Samoa

A chain of volcanic islands drifting over a magma hotspot, Samoa is a beautiful Polynesian country in the heart of the south Pacific. With a population of only around 200,000 (about the same as Aberdeen), it was known as Western Samoa until 1997, following independence from New Zealand in 1962. It is the only country to have converted from driving on the right to driving on the left during the 21st century (a trend I’m keen to see continue), and also moved the International Date Line around itself so it became one of the first to see in the new year, as opposed to one of the last.

I travelled to Samoa in only two six-hour flights from Alaska where I was living at the time, via Hawaii. I really liked the laid back nature of the country, the ease of getting around, the many spectacular points of interest and the fact that it was not at all overpopulated by tourists. It was the November shoulder season so there was some rain, but my five nights were over too quickly, before I moved on to Fiji.