Carl Pham and Jamie Apulu, do not regret making a holiday out of their trip to Samoa for a wedding.

“Samoa has come a long way and has definitely changed and I don’t know what’s going on with our Prime Minster but if this is what he’s doing to Samoa, then he is doing a good job from an outsider’s point of view,” Jamie said.

The Kiwis who live in Australia flew in on Sunday.

“This is our third day here and we’re here for my brother’s wedding this Friday,” Jamie said. They told Dear Tourist they have been enjoying the scenery - especially the food.

“We went to Lalomanu Beach; we’ve been doing a lot of sightseeing and eating. We took the scenic route to Lalomanu, which was a bit of the drive, and that was really beautiful; the views are amazing.

“For restaurants so far, we tried out the most famous Pinati’s Restaurant and then Seafood Gourmet which was amazing,” said Jamie.

Carl revealed he loved Seafood’s poke as well as the koko Samoa ice cream. They mutually agreed on thoroughly enjoying the food saying it has been “on-point” everywhere they go.

“So far the food has been really good here, and we’ve tried like BBQ joints on the side of the road also which is cheap and we like it,” they said. 

This is Jamie’s first time back in Samoa after ten years and she couldn’t decide what about Samoa she loves the most. The same goes for first timer, Carl.

“I think it’s everything from hospitality to customer service because the customer service here is really good; I came here ten years ago and things have definitely changed in Samoa – it’s definitely upgraded – and even the food is so much better now,” said Jamie.

She is amazed at the progress and gave the Government a compliment. The pair said they have done quite a bit of travelling and commented on the cleanliness of Samoa.

“You guys are really environmental friendly; Samoa doing such a great job and I am excited and can’t wait to see how Samoa will be like in the next ten years,” smiled Jamie.

Carl assured Dear Tourist team that he would definitely return to Samoa.

“You can tell everyone’s genuinely friendly and even the workers are great, it’s cheap what we pay for them; you can tell they’re not trying to rip you off. Everyone is just super nice, I love it.

“They’re just genuine because of who they are because I’ve been to other countries, and you can tell when someone’s trying to rip you off when you go to markets and stuff, and you don’t get that here.”

They also pointed to some things that could be improved.

“I know it’s work in progress but the roads need a lot of work; it’s just really narrow, sometimes we get nervous on the road.”

They were also concerned about drivers and their driving habits.

 “They need to take more care; like looking more into getting driver’s license and stuff.”

Otherwise, the pair has thoroughly enjoyed their time in Samoa, enjoying the food and scenery, as well as promoting Samoa to the world through social media platforms.

“So many people have been commenting and asking ‘where is this?’ ‘how much is this?’ and so many people have responded to how beautiful Samoa is through our posts; it’s like we’re promoting Samoa without even trying to, because we’re just updating our posts.”