Travel Log: Day 135 (11/9), Guam

This was a pretty calm day, being the last day my mom is here. We spent some time at the beach, and watched a nuggets game. Mom and I packed to figure out what I need to take from her load of souvenirs in my bag. It worked out pretty well and I can still take my tiny backpack. In the evening JC and I walked to the ABC store to get a smaller bottle of water for me to take on the trip. AC read me three chapters of the maze runner to make up for the days I’ll be gone.

Travel Log: Day 136, 137, 138 (11/10, 11/11, 11/12), Guam/Denver

I’m putting this trio of travel days into one section together because it’s just one big blur.

To Denver

It was time for mom to head back home to CO, so today I have a repeat of the trip to go pick her up. The only difference is when I’ll fly alone, which is on the way back instead of the way there.

Woke up at 5am and we went to the airport. Security is a breeze at the Guam airport and we were at our gate in under 10 minutes. We were provided meals on both legs which saved us the effort of finding food. MS was waiting for us, and she took me to my hotel and mom back to her house.

Odd Happenings

The only noteworthy occurrence on this set of flights was a zombie guy on the Hawaii to Denver leg who seemed to be almost non-functional. He was either Hawaiian or Chamorro, big guy, and he was trying to find a spot for his carry-on bag. He kept opening closed overhead bins, which most people understand to mean the bin is full. The flight attendants told him that as well, and he just kept opening bins. The flight attendants then found a spot for his bag in the other aisle. They told him to walk over there and put it there. Again a blank stare at them and he just started walking toward the nose of the plane in the same aisle. He eventually found a spot to jam it in, but not the one the flight attendants told him.

It got even weirder with that guy once we landed. It was his turn to get up and he looked in the bin directly over his seat for his bag. I was sitting directly behind him and waited for the light bulb over his head when he realized he put his back far up front. He kept moving mom’s and my bag as if his giant carry-on was going to materialize from behind them. He was holding up the rest of the plane behind him and I could tell he was starting to get agitated, probably thinking someone stole his bag.

I could tell he was not going to figure this out, so I told him that he put his bag farther towards the front. I too just got a blank stare from him, but then he walked forward visually scanning all the bins until he found his. That guy either has massive memory problems or he was on something.

Hotel

I stayed at Avid near DIA. It was simple, clean, cheap, had great coffee, and was just right for what I needed. It also had an airport shuttle running all hours of the day which saved me an Uber. However, I ended up tipping the shuttle driver $20 which is what the Uber would have cost. I ran out of small bills and didn’t realize it, and I wasn’t going to stiff him.

At the hotel I just killed time by watching TV and Netflix, getting some food, and filling out the Hawaii and Guam entry forms. I ate Jersey Mike’s for breakfast and Circle K for lunch. For dinner I ate a free apple fritter thing from the hotel. I also walked to get an amazon package from a locker near the hotel. It had a plug type M converter for South Africa.

Back To Guam

After riding the shuttle to the airport, I quickly made it through early morning security and went to my gate. I walked in circles a bunch to get some activity before the long set of flights. I had a window seat on the way to San Francisco, and managed to sleep (badly) for about 1.5 hours. On the leg from San Fran to Hawaii I had another window seat and got about 3 bad hours of sleep. After that flight I wanted to stay up so I got some Starbucks for lunch and drank coffee on the third leg to Guam as well.

I really had great seating situations all around. An empty middle seat next to me on leg one, a small quiet female by me on both leg two and three.

At immigration in Guam, the guy started grilling me a bit after I answered a question telling him it’s the third time I’ve entered Guam. He was suspicious of my little squirrel pack and how I could be staying here for as long as we are. Ended up explaining pretty much the full trip logistics to him.

JC picked me up. I ate, showered, unpacked and now I’m just trying to get back to neutral. Two long haul flights in three days is a lot to wind down from.