Friday 17^th December – Palau

• There are three main flights into Palau — all of which are on a Friday — from Guam, Taipei or Manila, with the Taipei flight arriving at 18:25, the Guam flight arriving at 21.00, and the Manila flight coming in after midnight at 02.35 (flight to Palau not included)
• Transfer to our hotel and overnight in Palau

Saturday 18^th December – Palau

• A relatively late rise after late flights coming the previous night and we meet at 11am in the hotel lobby for a pre-tour meeting
• Group lunch at the hotel and you can properly meet the YPT guide and your fellow travellers
• In the afternoon we head out for a once-in-a-lifetime experience: snorkelling at Palau Jellyfish Lake! The jellyfish have evolved away their stingers, having no natural predators around, and make for a phenomenal natural sight!
• Dinner at Carp, which mixes Japanese and local cuisine
• Overnight in Palau

Sunday 19^th December – Palau

• After breakfast we head out on the first of what will be many World War Two trips on our Least Visited Countries tour. The Pacific Islands were the scene of many battles and the region is often overlooked for this side of its history — by Europeans at least!
• We head out in YPT style, by speedboat, to the island of Peleliu which was home to some of the fiercest battles in the region
• On arrival we check out the World War Two Memorial Museum, but the whole island has basically been left as an open-air museum
• Lunch in a local restaurant
• Check out White Beach where the American military landed, the wreckages of American tanks and planes still left as they were, concrete pillboxes and Japanese machine-gun posts as well as the eerie shell of the Japanese Military Headquarters. We also visit the Japanese shrine built to commemorate those who died
• Head back to the main island and go for dinner at Taj for Indian food
• Overnight in Palau

Monday 20^th December – Palau

• After breakfast we head out to The Rock Islands, or Chelbachbover to the locals. There are over 200 rocks, mostly uninhabited, that show you just what the Pacific is about. Peace and quiet and stunning views. Grab a kayak to explore the area or we can arrange scuba diving for an extra charge
• In the afternoon we’ll be going off with the locals searching for coconut crabs on land, and mud crabs in the mangroves! Then off hunting fruit bats — considered a pest on the island – with BB guns.
• For dinner we’ll be eating the spoils of our catch (options other than crab or bat available)
• Overnight in Palau

Tuesday 21^st December – Palau

• For the divers amongst us we’ll head to the Blue Corner for a day amongst the abundant underwater wildlife, known as a shark haven (extra charge for diving)
• For those who don’t have their diving license we can arrange snorkelling trips or a fishing expedition (extra charge for fishing)
• Browse the local markets for traditional Palauan storyboards which depict stories of legend from Palauan history
• Final dinner and drinks in Palau at the Drop Off Bar and Grill
• Although it’s our last night in Palau, we can’t stay out too long because gone midnight we’ll…

Wednesday 22^nd December – Pohnpei

• Head to the airport to catch the 02:35 flight from Palau via Guam to Pohnpei, capital of the Federated States of Micronesia, arriving at 13:15.

ATTENTION – Since we are changing plane in Guam and Guam is USA territory, we need to go through US Immigration even though we are staying in the airport. This means that you will either need a Guam-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Visa Waiver (given on arrival to citizens of Australia, New Zealand, UK, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore), an ESTA (given online if you are eligible) or a visa-free entry (Canadians and Americans). If you are not eligible for any of those, you will need a visa for the USA (either tourist or transit) to transit in Guam.

• Transfer to our hotel, check in and a bit of a rest or freshen up
• In the late afternoon we will check out the local markets in Kolonia then head for dinner at the China Star Restaurant for a dose of Pacific-Chinese cuisine
• Overnight in Pohnpei

Thursday 23^rd December – Pohnpei

• After breakfast we head out for a full tour of Pohnpei
• In the state capital, Kolonia, we’ll see the relic of a Japanese tank and we’ll see more Japanese on a hike up Sokeh Rock. Near the top stand two heavy gun batteries
• Lunch in Kolonia
• We’ll then head to the national capital, Palikir, and check out the area outside the huge US Embassy complex
• We’ll head out for dinner and drinks in Pohnpei
• Overnight in Pohnpei

Friday 24^th December – Pohnpei/Majuro

• For the more restless of us, we can organise kayak trips (extra charge)
• Catch the 13.44 flight to Majuro arriving at 19.17 and go straight to check in to our hotel
• We take the very short journey to the Tide Table Restaurant, a popular place with locals and expats alike for a dinner, drinks and a chance to make some new local friends and learn about life in the Marshall Islands.
• We celebrate a Christmas Party in the Marshall Islands!
• Overnight at MIR! The Marshall Islands Resort

Saturday 25^th December – Majuro [End of Prequel / Beginning of Part 1]

• We hope you haven’t partied too much last night because at 11 am we go to take our boat for the one hour journey to the paradise of Eneko Island. The trip is worth it for the journey itself, with us passing through a number of islands and atolls. Eneko Island itself is famous for being part of a fraudulent 1990s micronation, but taking that aside it is genuinely an island paradise and a great place to spend the day.
• We now expertly cook our BBQ on the beach using coconut shells as the fuel, giving it a unique taste. Eat to your heart’s content! BYOB.
• We have lots of options for stuff to do for the rest of the day on the island, with kayaks, a pontoon to jump from, snorkelling, and of course pristine beaches to simply hang out on. If this island was anywhere else in the world it would be packed with people. It’s not packed, but there’s usually some locals hanging out playing volleyball that might let you join in.
• We head back on our boat at around 6pm, stopping halfway through the journey for you to get perfect sunset shots, weather permitting!
• We go for dinner in the hotel restaurant, which has some of the best sashimi in the world (in our opinion)!
• Overnight in the Marshall Islands Resort hotel.

Sunday 26th December – Tarawa

• Up early for a flight to the third-least-visited – Kiribati. Kiribati was formerly the Gilbert and Ellice Islands before it gained independence, with Tarawa the capital island chain/city.
• Get picked up at the airport and transfer directly to Mary’s Motel to freshen up (as well as get some internet).
• Lunch and check in at George Hotel.
• Tarawa was where one of the bloodiest battles of WW2 occurred, so we meet our local guide and head out to explore the island’s WW2 past and see some of the many relics of the war such as coastal defence guns, bunkers, pillboxes, tanks and shipwrecks. If you like WW2 history, Kiribati is heaven. Most of the battle happened on Betio, which is the island on which our hotel is.
• As well as checking out the WW2 stuff we get a chance to explore the villages that make up Tarawa, where we will see real Kiribati life almost unchanged for centuries. So few foreigners come here that you can expect the locals to be very friendly!
• Dinner at Mary’s Motel followed by drinks at the one and only Fab Ace bar.
• Overnight at George Hotel.

Monday 27^th December – Tarawa

• After an early breakfast, we head off north to see the rest of Tarawa, including the Parliament complex.
• We know postcards are still a big thing so on the way we will stop by the post office.
• On the way, we stop by the culture centre, for a quick visit of what could be called the only museum of Kiribati, here some artefacts of Kiribati culture are exhibited such as a copra armour and a gruesome seashell sword (we don’t think it is very effective but certainly very painful)
• We’ll get out our high-altitude oxygen masks to hike to the highest point on the island, a whopping three metres above sea level. We’ll also explore one of the local villages and meet the children playing in the rockpools made, according to local legend, by giants’ footprints.
• We’ll take a canoe taxi, local-style, to one of the islands and sip drinks by the beach while our lunch of freshly-caught fish, chicken and vegetables cooked in coconut milk is prepared.
• Those with strong stomachs can sample karewe – a local moonshine made by fermenting the sap of palm trees.
• In the afternoon, we will be going for a stroll through the nearby villages and possibly visiting a clam farm, some of the clams here are half your size!
• Boat and bus back to Tarawa.
• Head out for a dinner and few drinks in a bar crawl of the cool local bars near our hotel in Tarawa; karaoke optional.
• Overnight at George Hotel.

Tuesday 28^th December – Tawara

• Today, we will be heading to another island of Kiribati
• Here, we will have the opportunity to do some incredible snorkelling in areas left untouched by mass tourism.
• Lunch of local fare, 100% natural!
• In the afternoon, we will be exploring the intriguing fauna and flora of the island
• Head back to Tarawa by dinner time
• For our last night in the country, we will revisit our favourite bar according to our exhaustive knowledge of the nightscene, after two nights there.
• Overnight in Tarawa

Wednesday 29^th December – Nauru

• Early start to go to the airport for our flight to the world’s least visited nation: the Republic of Nauru
• Met at the airport by our guide for the next 4 days.
• We check into the Menen Hotel, the main international hotel of Nauru.
• We have lunch at the international restaurant at the hotel.
• We head to Anibare Bay, which is where the best beaches are to make the most of this tropical island with swimming and beach time.
• We go for dinner and drinks at The Bay restaurant, renowned as being the best restaurant in Nauru. This bar is also popular with the expat community, which will give us a chance to learn about what it is like to live in Nauru.
• Overnight at Menen Hotel.

Thursday 30^th December – Nauru

• Get up relatively early and head out after breakfast to explore World War 2 relics in Yaren along with our local guide. Explore the remains of Japanese guns, bunkers and pillboxes left over from the Pacific Theatre of the war, and visit the Japanese prison which was used to lock up any non-compliant locals during the occupation.
• We’ll have our local guide take us to some of the secret caves around the island, and tell us some of the scary stories about events that took place there in the relatively recent past.
• We head to the fish and chips restaurant for locally-caught fish and a few beers for lunch.
• After lunch, we grab our supplies and head to the Buada Lagoon: the only fresh water lagoon on the island, a beautiful place surrounded by palm trees, great photo opportunities, and a wonderful place for us to hang out.
• After this, we explore the other side of the nation’s recent past by looking at the detention centre at topside, as well as doing some serious urban exploration at the former phosphate ore processing plants of Nauru, and checking out the abandoned industry and shipwrecks at the port.
• At night we head to Od’n Aiwo Hotel, for dinner, drinks, pool, and maybe a bet on the pokeys!
• Overnight at Menen Hotel.

Friday 31st December – Nauru

• Ever walked around a country? Ok, maybe you have, but have you ever done it in one day? Nauru is the only country in the world where it is genuinely possible to do this in a few hours! It’s about a 5 hour walk at a gentle pace. For those feeling slightly less energetic, we can arrange for scooter rental at an extra charge.
• Following this, we give the walkers some time to rest, before heading out for Chinese food for lunch. Believe it, or not 8% of people in Nauru are Chinese, and that means great quality food.
• NEW YEAR’S EVE – Luckily the best party in town is held right at our own hotel, so we head down for dinner in the hotel and a few drinks in the disco, before heading poolside to join the eclectic mix of refugees, expats and locals to see in a very unique 2020 in style!
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• Overnight at Menen Hotel.

Saturday 1st January – Nauru

• After our busy New Year’s Eve, we start New Year’s Day in relaxed fashion with a late start, or for early risers a chance to explore the island at your own leisure.
• Whilst Nauru is famous for being a country without a capital, it does have a capital village (where the airport is), and we head there to check out the parliament building, high court, and all the other little quirks that make Nauru a country.
• Lunch at Od’n Aiwo Hotel.
• We also know how important it is for people to buy fridge magnets, t-shirts and postcards, so we head the main gift shop and post office to deal with this.
• During our time in Nauru we’ll meet plenty people who arrived as asylum seekers, who’ll be happy to answer any questions that you might have about how they arrived there, what life is like for them and what hopes and aspirations they have for the future.
• Dinner and our last night of drinks in the Republic of Nauru!
• Overnight at Menen Hotel.

Sunday 2n^d January – Honiara

• Up early for the flight to Honiara, the capital city of the world’s 15th least-visited country – the Solomon Islands, arriving at 3pm.
• Met at the airport and transfer to the Honiara Hotel where we will have a chance to freshen up.
• The Honiara Hotel is a local institution – we’ll get the chance to talk to the eccentric owner, Sir Thomas Chan, about his life in politics on the island, as well as his experiences meeting various member of the Royal Family and being invested as a knight by the Queen.
• We dine on the generous buffet and finish with drinks by the pool at our hotel with a performance of Melanesian dance organised for the diners.
• Overnight at Honiara Hotel.

Monday 3^rd January – Honiara

• Up early to explore Honiara central market, which is where real Solomon life occurs, and where we will have a chance to buy local souvenirs.
• Following this, we do a full city tour including all the monuments to WW2, parliament and the national museum.
• The way to really discover a country is through its street food, so on the journey to the next part of our tour we stop at street-food heaven, where the choices are pretty much chicken or fish served with rice and pumpkin.
• #TRIP HIGHLIGHT# We head to a beach which has a major Japanese WW2 wreck for some wreck snorkelling and underwater photography, as well as great views of the city of Honiara, whilst enjoying the beach.
• All good things must come to an end, including tours to the least-visited countries in the world, so we enjoy a specially cooked meal for us put on by the Honiara Hotel, a few snaps on the bed that Kate Middleton slept in, goodbye drinks by the pool, and a general end to our Least Visited Countries Tour Group 1.
• Overnight at Honiara Hotel

Tuesday 4^th January – Vanuatu [End of Part 1 / Beginning of Part 2]

• Arrival in the Republic of Vanuatu. We are picked up from the airport and transfer directly to Hideaway Island Resort. This resort is on Imere Island and is the ancestral home of the people of Mele village.
• We check into our beachside huts and settle down for dinner and drinks by the sea.
• We head out to a nakamal – an informal place where the famous local kava drink is sold. Kava is a natural, mildly intoxicating drink made from the kava root.
• Vanuatu is one of the few countries in modern history run as a condominium with authority shared between the French and British. We’ll dine at the top French restaurant on the island, L’Houstalet, whose signature dish is the flying fox.
• Overnight on Hideaway Island.

Wednesday 5^th January – Vanuatu

• Option 1: after breakfast in the resort, we make the most of our full day in Vanuatu. We head off for a short hike (20 mins) to the spectacular Evergreen Cascades Waterfall where we cool off in the pool at the bottom of the falls. After lunch, we head to Port Vila for a walking tour of the city.
• Option 2:  Fly over a volcano! – YPT can arrange a day tour where you will fly out to Tanna Island for the flight of a lifetime over the live Tanna Volcano, before going by 4×4 through the rainforest to as close to the volcano as we can get (***extra charge, roughly $500 USD; let us know in advance if you are interested).
• Option of rum or more kava before heading for a unique experience where we’re invited to the house of a local family for an authentic homecooked dinner.
• Return to resort and overnight.

Thursday 6^th January – Nadi

• Breakfast and morning on the beach, taking advantage of our free access to the resort’s snorkelling gear.
• Port Vila is famous for the world’s only underwater post office, so you can snorkel down to this to mail unique waterproof postcards, or we can arrange a Scuba diving trip (extra charge, and you will need to bring your PADI licence).
• Transfer to the airport for the 15.50 2-hour flight to our next country, Fiji, and the city of Nadi (pronounced “Nandi”).
• The flight takes just over 2 hours, but due to the time difference we arrive at 19:05 and transfer directly to our hotel by Nadi Bay.
• Dinner, drinks and overnight in Nadi.

Friday 7^th January – Nadi

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Tour of Nadi area including the Hindu Temple and the Garden of the Sleeping Giant – founded by American actor Raymond Burr of Perry Mason and Ironside fame, who wanted to retire to this area.
• Lunch in Nadi.
• In the afternoon, we pick up some cold beers and head to the beach for some body surfing and optional beach massages.
• In YPT tradition we head to a Korean restaurant for dinner!
• Overnight at Nadi Bay Hotel.

Saturday 8^th January – Funafuti

• Up nice and early for the 07.50 flight to Tuvalu.
• #TRIP HIGHLIGHT# Arrival in the third-least-visited country in the world, Tuvalu, where we arrive at 9am – this is where the trip really gets into least visited territory!
• Funafuti is hardly a metropolis and the island’s only hotel is conveniently only 50 metres’ walk from the airport. We have time to freshen up and eat lunch before beginning our adventures in country number three.
• We’ll head off with our Tuvalu guide on an island tour including the government buildings, conservation area, and shipwrecks.
• On a Saturday evening, our hotel is often the location of local family celebrations such as birthdays or weddings, which happen on a grand scale in Tuvalu, so hopefully we’ll get a chance to watch or join in.
• Overnight at Funafuti Lagoon Hotel.

Sunday 9^th January – Funafuti

• Tuvaluans take their Sundays seriously, so those that want to can attend a local church service to repent their sins!
• The best way to navigate Funafuti is by scooter, so we’ll rent some for anyone wanting to explore by this means. The airport runway is only used for planes a few hours per week and the rest of the time it’s available for recreation, but sadly it’s not permitted to race scooters on it ?
• Dinner.
• Overnight at Funafuti Lagoon Hotel.

Monday 10^th January – Funafuti

• Seeing as we are on an island surrounded by other islands we do what should only come naturally and take a boat out for the day across the lagoon to explore some of the other islands, whilst enjoying the odd drink.
• Picnic lunch on any undisturbed beach that we come across.
• Those aquatically inclined should bring their snorkelling masks to check out the reefs.
• We head out to the local disco/beer garden (yes, you read that correctly) at the Matagigali bar.
• Barbecue dinner, with local dance show entertainment.
• Overnight at Viaaku Lagi Hotel.

Tuesday 11^th January – Funafuti

• For anyone interested in stamps and sending postcards we can make a visit to the Philatelic Bureau where unlikely stamp themes including the King of Rock n Roll. Elvis is still alive, at least in Tuvalu…
• All good things must come to an end so we head to the airport to check in for the 12.20 flight back to Fiji.
• It’s a local tradition to give necklaces made of shells to people heading off on a journey, so we can pick up some of these souvenirs from the vendors outside the airport terminal
• When there’s a plane about to land, a loudspeaker gives instructions to any stragglers to clear the runway. We can watch our plane land before boarding our flight back to Fiji, but this time to the capital city – Suva.
• Arrival around 4pm and transfer to our hotel in the centre of the city
• Overnight at the Raintree Lodge.

Wednesday 12^th January – Apia [End of Part 2 / Beginning of Part 3]

• We head out after breakfast to catch the 10am flight to Apia, capital city of Samoa, arriving at 16.10
• Samoa only became independent from New Zealand in 1962 and then changed its name from Western Samoa to simply Samoa in 1997
• Tonight we make the most of our only evening in Samoa, heading straight out for a quick walking tour of the sights of Apia, including catching one of Apia’s amazingly unique public buses, walking along the sea wall and seeing the Immaculate Conception of Mary Cathedral
• It’s thirsty work visiting a cathedral, so we head to the Vailima Brewery for a tour of Samoa’s main brewery, samples will be had
• Back into town for dinner and to check out the nightlife of Apia
• Overnight in Apia

Thursday 13^th January – Nuku’alofa

• After breakfast we’ll be saying goodbye to Samoa as we head to the airport for our very own charter flight from Apia via Pago Pago in American Samoa to Nuku’alofa, capital city of our last stop, the Kingdom of Tonga!
• For those interested in this kind of thing, we’ll be crossing the international dateline and back, so we arrive into American Samoa on the 15^th of January before flying back to the 16^th in Tonga!
• After checking into our hotel and having a quick lunch we will be heading out on a city tour taking in the Royal Palace, it may be made of wood and somewhat crumbling but it’s still the official residence of the King!
• Visit the town of Mu’a, the previous capital of Tonga, here we can see the numerous tombs of Tongan kings
• Dinner of local fare before a few drinks
• Overnight in Nuku’alofa

Friday 14^th January – Nuku’alofa

• In the morning we first head to the Tongan National Culture Centre, here we can see exhibitions on the kingdom’s history as well as locals engaging in traditional artforms like tapa making
• Next we take a boat out to Pangaimotu Island, there will be snorkelling  opportunities and the most impressive sight is a shipwreck that the local kids have turned into a makeshift diving platform
• We’ll walk around the island and grab lunch there before taking a mid-afternoon boat back to the main island
• Head back to the hotel to freshen up and then we go out for our final night of this unique trip, for a Tongan dinner and traditional Tongan performance set inside a cave!
• After dinner we hit the town for a Friday night in Nuku’alofa, what better night for a pub crawl
• Overnight in Nuku’alofa

Saturday 15^th January

• End of tour with YPT able to assist with onward travel (there is an early morning or late afternoon flight to Nadi, Fiji and an evening flight to Auckland) or extra activities in Tonga if you want to extend your trip

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