Wayfarers tell their story through travel

I am waved goodbye in the pre-dawn light by a hotel receptionist from Gujarat and a bellboy from Lagos, Nigeria. My take-away coffee – which I’d planned to drink en route – must be imbibed before I climb into the immaculate transfer vehicle.

The Wreck of the USS President Coolidge in Vanuatu

Built in 1931 for a life of luxurious Pacific cruising, the 200m SS President Coolidge began her life carrying the well-to-do and who's who of American society. Her playgrounds included Hawaii, Hong Kong and, ironically, Japan, where she sped to from San Francisco in record time. Her guests reclined around two swimming pools, preened themselves in salons, worked out in gyms or just hung out at the ornate soda fountain. Her fate, however, was anything but salubrious.

The Fijian Kava ceremony you can have at home with bonus health benefits

Chief offers kava to the guest during yaqona ceremony. Pic: Roderick Eime

Yaqona (yang-GO-na) is a tranquilizing, nonalcoholic drink that numbs the tongue and lips. Better known as kava, it's made from the waka (dried root) of the pepper plant (Macropiper methysticum). This ceremonial preparation is the most honoured feature of the formal life of Fijians, Tongans, and Samoans. It is performed with the utmost gravity according to a sacramental ritual to mark births, marriages, deaths, official visits or the installation of a new chief.