Travel hits and misses: Jason Reeves

Jason Reeves is Coast's Drive host, weekdays 3pm-7pm.
coastonline.co.nz

HIT

I've been lucky enough to travel to some amazing places but recently my wife Louise and I took our boys to Samoa for a quick mid-winter getaway. I'd never been but had always wanted to go, and we were blown away by how fantastic it was. We've been to Fiji and Rarotonga and really enjoyed both places, but Samoa felt like the best of both. The people were amazing - funny, friendly, welcoming and genuine. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was hot and the food was wonderful. Our boys were invited to dance and even go to school with the local kids, and everyone we met treated us like family.

MISS

Louise and I travelled through parts of Africa a few years ago and LOVED it. Again, the people were truly wonderful and the sights were breath-taking. But we stayed on a riverboat in Botswana and the crew assured us we'd be dropped back to where we needed to be to catch our flights the next day. Well, the boat was late, the shuttle was late and when we got into Zimbabwe our driver had to stop at several checkpoints and hand over his licence every time. We were freaking out because we had to make a flight to Johannesburg and then our connecting flight to Auckland. At one checkpoint our driver threw his licence at the guards and drove off. We made it to the airport but they'd closed the flight. For a "fee" they agreed to open the gates and let us run across the tarmac to the plane . . . and they opened the door to let us on. We got to our seats and burst out laughing but it was more from sheer relief, as neither of us found it funny . . . and neither did any other passengers on that plane!

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