Travel Day 2

After making it back to the Hawaii International Airport, I went down to the luggage office. Our car seat was still missing. Fortunately, after some struggling with the computer system, the clerk got the rest of our luggage checked all the way through to Nagoya, so we won't have to haul all that stuff around Guam.

The lobby is a lovely place to wait while the paperwork gets done.

Got boarding passes for the flight out of Guam as well. Went through security, no problems. They keep telling me to leave my shoes on, then take them off when the metal detector rings the metallic toe inserts.

Apparently, looking at airplanes is serious business.

When we arrived at the gate, the agent informed us that the car seat would be on the flight with us. So, that's good I guess.

We boarded the longest leg of the voyage, an eight hour flight to Guam. The flight itself was uneventful, though the 777 was mostly empty. We had a whole row in the center to ourselves (Five seats for five people! What luxury!). The flight attendant said the plane was usually full, and the dearth of passengers went unexplained. No window seats this time around, and the girls went nearly immediately to sleep.

The plane landed in Guam as the sun was going down. On the way to the gate we called the hotel, and they said it would be $12 per person to send a shuttle to pick us up. This sounded a bit steep, so I told them I'd contact them when we were ready. Went through customs without any problems. Picked up the car seat from the baggage claim; Took the seat directly upstairs to check it into the flight in the morning, but it was 6:50 and they didn't start accepting checked baggage until 7:00. Hung out in front of the airport, watched the sky darken. Went back in at seven sharp and got the car seat checked.

While waiting in front of the airport for the time-tables to align, the girls clamber on this beautifully painted sculpture of a cow.

Called hotel again. Now there is no shuttle at all, and they promised to send a taxi. Twenty minutes later, still no ride. The girls keep asking where our car is. When we inform them that we don't have a car anymore, they respond that we need to get a new one.

One of the independent taxi guys at the airport took pity on us and our whining crying children sitting out under the stars, and offered to take us for free. We waited for a while, but the taxi from the hotel never showed up. Took the ride, for $10 flat. A bargain at twice the price.

The hotel we were staying at had an air of disheveled splendor. The ground floor was swarmed with Japanese and Korean tourists, illuminated with garish lights, and lined with shops. The check-in counter on the second story had a strange feel to it, with colored lighting and black marble everywhere. The room we arrived at was outfitted with beautiful marble, but water damage, mildew, and un-repaired damage was everywhere. It looked like it was once high class, but hadn't been maintained. A beautiful glass walled shower was clouded with hard water stains. Anna tried to take a bath in the huge bath-tub but the hot water knob spun ineffectually and forced her to re-consider the wisdom of the whole operation. She decided to forego bathing and go straight to bed, along with the rest of us. Two flights down. One to go.

Teddy was so ready to sleep. In the middle of the night, he figured out how to escape this carefully crafted prison and fall on his head, according to tradition.