Sooooo, my goal is to use this blog to keep everyone up to date with how my deployment's going, so here goes.
We hopped on the boat a few weeks ago and went straight to Hawaii. Luckily, I found out on the way that I'd be going to the Middle East for a planning conference following Hawaii, so Jen and I took advantage of a good situation and bought her a ticket to come out and visit! We did some training on "The Big Island", then did our own little island hopping campaign flying up the islands on the way up to Oahu and Honolulu. When the boat finally came in to port, I met up with Jen who had flown in to meet me (I ended up being a day late, thank you very much boat!). We had a great little mini-vacation, and then we flew on the same flight from Hawaii to LAX. From LAX we had yet another teary goodbye, and then I flew to London. Once I arrived in London, I decided to see if Bill, my host-dad from when I studied abroad, was around. Luckily for me, he was, and since I had an 8 hour layover, he picked me up and we went out for lunch and a few pints. I had pigeon breast as an appetizer (it was actually really good, but I ordered it mostly for the story value) and fish and chips to go along with my ale. So very British and satisfying. Later that evening I hopped on another jumbo jet, and now I'm here in the Middle East. The planning conference starts tomorrow, so today I'm just relaxing, catching up on reading the news, I'm going to hit the gym, but most important of all, I'm going to catch up on sleep (I've slept about 2 total hours in the last 38). More to follow.
About a week back the boat pulled in to port in Guam. We had a great time; snorkeling, sea kayaking, karaokeing. It was lots of fun, but short lived (and too expensive). I was surprised to find out that Guam is also a destination of choice for Japanese tourists, so the area where we stayed looked like little Honolulu: Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and other euro-couture as far as the eye can see. It's a beautiful little island, surrounded by reefs filled with brightly colored fish and sea turtles (I saw one!). I was disappointed that I didn't get to fly around the island during the day (I only flew at night, and everything looks pretty much the same through a set of night vision goggles). If I had to describe it, I would say that the topography and flora of Guam are reminiscent of a lovechild of Okinawa and Hawaii. Like Okinawa, Guam is fairly flat, with only rolling hills unlike Hawaii with its towering mountains. Guam is definitely tropical, though, and like Hawaii is covered with viny jungles and canopies of leafy trees. I didn't eat anything out of the ordinary there. I tried some Chamorro barbecue, but it tasted just like normal grilled chicken to me. Overall, Guam was a nice place to visit, but I don't think I'll be itching to get back any time soon.
We left Guam after a few days of fun, and then the planning began for our trip west. Our next stop is Thailand, and we're pretty excited for that. I've never been, so it should be interesting. I'll be sure to post some pictures when we get back on the boat and get underway.
