We stayed in Port Vila multiple times: the first night after we arrived we didn’t get to see the town but just stayed at a hotel close to the airport. The second time, we had a day between arriving back from Ambrym and heading to Tanna. That time, we lost half of the day being on the phone with Air Vanuatu since they had lost our luggage during the connection on Santo. After many not so friendly conversations the evening before, we got 7.000 VT to buy toiletries and stuff. After some more and even less friendly calls (or should I say shouting at every single lazy Air Vanuatu employee we could get hold of multiple times on the phone as well as in the office) they finally got to work and realized our luggage had been put on an earlier flight the day before and had always been in Port Vila. (…..) After some more discussion, they finally accepted that they’d bring our bags to our hotel (they had requested we go back to the airport to pick it up ourselves). Gotta love Air Vanuatu. Never seen so many dumb and lazy people working in one place.

Anyways, Port Vila. It’s actually an ok town, much better than Honiara for example, but there’s not a whole lot to see and do. We walked down the promenade, checked out the local market and had some beers in the sun to celebrate the reunion with our backpacks.

Then we were off to Tanna, returning after some more Air Vanuatu trouble once again to Port Vila for a day. We should have had 2 days to explore the main island of Efate but due to our flight being cancelled, we only got back to Port Vila with half a day left before our departure to Fiji. Not really enough time for anything… and since it was Independence Day, we just walked around the center a bit, watching the masses of people in colourful clothes with Vanuatu flags in their hair. Everyone was out for a family day it seemed!

So even though we came to Port Vila 3 times, we never made it out of the capital to explore Efate. Maybe next time, when I’ve forgotten about all the Air Vanuatu drama and I’m ready to visit Vanuatu again…