Saturday March 26th
Boy was our trip to Guam crazy!
It started out great, we got to the Oakland Airport early, went in to check our bags and the girl at
the counter....Rose was her name, was trying to make sure our bags were checked all the way
to Guam so, it would be "easier" on us. We got our boarding passes after about 20 minutes of
her working on the computer, and finally getting her supervisor, "Sonja" to help....all was well as
we walked to the security area, until Mark glanced at my boarding pass and it said N. Tonaka!
Back to the ticket counter we went! Of course the girls that "helped" us were not there, so we had
to explain to a new person that I was not N. Tonaka, but, Tammy James!
Mrs. Tonaka of course was listening to us talk about her and was wondering what the heck was
going on! We finally got it all figured out and off we went with an escort, to the security area.
From there, we boarded and off we went to Seattle..............
Seattle was crazy as we did not have boarding passes to get on our flight to Tokyo. No problem
right? Hah!! We just go to the desk at the gate and talk to them......As we hear "I am sorry, your
reservations to Tokyo have been cancelled"...We wanted to scream......NO!!!!! But, we took it all in
stride :)
The woman at the counter was of course very helpful, and got us on our flight, sitting in separate
seats of course but hey, we were on our flight....hopefully our luggage was too! As we were
getting settled in our seats, a nice Japanese boy was getting ready to sit by me, I asked him if
he spoke English, and he said "very little".. He did understand that I wanted to sit by my
husband for the flight and was very gracious to give up his seat for Mark.
The flight was long and cramped, but we made the most of it, sleeping, watching movies, and
getting up to stretch and walk around the plane, it was the longest flight either one of us had
ever been on, and it went just fine. Tokyo was beautiful, a little chilly and rainy but beautiful, and
as we walked to the gate to get on our next flight to Saipan, we figured "what else could go
wrong?" Well........we were not booked on a flight to Saipan,...... Are you surprised???
The people in Tokyo were Very, Very accommodating, and put us up in the beautiful Tokyo,
Raddisson. We enjoyed a complimentary Dinner, slept like babies, and were treated to a
wonderful Breakfast, before we were off to the airport for our next trip. There sure were a lot of
unusual cars in Japan, Mike, my brother would have been in Heaven! Some of them were so
cute! The one I liked the best, was the Nissan Cube, it was pale yellow and would be a great
dive rig! We did get a couple of pictures, but not of the "Cube"
Any way, off we went to the Airport for our next flight! They ended up getting us on a flight straight
to Guam, and put us up in FIRST CLASS! It was incredible, we were treated so well. Drinks,
blankets, reclining seats, oh I wish that had been our flight to Tokyo! I would definitely
recommend first class to everyone!
The flight attendants were very pleasant, and we had a really, really good meal, and slept part of
the way. As we descended into Guam, the sun was shining, and it looked like paradise!
We landed in Guam around 2 pm, and as we went through the airport, to find a shuttle, we
realized, we are FINALLY HERE!......Not home, but....ALMOST!
Guam is warm sunny, humid, breezy.....it is what I would imagine heaven to be like for me :)
The greeting here is "HAFA ADAI" Say it like "half a day" Mark says he wishes it was his work
day.....half a day!
We checked into our hotel, and were dumbfounded....it was not a pretty sight, filthy dirty, and
scary to say the least!'
Needless to say, we decided maybe this was the "island life", we had heard so much about! We
heard it was laid back but........not dirty!
I tried to make the best of it, and walked to the K-mart down the road, bought some cleaning
supplies and cleaned while Mark was in class on Tuesday. When he got home, he informed
me, we were moving to a new place, that this was not the island life (he talked to some of the
people at the office about our room).
We are now at the Days Inn in Barrigada, on the Pacific ocean side of the island. We have a pool
up on the roof! YIIIPPPPEEEE!, a gorgeous room, (very clean), a terrific staff and wonderful
views of palm trees, and lots of colorful flowers....I haven't been able to identify yet!
So.......Here we are, we are fine, feeling good, relaxing (at least I am ;) and we are off to the
beach this afternoon for some swimming! Stay tuned for more exciting adventures to come!
Love to you all, Tam and Mark
Boy was our trip to Guam crazy!
It started out great, we got to the Oakland Airport early, went in to check our bags and the girl at
the counter....Rose was her name, was trying to make sure our bags were checked all the way
to Guam so, it would be "easier" on us. We got our boarding passes after about 20 minutes of
her working on the computer, and finally getting her supervisor, "Sonja" to help....all was well as
we walked to the security area, until Mark glanced at my boarding pass and it said N. Tonaka!
Back to the ticket counter we went! Of course the girls that "helped" us were not there, so we had
to explain to a new person that I was not N. Tonaka, but, Tammy James!
Mrs. Tonaka of course was listening to us talk about her and was wondering what the heck was
going on! We finally got it all figured out and off we went with an escort, to the security area.
From there, we boarded and off we went to Seattle..............
Seattle was crazy as we did not have boarding passes to get on our flight to Tokyo. No problem
right? Hah!! We just go to the desk at the gate and talk to them......As we hear "I am sorry, your
reservations to Tokyo have been cancelled"...We wanted to scream......NO!!!!! But, we took it all in
stride :)
The woman at the counter was of course very helpful, and got us on our flight, sitting in separate
seats of course but hey, we were on our flight....hopefully our luggage was too! As we were
getting settled in our seats, a nice Japanese boy was getting ready to sit by me, I asked him if
he spoke English, and he said "very little".. He did understand that I wanted to sit by my
husband for the flight and was very gracious to give up his seat for Mark.
The flight was long and cramped, but we made the most of it, sleeping, watching movies, and
getting up to stretch and walk around the plane, it was the longest flight either one of us had
ever been on, and it went just fine. Tokyo was beautiful, a little chilly and rainy but beautiful, and
as we walked to the gate to get on our next flight to Saipan, we figured "what else could go
wrong?" Well........we were not booked on a flight to Saipan,...... Are you surprised???
The people in Tokyo were Very, Very accommodating, and put us up in the beautiful Tokyo,
Raddisson. We enjoyed a complimentary Dinner, slept like babies, and were treated to a
wonderful Breakfast, before we were off to the airport for our next trip. There sure were a lot of
unusual cars in Japan, Mike, my brother would have been in Heaven! Some of them were so
cute! The one I liked the best, was the Nissan Cube, it was pale yellow and would be a great
dive rig! We did get a couple of pictures, but not of the "Cube"
Any way, off we went to the Airport for our next flight! They ended up getting us on a flight straight
to Guam, and put us up in FIRST CLASS! It was incredible, we were treated so well. Drinks,
blankets, reclining seats, oh I wish that had been our flight to Tokyo! I would definitely
recommend first class to everyone!
The flight attendants were very pleasant, and we had a really, really good meal, and slept part of
the way. As we descended into Guam, the sun was shining, and it looked like paradise!
We landed in Guam around 2 pm, and as we went through the airport, to find a shuttle, we
realized, we are FINALLY HERE!......Not home, but....ALMOST!
Guam is warm sunny, humid, breezy.....it is what I would imagine heaven to be like for me :)
The greeting here is "HAFA ADAI" Say it like "half a day" Mark says he wishes it was his work
day.....half a day!
We checked into our hotel, and were dumbfounded....it was not a pretty sight, filthy dirty, and
scary to say the least!'
Needless to say, we decided maybe this was the "island life", we had heard so much about! We
heard it was laid back but........not dirty!
I tried to make the best of it, and walked to the K-mart down the road, bought some cleaning
supplies and cleaned while Mark was in class on Tuesday. When he got home, he informed
me, we were moving to a new place, that this was not the island life (he talked to some of the
people at the office about our room).
We are now at the Days Inn in Barrigada, on the Pacific ocean side of the island. We have a pool
up on the roof! YIIIPPPPEEEE!, a gorgeous room, (very clean), a terrific staff and wonderful
views of palm trees, and lots of colorful flowers....I haven't been able to identify yet!
So.......Here we are, we are fine, feeling good, relaxing (at least I am ;) and we are off to the
beach this afternoon for some swimming! Stay tuned for more exciting adventures to come!
Love to you all, Tam and Mark
Icy coast line of Alaska from the plane
| Industrial part of Tokyo |
| Japan was a blur! |
What the Heck?????
| Cool little car |
| The trip from Oakland to Guam became an adventure all its own so I thought we would dedicate a page just to this part of the trip. |
| Oakland to Guam |
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