In Fiji, you can swap hula for bula

“Bula and welcome home,” Bill Mualele, Turtle Island’s resort manager says to me while placing a shell necklace around my neck and a coconut drink in my hand. After a two-hour speed boat ride zipping through the impossibly turquoise waters of the South Pacific, I’m a little dazed, a little unsteady, and a little overwhelmed.

“Bula bula!” says another staff member, then another and another. At least 20 Fijians are lined up to greet me and the other new arrivals on Turtle Island. There are handshakes, hugs, fist bumps, and shoulder squeezes. It would seem contrived, but it’s actually genuine.

This is my first visit to Fiji and while I don’t exactly know what bula means yet, I’m starting to get the idea. You can’t walk two steps from your bungalow onto a sugar sand beach without hearing the enthusiastic greeting. It’s said to everyone you pass by and for us tourists, it’s a constant reminder you’re on Fiji time.

If kicking back on sun-drenched, palm-fringed islands and interacting with welcoming locals who are legitimately happy you’re visiting sounds too good to be true, you’re in luck. After a 14-year hiatus, Fiji Airways now offers direct flights to the isle of smiles from Canada.