Travel

The ’30-day permit’ requirement does remain for Samoa passport holders wishing to travel to American Samoa, except that they have been exempted from providing medical and police clearances when applying for a 30-day permit, if they have no plans of residing or work during their stay in the territory.

Samoa News reports the change was made effective on 10 April, 2023 and was announced by Attorney General Fainuulelei Falefatu Alailima-Utu at the Atoa o Samoa meeting, held in American Samoa last week. 

CEO of Samoa's tourism authority Fa'amatuainu Lenata'i Suifua said that vaccinations and a tracer app would be key to letting tourists in.

"You'll need to download the app before you come to Samoa," he told Pacific Beat.

He said the app was based off the "privacy preserving BlueTrace protocol" developed in Singapore which uses Bluetooth to trace contacts between the users.

So far 36 per cent of Samoa's eligible population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and almost 80 per cent have received their first dose.

With many living in New Zealand and wanting to travel, Jacinda Ardern emphasised the vaccine is key to a free travel passport.

“A lot of conversations with our Pacific neighbours, there’s a desire to make sure that we’re protecting our most vulnerable,” she says.

“And so any country I think that is looking to open up and have movement again, is aware that unless we have a vaccination programme that reaches our most vulnerable they are at risk. 

This isn't really a checklist, and 30 is really just a number. So if you're 72 and don't feel a day over 29 ½, the following naturally applies to you as well.

Just two suggestions if you haven't done some version of these open-ended "must do" experiences before you turn "30."

1. Approach the following with a healthy dose of imagination, caution and wild abandon.

2. Get started:

1. Travel solo

Travel is a social endeavor. So why do it alone? For that very reason.

After all, inflight offerings are usually limited to mass-produced beers like Budweiser, Carlsberg or Tsing Tao.

But a few airlines are pouring some love into onboard beer experiences.

Kicking off the movement, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) teamed up with Danish brewer Mikkeller in 2014. Since then, the airline has introduced a dozen specialty beers on routes around the world.

Lilly Quinn and Sarah Little managed to do it without spending a dime beyond their £300 flights from the UK.

They spent five months travelling thousands of miles across 48 states, taking in some of the most epic landscape on earth.

"We wanted to do something challenging," explains 29-year-old Lilly.

So how did they do it? They hitch-hiked, couch-surfed and even used Tinder. Here are their top tips.

Take the leap, just go for it

"Having no money meant we were pushed to get out there and meet as many people as possible," Lilly explains.

It seems like remote work is on everyone's mind lately.

In the US alone, 37% of workers say they telecommute -- up from 9% in 1995 -- according to a 2015 Gallup poll.

And that number is expected to increase in coming years with a new generation entering the workforce.

Roughly 68% of millennial job seekers said that an option to work remotely would sweeten any job deal, according to a survey by networking site AfterCollege.

It's not as easy as you think, says Swiss photographer Roger Eberhard, who's visited hotel rooms in 32 countries and six continents for a project exploring standardization in our major cities.

In his aptly titled book "Standard," Eberhard photographs Hilton hotel's entry-level double rooms at the same angle in several global cities -- from Sydney and Tokyo to Addis Ababa and Panama City -- alongside snapshots of the world outside the hotel window.

It's a two-hour commute to the nearest airport. At Departures, growing hunger pangs are curbed with a pre-prepared sandwich from the nearest food outlet followed by snacks in the business class lounge.

Over a six-hour plane journey, you alternate between struggling to sleep, working on upcoming presentations and feasting on the food and alcohol you're being offered. You might not really be that hungry -- but it's there and it's free -- so you're going to eat it.

Now when we go on vacation, the loved ones we've left behind feel like they are there with us.

We Snapchat our journey, Tweet from the beach and -- once we're back home -- Instagram a #throwback image of our favorite sunset.

But midway through our trip -- despite the phones in our pockets -- we head down to the souvenir shop and pick out a postcard or two for friends and family.