Travel Ideas

Whilst certain islands in the Pacific are geared up for fat-walleted tourists keen to say ‘aloha!’ 1000 times a day and dance the hula, the Pacific is vast. Stick a pin in the map and find islands of every description, religion, language and cultural background.

The Pacific is just too far away for most people to be bothered going to and, as it’s not especially cheap to live there, most travelers give it a miss. But there are still plenty of islands where the villages live in the same style as they always did, give or take a steel pot and transistor radio or two.

In fact, the main contingent of foreign visitors have been the missionaries who feverishly followed the rumours of cannibalism. As Paul Theroux noted, cannibals and Born-Again Christians share an irresistible magnetism. Thus the islands are a mix of fearful Gospel and lurking animist beliefs, both faiths smouldering in the hearts of the Polynesians who prefer to hedge their bets.

Despite the joyless influence of the evangelists, people still like to get drunk, drink kava and smoke herb on the islands and parties can get pretty wild – just try not to be around when old tribal feuds surface.

Tom has been traveling non-stop since the age of 18 and co-founded Road Junky in 2004. Follow him @tomglaister

He’s the author of Hand to Mouth to India, an account of hitchhiking from England to India with no money and which will soon be rereleased by Road Junky Books.

Tales of a Road Junky featuring tales of breaking people out of jail in Delhi, selling fake Rolexes in Japan and other adventures in Israel and Brazil will be out later this year.

He also writes fiction for anyone who never really grew up and his latest novel is Bozo and the Storyteller – download the audio book for free or even buy a copy…

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