I Visited a Private Island in Fiji, and Now I’m Never Going Back to Regular Vacations
Resort Review – Emma Baty – Entertainment Editor – Cosmopolitan
As an entertainment editor here at Cosmo, travel stories aren’t typically part of my day job. But when I got an email about taking a celeb-approved trip to VOMO Island Resort in Fiji, I jumped at the chance. I mean, honestly, who would turn down an all-expenses paid trip…to Fiji?! And at a super luxe resort, no less. It looked like the perfect getaway to help cure my winter blues, and I’m nothing if not a lover of fancy, celeb-adjacent things.
The famous person in question is Rebel Wilson, who loves Fiji so much she just shot a whole tourism campaign for the country. She also stayed at VOMO Island Resort when she was there, and I got to basically copy her itinerary. And let me tell you, that gal knows how to vacation.
It’s probably been a while since you’ve seen a friend vacationing in Fiji on your Instagram feed. That’s because the country was closed to tourists for nearly two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But it finally re-opened to travelers as of December 2021, which made it the perfect time to go. From the beautiful weather to the incredible people, you really, really need to put Fiji on your travel bucket list.
If you’re a little rusty on your geography, you might not remember that Fiji is really, really far from the U.S. Like, it’s basically next to Australia. From New York, we flew six hours to Los Angeles and then another 11 hours from LAX to Nadi, Fiji. Between getting to the airport early and our layover time, we traveled over 24 hours to get there. Essentially, this is not a trip for the faint of heart, but it was worth it.
Part of what made the flight so enjoyable is that Fiji Airways hooked both my boyfriend and me up with seats in business class, which is their version of first class. Not only did we feel incredibly fahncy hanging out in the first class lounge at LAX, which was a perk of our tickets, but we each got seats on the plane that reclined all the way to make a bed. I have literally never been able to sleep on a plane (trust me, I’ve tried all the hacks) but I was able to get five full hours of sleep on the Fiji Airways flight. It was—simply put—a miracle.
Final Verdict…
Fiji is an incredible place, and VOMO is where you should stay when you figure that out for yourself. Not only is it jaw-droppingly beautiful, but people go there to truly unplug. It took me a few days to realize that I didn’t see a single TV in the whole resort. And I can count on one hand the amount of times I saw someone on their phone. I brought my laptop along and I think I opened it one time.
It’s the kind of place where you can go and actually forget about the world, and after the last two years we’ve had, I can’t recommend that enough.
