Waiting to check into her room at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel was Jody from Vancouver, Canada, and what better way to kill time than to lie by the pool and work on her tan.

“It’s pretty strange to have a tan in January where I’m from in Canada so it’s going to be nice going back home with a tan and look all refreshed. Although it probably won’t last long,” Jody Young said to Dear Tourist.

Jody has been spending the last couple of weeks travelling through Australia and New Zealand for the Christmas and New Year season. 

“I’ve just come from spending time in New Zealand, travelling around there and then was in Australia visiting with some family and now I’m here in Samoa for a week. I’m meeting a friend of mine from Canada who is also doing some travelling.”

“We’re spending two days in Apia and then we will head to Saletoga sands and we have plans to do some sightseeing at all the other villages, I can’t remember their names but the goal was to have a ‘beach-y’ relaxed kind of holiday.”

When choosing her last destination before heading back to Canada, Jody did some research to decide which of the islands she would visit and it looked like “up and coming” Samoa was the pick for the Canadian traveller. 

“Well I was doing some research and originally was looking at Fiji first, but then I heard that Samoa was the more untouched, not so tourist-y island. I looked at some photos and I really wanted to visit the To Sua trench that I saw online. From what I read, Samoa seemed like an up and coming tourist destination and it’s a place that is just so far away, but it really caught my eye and so here we are.”

“It’s humid, but it’s nice. It’s negative 5 degrees where I’m from, so I’m not complaining. It’s great. If weather permits, I’d like to do a snorkeling boat trip, there’s a company that I researched before coming here and they do trips around the different islands so fingers crossed that will work out.”

According to Jody, the best part about her trip is meeting her work colleague in the middle of the Pacific far from their North American home.

“My friend that I’m meeting here pretty soon is spending her 35th birthday here in Samoa. She quit her job and has been travelling for the past six months. I just told her I was going to be here in Samoa and she decided to come meet me.” 

“She’s on the last leg of her trip and I’m on the last leg of my trip so what better way to end our travels than to meet up here. And we’ll get to fly home together so that’s going to be fun.”