It's been a year since my last trip to the USA and I think I owe myself another adventure this year. Ever since I came back home to the Philippines from my 2 months vacation in the US, I vowed to myself that I will have at least one country to visit each year. My bucket list for my next trips includes the 7 wonders of the world but I don’t think I have the budget for that. I will get to that but not now. But that shouldn’t stop me from seeing the world, should I? I don’t agree that backpacking should be expensive and budget constraints should pose a threat to killing your happiness in fulfilling your desire to travel the world.
One thing that I learned to master as a traveler with a tight budget is finding the most affordable airfare, accommodation, restaurants, and the most unforgettable places to see for at least 3 days. All I want to do anyway is just to take pictures of the places I go to with no intention of shopping unless I see something worth buying. So that shouldn’t mean I will not go to shopping malls or pay entrance tickets to an exhibit, or to see a show. But I will not forget that I have a limited budget and my main purpose is to enjoy my trip even with just a handful of stash to spend for a few days.
Finding the cheapest airfare is easy with the use of various platforms and links but the challenging part is adjusting either your schedule to match where the cheapest tickets are priced or to shop around jumping from one online travel company to another. I bought my ticket to CA last year at Orbitz because it had the lowest rate of a PAL trip within my preferred travel dates although PAL is surely not the cheapest airline to get me there. Being the flag-bearer of my country, I made sure that I have to be in one of the world's best airlines of the year being ranked at #87 out of 275 contenders.
I weighed all the circumstances this year --- my limited budget, the weather, the schedule, and the best places to go to, so I can plan where I should go next. I created a table and checklist so I can narrow it down to just one perfect destination for this year and man, it's hard to decide. Having a long bucket list of countries that I want to go to, not every single item in my checklist was crossed out. I want to see all of them! But I have to choose only one for now. And after thorough deliberation and endless arguments with myself, I finally picked one destination --- GUAM. Yeah, I know Guam is not the best tourist spot for beginners like me, but what stood out in my decision is that Guam is not one of the most populated countries swarmed by tourists. And that is the criterion that served as my deciding factor in picking Guam as my next place to be.
I studied the differences in the ticket rates among various online ticketing websites like Orbitz, Booking.com, Expedia, Cheapflights, and tons of other links and it took me a month to monitor and compare their prices, reviews, and services. This is something that you have to endure if you want your travel to be within a shoestring budget, but it's something that you can easily master because you can be innovative and strategic to make both ends meet and you can still enjoy your trip. One of the things that I've assimilated is realizing that you just don't pick what is cheap, but you have to weigh where the best deal is. Choosing where the lowest rates do not guarantee your enjoyment in doing what you like, but if you sacrifice one of the items in your checklist to offset your focus on the main thing that will satisfy your craving, that for me, is what I call the best deal.
On this trip, I found the best deal for my airfare in what Expedia offered for a July 20-July 23 trip through United Airlines. The catch though is that this trip will leave Manila at 10:25pm and will reach Guam at 4am the following day, where I have to wait for 11 hours more before I can check in to the hotel (paying one more day in advance for early check-in is not part of my "best deal" rule). Along with the airfare, I also took advantage of booking my hotel with them and the coziest of all the choices that I had was with Aqua Suites in Wyndham Garden Guam, a 3-star hotel sitting at a hilly side of Ypao Beach Road in Tamuning. Interestingly, I searched the hotel in an attempt to find a lower rate in other hotel booking websites but all of them quoted a few dollars higher than having it booked with Expedia along with the airfare. Their amenities and services are beyond what I need as I intend to stay outdoors most of my time, so I think I'll be paying a little higher than my expectations. But that's fine, for now, what I look forward to having is the fun and enjoyment on this trip.
United 184 took off from Manila at 10:25pm and flew in the sky as smooth as silk. The FAs are very accommodating and approachable, and they are always smiling and oozing with contagious energy, despite the lull time of this night trip. They served the meal promptly after reaching the altitude apt for serving food. I remember my first trip with PAL where I asked for a refill of my soda after I sipped on it half empty and I was given some more, so I thought of maybe doing the same (quite abusive, huh). When the FA handed me the disposable glass, I immediately asked if I can just sip on it and give me another round, I was surprised that she gave me the entire can. Whoah, that's beyond what I expected. The meal doesn't look extra-ordinary but it tasted a real badass! Two thumbs-up for me.
Finally, we arrived at Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport at 4:12AM the next day July 21. The airport, more popularly known as Guam International Airport is very calm, serene, and pleasant, probably because of the time of the day, as there is almost no one around yet. It was easy to find the exit gates and it only took me a few minutes to go out of the airport. Airport shuttle service is only available from 7am to 11pm so it means I'm on my own. There are cabs parked everywhere as soon as you exit Terminal 1 so I think it's not much of a problem getting to the hotel at this hour. I waved my hand on a taxi driver parked a few distances from where my luggage was perched and he picked me up in a dash. We headed out to the highway, turned left and another right and in just 5 minutes, he stopped on a dime. Man, that was it? A 5-minute ride from the airport? He offered to bring my luggage to the concierge but since I only have single-piece luggage, a DSLR hung on my shoulder and a tripod on my other hand, I declined nicely and gave him my $10. He just smiled at me. I wasn't sure if I should wait for a change or if I need to add a few cents more because he didn't mention how much the fare is. But before I could say another word, he suddenly disappeared from my sight like a Night Crawler.
It's now almost 5am and I quickly walked to the hotel's Front Desk. There was only one living thing at sight, just the lady at the counter who doesn't seem to expect someone arriving at early dawn. I introduced myself and she promptly checked the computer if I was booked for the day. The amazement was quite evident in her face so I saved her the trouble of explaining the rules of hotel check-in. I immediately advised her that I am completely aware that the room that I booked is for the 3pm time but I couldn't help arriving at 5am because of my flight schedule. I know that I have to wait for 10 hours more but I assured her that I am completely fine because I intended to stay outdoors until I check-in at 3pm. She was totally aghast. While she was still in disbelief, I grabbed the opportunity to ask her to let me sleep on the hotel's couch in the lobby just for a few hours until the first shuttle arrives to bring me to where I can eat breakfast. She looked at me in total bewilderment and I felt like I just did a savage act.
Unexpectedly, she was very adorable and accommodating that she offered the long couch to me so I can sleep comfortably. I told her I'm not going to lie down anyway and I prefer to just sleep in a sitting position so it would look like I just dozed off just in case there are other guests that will arrive while I am in my dream state. She took my luggage and kept them in a safe corner inside the counter and showed me the way to the restroom so I could freshen up a bit. I was very thankful that being hospitable is not just a trait for Filipinos but more apparent with Chamorros.
I slept for 2 hours like a baby...
I woke up at the sound of an engine revvin' up a few steps from the lobby's main entrance. The hotel's shuttle has just arrived to pick up guests and bring them to various destinations. I rushed to the restroom nearby, washed up a bit, and ran straight to a white SUV parked at the lobby entrance. The driver is very sociable and chatty that you don't need to ask anything, he proactively provides all the information you need to know, sometimes beyond what you have to know. He mentioned that the schedule of the drop-off and pick-up is always the same but the locations change depending on the season and the influx of hotel guests. His first drop-off for today, however, is a 5-minute drive from the hotel to get to one of the most popular and the only outlet mall in the country --- the Guam Premier Outlet (GPO), a shopping mall right in the heart of Tamuning just a mile from the hotel (which I can take on foot had I realized it a little earlier). It's still a little too early for the shops to entertain people so I just roamed around to look for anywhere that I can eat breakfast.
GPO is a wide and spacious mall and there's a lot of restaurants around like Ruby Tuesday, Wendy's, Chili's and Applebee's which all can be found outside the mall but there's a food court inside with fast-food chains like KFC, Burger King, Subway, IHOP and Taco Bell which are all my favorites and two of them which I haven't tried yet, so I might wanna have lunch at either Panda Express, Chuck E Cheese or Charley's later at lunchtime. But since they're not open yet, I settled with Wendy's which is located in the northern part fronting a wide car park. I was expecting something that I haven't had in the Philippines but all the food they are serving is mostly familiar to me so I just got myself something that is not too fancy but would fill up my stomach. I grabbed one of their free newspapers and spent the entire one-hour eating breakfast like I'm sipping my coffee from my own veranda at home. Guam doesn't feel like a stranger's place to me. It's home!
After that sumptuous breakfast (like as if I still haven't tried one like that before), I strolled inside the mall for window shopping. It showcases some of the biggest names of shops that I know, which can also be found in my country, like GUESS, Nine West, Nike Team Sports, Anne Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, BCBG, Levi's, Payless ShoeSource, ABC Store, Famous Footwear and Skechers. What seems to be strange to me is that I don't feel like a foreigner because most of the sales clerks are Filipinos and having this kind of trait that when a Filipino meets a fellow Filipino elsewhere on earth, these strangers seem to know each other suddenly and they fraternize like as if they intend to be friends forever. It's really a trait that we Filipinos can't help but endure whenever it strikes.
And I wondered how they realized that I am not from here? No local go window shopping with a DSLR hung on his shoulder, dummy.
It's almost lunch and people are now starting to gather in the fast-food area. I drooled when I saw Subway from afar but I remembered that's it's already time for the shuttle to pick me up so I rushed to the drop-off point and there he is. The ever-friendly driver who is already smiling from a distance with a thought bubble I figured to be saying "hurry up you, I'm about to leave in a minute!" so I jumped in with a hearty smile.
He then drove us for 15 minutes towards the Tumon Bay area, the premier shopping district and tourist industry of the country, which is more popularly known as "the Paris of the Pacific" because of its luxury shops and humongous malls who all lie just next to each other, like The Plaza, Duty Free Galleria, Tumon Sands Plaza, JP Superstore and Acanta Mall. Contrary to GPO, the Tumon Bay area of Tamuning is very busy and densely populated with tourists. No wonder, the biggest hotels in Guam are all located here towering from a distance like Westin, Outrigger, Hotel Nikko Guam, Hyatt, Okura, Tumon Bay Capitol, Pia Marine, Ohana Bayview, and Ohana Oceanview.
I walked towards the Underwater World Aquarium. the country's only oceanarium and is known to be the longest tunnel-aquarium in the world. It showcases tons of marine animals like sharks, turtles, and stingrays. An exhibit lies ahead which features giant eels, corals, a male clownfish that changes its gender to take the place of the female clownfish on top of the hierarchy in case she dies. After an hour of a mesmerizing stroll, I went out for a walk and took pictures of the scenic views and serene waters of the beach. It got cut short however because it suddenly poured hard rain unannounced but I managed to take shelter at a nearby JP Superstore where a McDonald's fast-food chain seems to be waiting and inviting me to indulge in a big lunch. Of course, the Minions toys packaged in a Happy Meal are just enough reasons for me not to resist because this is a perfect souvenir that I can bring home to my son who loves collecting Minions toys.
I continued walking along Pale San Vitores Rd and gave myself rein to taking endless pictures not minding what people think about the stupid things that I do like pulling out a tripod in the middle of a pathway, setting the auto-shot for 5 seconds, and running to target subject where I wanna be part of. Yeah, I feel stupid doing it but I had fun. So much fun.
That's when I realized that it's time to go back to the drop-off site as it's time to be picked up by the shuttle so I can finally check-in. It's almost 3pm and I just realized that I came straight from the airport and haven't even taken a shower yet. It's just another 10-minute drive back to the hotel, anyway.