Where to go Tonga/Samoa/Fiji?

Where to go Tonga/Samoa/Fiji?

I am traveling around the world with my wife and two small children. We have been offered a free stop on our way from NZ til LA. What would be greatest for a company with small children for a 2 weeks stop - Fiji, Samoa or Tonga. We are free to stop in any of the mentioned places. We will be going in April.

Thanks

Fiji is very children friendly. There are lots of places with kids clubs and getting a baby sitter is easy. It is very popular as a family destination. Samoa is my personal favourite but there are not the same facilities for children. Tonga is similar to Samoa in not being so set up for children.

My vote also goes for Fiji.
It's both the most diverse and most developed of the three countries.
With internal flights/boats very cheap, you could even visit different islands in the country with 2 weeks on hand.

The dog-issue mentioned by several travellers on the Samoa thread linked in my signo would be enough to put me off taking kids to Samoa.

You haven't been in Samoa for quite a while, Laszlo. There is no more dog issue ...

Glad to hear!

Have they managed to shoot all strays?

Has perhaps thievery been eliminated (or at least reduced) somehow as well?

That would be a great achievement in less than 2 years... :-)

Laszlo: I thought you were "stranded" on that remote East Indonesian island? :)

I guess internet is everywhere now.

My vote also goes to Fiji for a more "rounded" family experience.

Fiji will definitely have kids types of things and services. I didn't see much in that way in Tonga ( for tourists). though amaile or a local may know about his type of thing. But, Fiji should be fine.

For this month, I am stranded on a West Indonesian island sharing it with 120 million locals, and thousands of internet cafes.

But that's only till December...

Laszlo, so you're drinking "java" on Java???

Huh? What's "java", Raro - am I missing something here? ;-)

The last memorable drinking experience was on an altogether nicer and friendlier East Indonesian Island, having lots of Sopi with the locals.

"java" is the US slang for a cup of coffee. [If you are going to internet cafes, you might be having a cup or two.]

Internet cafes here only serve cold soft drinks. Which I don't mind as I am no coffee-addict anyway.

Well, there goes my thoughts of a nice one-panel cartoon of you sipping a latte in an internet cafe on that island, entitled "Java on Java!" I was hoping we could have syndicated it to Conde Nast and all the other travel magazines, split the royalties, and retired!

Maybe islandboi321 will visit you and bring a Starbucks cup along with him, and we can try it in the future! [we'll still give you a cut for being the seed of the idea!]

You know what, Raro? :-)
I actually extended an invite to islandboi321 a while ago, and then not just to come to Java but to join me on my recent sojourn to these slightly more inviting islands, but the idea seems to have left him so cold that I am yet to get even a reply.
OTOH, Starbacks got here before him anyway - at least to the major cities.
But that left me cold...

Conclusion: You are also welcome to drop by, and at the same time model for that "Java on Java" image, perhaps along with one of the millions of beauties (yet to be fattened by corned-beef and turkey-tail cuisine) living here, keeping all those fat royalties for yourself! :-)

BTW: Turkmenistan - LOL! How did you choose that? The perfect opposite of the Pacific, I'd say!

Well, to be honest, I would probably welcome a cup of Starbucks if I was in the middle of Jakarta!

I was looking to put Tannu Tuva in my profile, but it's not there. ["Free Tannu Tuva!!!"] So, I just clicked on Turkmenistan as it was nearby. I may move to Bouvet Island or somewhere else in the near future, at least on the TT......

OK Laszlo, just moved to Bouvet. Turkmenistan was getting boring. But no Starbucks on Bouvet......yet.

back to the folks with the kids. 3 years ago we took our 10 month girl to independent samoa and had a fantastic time. lily did get pink eye though, that was a bit of a hassle, but thats the price of intermingleing. samoans love kids and you can trust them with your child. we never experenced any crime, and i don't know what all this stuff is about bad dogs. i do know samoa has trees and trees have branches, so if worst comes to worst beat them with a branch or climb up the tree. i've done both but not in samoa.

Oh oh, it's beginning to sound like a Borat sequil!! :p

I'd have to google to find on whereabout Bouvet Island is.
However, even if it's in Nunavut, it's gotta be a more liveable place than Turkmenistan if only by default...

Done.
Sub-antarctic, eh?
Well, I was not THAT far from the truth with Nunavut, then! ;-)

We go 'RTW' every couple of years with our now 3 and 5 year old. This year we are going to Tonga and then Samoa so will let you know!i ........the last 2 we have been to Fiji and it was brilliant. Easy,friendly,cheap to expensive whatever you wanted and lots to do for all of us.