FROM THE EDITOR

Some travel moments stay with you forever.

It was 6.30am and I was sitting with Finau, a Fijian with a heart the size of an island. We’d taken a short drive from the ultra-luxe COMO Laucala resort to a collection of buildings where the real work happens.

There were 20 men in a makeshift shed. Engineers and workers, all dressed in navy-blue. And they were singing. There were no instruments – bird calls were the only soundtrack – and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced.

Whenever I’m feeling stressed, I take myself straight back there and hear their voices – sometimes booming, always in harmony – and remember exactly how it made me feel.

Grateful. Conscious that I was living in the moment. And also aware that I was witnessing something quite private, even sacred.

When I trawl through the trips I’ve taken, it’s the transformative experiences that stand out and the unexpected moments that linger long after the photos have disappeared into my feed. They range from scoring a seat at the bar in one of New York’s best restaurants to eyeballing a humpback whale off Ningaloo. Touching ancient hieroglyphics on the wall of an Egyptian tomb and feeling the wrinkled leathery skin of Beau, a rescue elephant in Thailand.

If you’re really lucky, you’ll have more than one moment in one trip. When I left COMO Laucala Island and watched my new Fijian friends sing the farewell song, Isa Lei, it seemed more poignant than ever before.

Maybe COVID-19 played a part in that – farewells seem more weighty now – but when I listened to Finau talk about the story of the song and why it matters, it felt genuine and meaningful. I’ve heard that song many times but it will be Finau’s version (and his smile) that I’ll always remember.

It’s one of my great moments in travel.