Travel Philosophers win bid for trip to Samoa

By Elizabeth Ah-Hi 22 September 2017, 12:00AM

After successfully bidding for a prize at a charity auction in Canberra, self proclaimed travel philosophers, Glenn and Julie Hughes have found themselves heading to Samoa.

The husband and wife team had been staying at Coconuts Resort in Maninoa.

The couple found the resort beautiful with a great staff and after a couple of days decided to move to a more central location on the sunnier side of Upolu.

 “The package was for 7 nights and it is a very lovely resort,” said Julie. 

“We had one of their over the water fales which was great but the weather was awful. No fault of anyone’s but it was windy and grey everyday. 

“So after 3 days we thought we would base ourselves somewhere that’s easier and more central and so we had our first night here at Sheraton Samoa Aggie Greys Hotel and its been lovely.”

Glenn and Julie were waiting in the Sheraton lobby for their car rental and guide to arrive when Dear Tourist spoke with them. 

 “We just organised with the hotel to get a van and do a bit of tour today. The other day we did a day trip around the Apia area, and we did the Robert Louis Stevenson museum so that was great and really interesting.”

Glenn and Julie tell Dear Tourist that as avid travellers they have many travel philosophies and one of them is that the world is so big and there is much to explore. So they do not normally go to a place more than once but for Samoa they might make an exception.

 “Yeah we would come back,” Julie said. 

“If we didn’t come back though because we do have a bit of a travel philosophy that says it’s a big world but we would certainly recommend to our friends to come to Samoa.

 “It’s less hectic than say Fiji and Bali. It was very hectic in Bali. So actually we would prefer Samoa. If our friends were wanting to come somewhere in the South Pacific for holiday, we’d actually suggest coming here.”

Glenn nods in agreement.

 “It is a big world and we tend to only go once to a place because what I’ve found is if you go back twice, it can ruin the first time, so no offence -if we don’t come back that’s probably the reason why.”

Another travel philosophy the couple has is that they must try the local culinary in every country they visit and Samoa was no exception. 

Since being here they have tried lots of fish dishes saying that fai’ai i’a (fish cooked in coconut cream) was a favourite followed by poke and chargrilled flounder.

 “Very nice food and friendly people here,” said Glenn. 

“It’s just been very pleasant and very easy to get around. Gotta do it otherwise you’re just going to be eating the same things as home. 

“Wherever we go in the world, we try the local food straight away, its part of our philosophy and its what we do. 

“We travel as much as we can and another philosophy of ours is we try to learn some language even if it’s how to say yes and no or thank you.”

 “It was great to have the opportunity to think about coming to Samoa because when we left I was asking everybody who has been and there were only two people that did so I think there’s a lot more potential for promoting Samoa.”

By Elizabeth Ah-Hi 22 September 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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