Im going to Samoa for a week...

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gjm

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Topic # 132249 14-Oct-2013 22:19

anything people recommend doing or not doing, Ive never been before.

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timmmay

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Reply # 915158 15-Oct-2013 07:53

Where are you staying? I'd avoid being in or too near Apia myself. We stayed at Sinalie Resort and Spa, it was apparently one of the nicest places on the island, but don't expect modern international standards. Fiji, Samoa, most of the islands unless you're paying $1000/night things will be looking run down or not great in some ways. I think one reason is because the environment over there's hard on buildings and fittings.

But Samoa's a good place to go for a week to relax, so long as you get nice weather. Vegetarians will have a tougher time. Take all the books you want to read as there are no bookshops.

There are plenty of tourist brochures, and look on trip advisor for activities. We didn't do much really, just ate, drank, and relaxed.

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Inphinity

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Reply # 915181 15-Oct-2013 08:07

Depends on your interests I guess. Best thing I can think of to do is leave :P
Do they even have 3G yet? Didn't last time I tried a couple years ago :x

On a less smartass note, there's heaps of nature-y type things to look at and do, if that's your thing.

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nitrotech

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Reply # 915182 15-Oct-2013 08:09

Samoa us not my favourite of the islands - agree with the above comment about Apia total waste of time. I stayed at aggie grays and the beach there was just a pile of rocks with some sand over the top.

If you're after a relax on the beach then it's fine but there really is nothing to do.

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Reply # 915185 15-Oct-2013 08:15

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The beach was ok at Sinalei. Aggie Greys has a place in Apia and a resort elsewhere.

You don't go to tropical islands for the 3G coverage. When I was there last year the resort had WiFi that was so slow it was probably measured in bytes per minute.

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BigMal

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Reply # 915228 15-Oct-2013 09:17

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I've been to Samoa twice. I love it but then again I love going to the islands.

Turn off your gadgets (cause the internet is rubbish) and head to the beach and relax.

Lalomanu is a beautiful beach on the south east end of the Upolu.

You could also do a day trip or spend a night or two over on Savai'i.

zaptor

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Reply # 915261 15-Oct-2013 10:19

Haven't been for some time. Apparently it's a lot more commercial than it used to be.

Having said that, I don't think it's a resort destination with many of the trappings/pleasures one might expect in other places.
Would agree with what others have said about not having much to do, unless you know the locals (go for a "nice" trek in the jungle - check out a hill top plantation, or find a cool inland waterfall). The pacific islands have the highest obesity rates in the world (Samoa is no exception), so the type of food on offer may not have the kind of healthy variety one may be used to.

You could "rough it" by taking one of the local buses for a (scenic) ride around the island. Be sure to take some padding for the wooden seats, and dress like a local. Of course if you're not dark skinned you'll stick out anyway. If you can't speak the lingo, find someone you can trust who does and take them with you.

zaptor

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Reply # 915264 15-Oct-2013 10:26

Forgot to mention.

If you're moving outside of the safety of the resort then be careful. Not in a bad way. Just realize there is a relatively high level of corruption in Samoa, and locals can be quite volatile if highly inebriated.

gjm

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Reply # 915268 15-Oct-2013 10:34

Ok thx for all the replies guys. I'm staying at the sea breeze which looked nice in the pictures at least so might just stay in the resort. Only gadget coming is my kindle as I can't remember the last time I was disconnected. Sounds like the beach and a book is it then. Cheers.

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timmmay

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Reply # 915281 15-Oct-2013 10:48

Store up plenty of books on your kindle before you go, don't rely on having a data connection. You may have one, you may not.

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zaptor

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Reply # 915283 15-Oct-2013 10:53

If you wanted a more upmarket experience for a few days - and had the money, you could hop over to Pago (Pago). A lot of money pours in from the US (or used to).
It's still important because it's the southernmost US territory (i.e. base). Possibly more so these days with the Chinese pumping noticeable sums of money into the Samoan economy

From memory the shopping in Pago was vastly superior to that in Apia, for what it's worth. Of course you'd need to get one of those US Visa thingies (which shouldn't be difficult) to travel there.

cldlr76

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Reply # 915368 15-Oct-2013 13:02

We stayed at seabreeze about 6 months ago for a week and it was excellent. We spent most of the time in the pool drinking cocktails. The Resturant there is awesome as well. They also provide kayaks and snorkelling gear. We filled in a week most just relaxing and not doing much.

I would highly recommend a trip to tosua trench. You could probably walk there from seabreeze and it's well worth the visit.

We hired a car for a couple days (the owners of seabreeze organised it for us) and drive around the island. It's easy to get around and not get lost. I also enjoyed the papase'ea sliding rocks.

There is also an island you can take a boat trip too and feed turtles. We didn't do that but a couple of others who were staying at seabreeze did and had good things to say about it.

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Reply # 915372 15-Oct-2013 13:08

My wife went to Samoa about 10 years ago. She said one of the better entertainments is riding the huge cockroaches she found almost every place she stayed and driving the porcelain bus when the food didn't agree with her.

Go with appropriate expectations and just focus on doing little and relaxing. Take a Kindle and a way to charge it, and you should be good.

timmmay

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Reply # 915412 15-Oct-2013 13:34

I was there last year, I don't remember seeing any bugs, but I was in a nice resort. It's a fact of life that you get large bugs in the tropics.

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networkn

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Reply # 915420 15-Oct-2013 13:41

timmmay: I was there last year, I don't remember seeing any bugs, but I was in a nice resort. It's a fact of life that you get large bugs in the tropics.

I apologize, it would seem the tongue in cheek tone of my response didn't seem to hit the right mark.