A long way from home

By Anina Kazaz 15 June 2018, 12:00AM

Florian Heisler took the long travel from Hamburg, North of Germany, to the other end of the world – Samoa. 

Samoa is just a break from his work and travel progamme in New Zealand and Australia. He arrived on Monday last week and for him, the days he has spent on the island is a good getaway.

It is his first time in Samoa and in the Pacific region and he told Dear Tourist that he hasn’t heard of Samoa before.    

“A friend of mine has been to Samoa before and suggested it, so I decided to come.”

“It is something very new for me. The culture is very cool and very interesting. I think here in Samoa the culture is probably more original than Fiji. I heard the other islands are touristy and the focus is more on luxury tourism. I appreciate that here.”

“What I enjoy as well especially here in Apia, is I am one of the only ones from Europe. It is a nice feeling when kids for example say hey to you, because I am not used to that in the western countries. Sometimes I really feel like the kids have never seen a European before.”

“I would love to go to other islands here as well, but unfortunately I do not have the time for that anymore,” he said. 

The first two nights he stayed in Lefaga was not as enjoyable as other places on the island.

“There was a construction site nearby, and they have been working early in the morning. It was loud and I have been alone there as well. The other accommodations included food like dinner and not only breakfast. I planned to be there for three nights, but I just stayed two nights.”

“The place was wonderful, but I did not feel comfortable there. Once I wanted to get dinner at seven o’clock, but I could not find anyone, so I couldn’t get any food from anywhere.”

Despite this, Florian did enjoy the rest of his trip and the accommodation a lot. 

After his stay in Lefaga he came to Apia, where he rented a scooter and explored a bit more of the island by himself. He saw the To Sua Ocean Trench, the Faofao Beach Fales and the last few days he spent in Lalomanu.

“The other accommodations have been really good and I had a lot of fun there. I met a lot of new people. The Lalomanu stay was the one I liked the most. The beach there is really beautiful like Faofao, which I enjoyed a lot.”

“It was fun driving the scooter, but at the end I was most of the time a bit scared because of the dogs.”

“It was very uncomfortable when the dogs almost knocked me off the scooter. They have been jumping after me. You can’t see them coming they just come out of the gardens from the houses on the street.”

“I think if they could handle the dogs on the streets, tourists could do a lot more like going out by themselves without being scared and feel safer,” he said.

 “I have not been sure if you can drink from the tap water or not. It would be nice to have more information about where you can drink and where not to,” Florian described.

“I would come back but I have seen a lot of it already, so first I would probably go to another island to see something new.”  

He left Samoa yesterday to spend a few more days in New Zealand and Australia before returning to Germany. 

By Anina Kazaz 15 June 2018, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>