islands (I’m saving Palau as my final country so I didn’t visit, but you can add it onto this loop). You can read about that trip here.
Tips for planning a logistically challenging trip
The most important thing is to stay flexible. I left extra days at the end of the journey just in case something went wrong. This worked out great because of the hiccup with delayed flights in Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands. I rebooked a new flight for the end of the trip, but if everything had gone smoothly I would have just spent more time exploring Australia!
Rather than booking a bunch of one-way separate flights, I recommend doing the “multi-city” option with a single airline so if a flight gets delayed, the airline will automatically rebook you and your whole schedule doesn’t get messed up. Besides Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, all our flights were with Nauru Airlines or Fiji Airways.
When is the best time to visit the South Pacific?
Even though you might think of the Pacific islands as hot and humid year-round, having good weather is crucial for a successful trip to hop around these remote countries. The best time of year is the dry season, from May until September, when temperatures are pleasant and rain is minimal. It’s still possible to visit other times of the year, but be aware of monsoons cancelling flights; and when some of these flights only go once or twice per week, you don’t want to risk it. I did this trip from August to September and luckily didn’t have any issues pertaining to weather.
What currency is used in the South Pacific?
I will do an overview of currency along with my tips and recommendations, and then under each country get into specifics. In general I recommend carrying a combination of USD and Australian dollars; some countries didn’t even have working ATMs or accepted credit cards so it was easier to carry cash. Only Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu have their own currency, but they also would accept USD and AUD.
Is it easy to book accommodation in the South Pacific?
In general you can find places to stay before your trip online, but it’s important to book far in advance to secure your room since it is very limited. You wouldn’t think countries like Tuvalu would have their hotels fill up, but I was surprised to find out that hotels were completely booked out for construction and aid workers. I’ll share recommendations of where I stayed when I specifically talk about each country.
