Fiji was our ultimate goal and we were treated like royalty in my friend's father's memory.   

As the only Westerners on a tiny island in the Yasawa group of islands we lived on fish and casava and enjoyed the unhurried life of true Fijians.  Everything was perfect until the nine hour boat trip back to mainland Fiji nearly ended in disaster. 

From Fiji to the tiny Pacific island of Tonga where everything from the airport, hostel and day trips were run by one man.  

American Samoa where men endure waist to knee tattooing and Western Samoa where octogenarian Aggie Grey started selling to GIs from a stall and built up a thriving hotel empire.  

Finally to Hawaii with its famous Hula girls and Waikiki Beach.

From Disneyland to San Francisco in California  Las Vegas in Nevada and the casinos where I won enough for two nights in a hotel.  

With money scarce the Greyhound Bus took us across America.  A night on a bus - a night in a hostel. The Grand Canyon in Arizona and cowboys in Texas.

Through New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas to Memphis in Tennessee where Gracelands is a shrine to Elvis Presley.

Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Pensylvania and New Jersey where the autumn leaves were stunning.

Finally to New York from where we flew home after two years on the road.