We took our first vacation to Guam for 4 nights. People told us it's a fast and easy trip because most vacation destinations take a good 6 or more hours. This trip was only a bit more than 3 hours, but if you include the time it took to get to the airport and go through all the immigration/customs etc...travel time at least doubled. It's here when I missed Minneapolis and our quick 15 minute car ride to the airport. Instead, we hauled our bags down the street to the train station at 6AM and then changed trains with crabby kids and bags that barely rolled to arrive at the airport with a little over 2 hours. Apparently this was not enough time because after checking our bags the airport staff escorted us up to the front of the immigration line, some other line and then to the front at the gate for our boarding passes so we could make our flight. I thought it was because Jack worked for the airline, but he quickly corrected me and said when checking our bags it was obvious we weren't going to make it so they were kind enough to help us out - or maybe it was the boys running, screaming, and wrestling in the middle of the floor that was a red flag that we needed assistance.
Guam was a great getaway. It felt alot like our winter trips to Mexico from Minneapolis. The 'clubmates' here were great with the kids and there were plenty of activities to keep them entertained, including little lizard catching for Nicholas. The staff were really great whenever we lost a kid (even when we didn't know we lost one). We had one phone call to our room with Nicholas down at the desk looking for us and at least two other times staff returned our lost kids to us while we were sitting in lounge chairs - oops.
I got a little too excited about shopping at the Kmart up the street and even had 10 minutes in a Macy's to find some jeans and a sweater before the kids totally fell apart in the Micronesia Mall. The resort wasn't crowded, those here were mainly Japanese, Korean and Philippine. We did see one other school family from Tokyo, but due to the time of year it wasn't that crowded.
Okay - pretty much right after that last sentence Connor woke up crying in what seemed to be severe ear pain. It was about 10PM and we were due to leave on our flight back home the next day around 3, so I wasn't about to mess with ear infections and flying. I decided to check with the desk and see if there was a dr. on call. Nope. They suggested the ER, but said it would be a long wait. I had no other choice. The hotel was awesome and took us in the shuttle and told me to call when we were finished and they would pick us up. We got there and of course like any ER anywhere at 10PM it was packed. Thank god they spoke English in Guam as it made things a bit easier. Strangely enough it's flu season there. (I don't know for some reason, I didn't think there would be a flu season in a climate that was 80 degrees and sunny ALL the time.) Anyway, the waiting area was tiny and I felt like we were sitting in a sea of infectious diseases - ahhhh!!!!! Then came the insurance piece -what's our home address? Tokyo? Minneapolis? Billing address? Minneapolis? Tokyo? Ahhhhh? I had no idea how things were going to work - but they did, thank god. Connor decided that after we were waiting there for about half an hour that his ear didn't hurt anymore and he wanted to go home. I wasn't sure what that meant either...back to the hotel? Tokyo? Minneapolis? No way, we were sticking this out, so he cried and whined and carried on for some time. Poor little guy was exhausted. After a good 3 hours there we were done. The dr. saw him for about hmmm....2 minutes and sent us off with a prescription that they couldn't fill. Kmart, here I come...again. Unfortunately the bedside manner of the staff was next to nothing. Connor fell asleep and when he was called the guy to take his vitals pretty much said - hey ,wake up, get on the scale. And I'm pretty sure the dr. didn't crack a smile for Connor either. I realize it's the night shift and it's crazy in there, but I was so relieved to get out. Connor slept almost the entire flight home yesterday. Hurray.
3 comments:
I hate long flights! Although your trip looks great! What do you hate? Please mail five things you hate to our blog, Five Things I Hate.
I see several Christmas card options in that group.
I finally have had a chance to catch up on your blog! First, happy birthday and welcome to the 40's! Second, Guam looks beautiful -- it snowed in Mpls yesterday! Third, I feel your pain with the late night ER visit. Micah ended up in a Chicago-area ER at 10:30 pm for stitches last summer. Always fun! Take care!
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