Family holiday in Fiji tips and My 10 Lessons
There’s an unfortunate truism when you have young children. It’s that you don’t go on holidays anymore but that you go on “trips”. The word “holiday”, after all, implies relaxation.
It makes it seem as if you’ll be able to enjoy yourself, to switch off from your everyday cares and have fun.
But anyone with children below the age of six or so will tell you that that is absolutely not possible, because your everyday cares are coming along with you, and they’re hungry and their legs are tired.
So no, you don’t go on holidays. You go on trips. A trip is basically parenting but in a nicer location. Sometimes it’s great and sometimes it’s horrible but it’s never perfectly relaxed. That’s just the deal.
Yet, here I am, about to challenge that notion, because I am visiting the one destination that can perhaps deliver a holiday to my partner and me, and to our four and two-year-olds.
This country is legendary in its friendliness to families, with tales of warmth and beauty and childcare moving from parent to parent in incredulous whispers. Fiji. You have to go to Fiji.
I’ve been to Fiji before, but never with children. I’ve never seen what this country can really do for tired, stressed-out parents and their unceasingly energetic offspring.
And so we are setting off for Nadi and then the island of Vanua Levu, to stay at JeanMichel Cousteau Resort, a venue that even in Fiji is known as being particularly good for those with children.
Along the way mistakes will be made and lessons will be learned, and we will discover whether a “holiday” really is possible.
1. Everything needs to be easier than home. 2.Silence is golden 3. Don’t eat at the restaurant it is at
In fact, we fail on our first night, a stopover at the Radisson Blu in Nadi. Our room is too small and the hotel isn’t well set up for young children: there’s no kids’ cutlery at the restaurant, for example, and no meals specifically for young children. Fortunately, however, there is a pool, so the kids do have some fun.
The next day we have a short skip on a light aircraft to Savusavu, set on the south coast of Vanua Levu Island and on to check-in at Jean Michel Cousteau. Encouragingly, there are a lot of other parents and small children on our shuttle bus to the resort.
Even more encouragingly, when we arrive we’re welcomed in and we almost immediately hear the strangest thing: silence. This is why parents stay at this resort.
Each child at Jean-Michel Cousteau has a personal nanny, a carer who is on duty from 8am until 9.30 pm. While we’ve been collecting our hand luggage and making sure we haven’t forgotten anything, those nannies have appeared, they’ve introduced themselves to the kids, and they’ve whisked them off for a tour of the “Bula Club”, where they’ll spend a lot of their time on this holiday.
Their parents, meanwhile, all sit around in the reception area and stare at each other in disbelief. Silence. The holiday has begun. “Dada, can you have a breakfast buffet for dinner?” That’s my fouryear-old, checking in on the dining options.
One lesson we do learn early on, however is don’t try to have dinner with young children in the main restaurant here.
It’s set up more for older kids and adults. What’s far easier is for us parents to head down to the Bula Club at 5.30pm and sit with the kids while they have dinner with all their new friends.
4. Waterslides are the greatest
That’s a big lesson on this trip. When we get to the end of our stay in Fiji and I ask my four-year-old what the highlight of his entire holiday was he doesn’t even pause: “The waterslide”.
5. This is where you meet people your own age
While our kids all have fun together in the Bula Club, while they roar around picking up hermit crabs and learn to weave baskets and play in the big treehouse with their carers, we can hang out by the adults’ pool and grab a cocktail or two and chat to people our own age about the things we’re all going through.
6. Parenting can be fun
Perhaps the greatest gift that Fiji and JeanMichel Cousteau can give, the most important thing we can be reminded of, is that parenting is fun. Kids are fun. We love this.
7. All parents think their kids are the worst behaved
A small lesson, but an important one. We’re convinced we’ve failed somehow with our kids, that ours are the ones making the most noise, throwing the most food around, causing everyone problems. I could swear that over at the table next to us at breakfast on the first morning, while our kids tip juice all over the floor and yell about the food they want, these little angels are just quietly reading books. Books!
But, the more you chat to parents of children the same age, the more you realise everyone is just as certain that their kids are the worst. We’re all just trying our hardest. And here, no one cares if you fail.
8. Get the private island
Jean-Michel Cousteau has a private island. Naviavia is a small outcrop just off the coast, a tuft of sand and trees that has been kitted out with a day bed, a table and chairs, a couple of kayaks and a hammock.
9. Don’t do too much
There are a lot of activities in Fiji, particularly at Jean-Michel Cousteau. There’s scuba-diving, snorkelling, glass-bottom boat rides, stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, eco-tours, reef-walks, cultural interactions, village visits, fishing, and more.
10. Five days is not enough
Every day here is amazing. The kids love it. They get to have those idyllic childhood days that they haven’t had the chance to experience before. They spend all day in the pool, their eyes stinging from chlorine, their skin all wrinkly, never wanting to get out. They eat lunch sitting barefoot on the grass in the shade of frangipanis. They’re bursting every evening with stories of wonder and adventure. They fall asleep instantly when we put them to bed.
Five days isn’t long enough.