Back to the States.. well, US territory

My trip to Guam was ridiculous.

Family!

The cheapest flight (can't blame not wanting to pay $3000 to get to Guam) routed me from Christchurch to Melbourne to Singapore to Manila to Guam.  Almost all the flights were red-eye.

The first flight went smoothly enough.  The second flight just about didn't happen.  Several of us were jumping on the same plane and shared the same confusion, as the airline wasn't posting the departure gate for the 11 am flight.  10 am: nothing.  10:30 am: nothing.  10:45 am: I started asking around.  11 am: posted as cancelled, right after I found out from a different airline's steward.  Well, that's what I (didn't) pay for.

They bumped us to the next flight on Qantas.  So instead of starving on a poorly-serviced JetStar plane, I got regular meals, free movies, and a row to myself on a new Airbus.  No complaints.

From Singapore, I took my flight to Manila, where I discovered that my bag was missing.  Not only that, but I couldn't find my baggage claim ticket anywhere.  Of course.  I filed a complaint in Manila, which I repeated in Guam, but after several days in Guam, I still don't have my bag.

But losing my bag in Manila wasn't the worst part of my day.

My first lobster

Amazing dessert

Most normal people would catch a taxi to a nearby hotel and get some sleep during a 20-hour layover.  But not being normal, I took an alternate room to a good day's sleep: riding an ambulance to the health clinic to sleep on a stretcher.

New friends

I'm not quite sure what happened.  Perhaps it was having slept very little two nights in a row.  Maybe the cup of noodles I got wasn't boiled long enough and the water was still contaminated.  But in any case, I was nauseous and shaky, so the observant airport cleaning crew called the clinic for me.

After a good rest in the health clinic, I was back to normal and off to Guam.  I guess I really did need to take it easy!

Now I'm in Guam, hanging out with the family, napping and catching up between meals, which have all been delicious (like the one above!)  We spent the other day at one of the fiesta lunches and enjoyed the food, music, and dancing with dancers in grass skirts (I'll have to get those pictures off my dad).

It's been great being with family again, especially so soon after Easter - kind of like a belated holiday.  Just a few days in and, for all the craziness, I'm reminded of why I enjoy being around my family.

Wilson-Battel family's emo rock poster :P