We engineered this blanket fort with sheets, lavalavas, clothespins, binder clips, rope, and framed it all around of our couch bed and TV. Plus, electric fans to keep us cool, and the bouquet Ian picked for me to make it smell nice. Ian made berry smoothies, salad, and popcorn, and we had leftover hummus and chips. Queued up “To All the Boys: Always and Forever” on Netflix. Got our blankets and pillows, and cozied up for the Valentine’s Day afternoon.
I’ve missed the feeling of traveling… having a new destination to go to, and taking the scenic route.
That’s why I asked my husband (yes ya’ll, he’s my huzzzzband now!!) if we could go on a little staycation adventure as our pre-Valentine’s Day date, to which I’m so grateful that he is pretty much always down to do with me. I just really wanted to sate my travel wanderlust.
We packed our day bags with our essentials and grabbed our hats and sunglasses for a mini travel-vibey-beach-date. We walked out of our village to the main road and caught an aiga bus to Fatumafuti beach. I thoroughly enjoyed the short bus ride — it has been way too long since I sat in these wooden seats thumping to the bass-heavy speakers blaring island jams, shared my seat if the bus got too full, had my hair whip around all over the place from the open-air windows… it always feels so nostalgic.
I’ve surprisingly not hung out at Fatumafuti beach in so long, since the beach in front of my house is so accessible and perfect for snorkeling. Fatumafuti is definitely one of the island’s most recognized icons, so it was nice to travel the scenic route to get to the idyllic spot. Ian and I laid out our picnic blanket, and I hunkered down with a book while Ian jumped into the receding mid-tide for a snorkel.
We blissfully lazed, read, picnicked, and took photos for the next four hours until Ian started to get a little sunburn. For most of the time we were there, we had the entire beach to ourselves. Later, a couple of small families showed up to go cast net fishing, or to have a snack on the beach while the kids played; and we were evenly spaced out far away from each other, but it nice to see people hanging out and soaking in the beautiful weather we had that day. We knew the buses wouldn’t be as frequent later on as evening neared, so we packed our beach picnic supplies and books, caught a bus, and walked home.
It was soooo nice to feel like we were traveling again. Ian and I held hands — we’ve been practicing twiddling our thumbs for when we grow old together and are sitting in the backyard having a glass of wine and being goofy — and had really good easy conversations. I always feel so grateful to create these experiences with my forever person.
