Why?

I have been to reading this forum now for many times. And also for many years. It is to me amazing how some of the people think that they must be running from there lives to come to the Pacific ocean to make there escaping from the world they hate. Romantic notions running crazy in a crazy world.

I am reading things like "Want to escape to island where there is no living except coconuts and chickens..." or "I am tied of the life in Germany, I wish to be making a new live on a pacific island with no body else living there... only my snorkelling mask, booze and perhaps girl for lovemaking occasionally".
I also read "I want to have a romantic notion that I can sail the seven seas on a romantic boat from all the islands"

Think that the South Pacific is still the land of fantasy and tales. It is amazing to my mind that people, in this time and age of instant communications and gratifing, still are to be thinking that this region is going to fulfill theire dreams of escaping and making a fantasy life and there for there hapiness and fulfillmenting.
There is seeming to be more people of this kind of person seeking this all the time. I know the world today is unpleasant with bad noises, smells and people with scowling faces and the stresses of living in a high technology society are taxing, but really.

What I am meaning by this are the numbers of posts for the people looking to:

1) Escaping to the desert island.
2) Sail through the Pacific by boat..with naked feet and Captain Cook attitude.
3) Encounter paradise.

There is no making of paradise in these islands.Gaugan was right. Life is miseralb e for many on the Fiji, Tahiti or Samoa islands. It has very poor conditons and all of the people there would be liking to trade the life in the islands to come to Germany or America or Australia for making there new life.
It is easy to see Tom Hanks or Blue Lagoon film and thinks this is how life is on these islands, but no, life is hard.

Huh? I don't understand where your rant is coming from. There are only a handful of posts each year about escaping to live on the Pacific islands on this branch.

I think that the greatest mis-understanding is that people think that it's easier (and cheaper) to get around the region than it is.

As for sailing through the Pacific on a boat, don't cruisers do this every year? (You need a boat or a job on a boat, of course.)

Encounter paradise? You certainly can on vacation.

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<hr>only my snorkelling mask, booze and perhaps girl for lovemaking occasionally<hr></blockquote>

What's wrong with THAT?

I do understand what you are saying as there have been some posts on here in the last year or two that do give the implication that some posters are tired of his/her current state and want to become an "Escape artist" in the most romantic of fashions.

For anyone who lives here as an expat or has spent longer times than just a holiday know all too well there are often huge obsticles and challenges to living in the Pacific islands.

A silly post, if ever there was one, Rhubard_pie.

People are allowed to dream, and dreams can be unrealistic. The first time I traveled to the South Pacific I had the usual cliché notions of romantic, naive dreams. Though my dreams were dashed on the rocks of reality, I found that "my islands" of Ofu and Olosega are still filled with peace, quiet, romance, chickens, and some of the most wonderful people I've ever met. Is life idyllic and perfect there? Of course not, but I wouldn't trade my secret spot for any other place on earth. I'm leaving for what will be my 14th trip to the Manu'a Islands in about 45 days, and I know I will learn, smile, be amazed, be disappointed, get sunburned, be bit by mosquitoes, have my legs scraped by coral, get drunk with dispossessed villagers, and have the time of my life.

And, BTW, what destination isn't colored by fantasy and unreal expectations by wide-eyed first time travelers? You don't know until you get there, do you? And, for that matter, what time in history wasn't home a place "unpleasant with bad noises, smells and people with scowling faces and the stresses of living in a high technology society are taxing"? Familiarity breeds contempt, that is why we travel.

We travel to break from the humdrum, to learn and unlearn our misconceptions, and to finally appreciate the journey home.

--Terry
Webmaster vaotolodge.com

Same old troll...
Yawn......

Don't forget the vegemite, mate.

This drivel misses the whole point of the vibe of the Pacific. Visiting an/or living in the Pacific on your choice of island FORCES you to slow down - "Fiji time", "Vanuautu time" etc. The result is a much more relaxed state of mind. Sure, most places are poor, and sure there are problems, but Id rather that in paradise, than in many other places.

Interesting.......here is the posting by the same troll in September-

""Off" people in the South Pacific

It seems a lot of eccentric people gravitate to the South Pacific islands.... Loners, eccentrics, neurotics, paranoids, sufferers of personality disorders, folks with anger management issures. You meet them on all the islands.. Trying to escape from what they perceive to be a cruel world when in reality they are trying to escape from themselves.

There are also a few posters on this branch who also fit the bill.

Why is this? "

Why the interest (fascination) in thePacific if its such a bad place to be???

By the way, the only other pearl of wisdom from this person in recent weeks, was a commentary on the joys of "sex in Public Toilets"

I thought it sounded familiar.....

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<hr>all of the people there would be liking to trade the life in the islands to come to Germany or America or Australia for making there new life.<hr></blockquote>

Actually this is not true. Many islanders do come to the first world for a time- and many can't wait to go home to escape all the same things we dream of escaping.

And at the moment, even knowing full well all of the "issues" of living on island (having done it for 4 years), I am still dreaming island dreams and would leave tomorrow.

Some people want to escape to an island .. some people want to rant about what other people want to do ..

The great thing these days in the SP Islands these days it is possible be emmersed in the high tech, busy smelly world in its urban centres but then opt out to experience "The Romantic" which really means a hard subsistance existance in an outer island after which most will prefer to return the crime and grime of the city.

Yes Mandja, I'm probably one of your excentrics or at least I was when I came to Niue in the '70s, that great escapist decade. But now I'm based in the same village that has dwindled in that time from 260 strong to 40 people at present - all gone to Auckland or Sydney. I am also posting this from that village and doing business global from here. I'm also on a number of time wasting committees and run a small business in town.

But I may revert to that so called romantic life style again next year when crippling tax reforms are introduced. You can do that in the islands if you choose. Indeed you can alternate between the two life styles every year or two, looking for the greenish pasture.