Jet Lag is a Real Thing

It's been about a week since we began our journey to Guam. I'll begin with the morning we left.

Sunday, 1:45 A.M:

After a two hour nap, we stumbled out of bed and got Nala in the car. We were told to get to the airport about 3 hours before an international flight to drop of our dog. Thankfully, John's parents drove us and helped us out with finding where to go. Of course when we got to air cargo, they were closed. After hunting down an employee who worked for a different airline, he informed us that they usually didn't come in until 5 am, an hour before our flight. Wonderful. So we decided to take her to check in with us. Thankfully it all worked out, even with some small bumps along the way, and Nala was put on the plane with us. FYI for those traveling with pets as cargo overseas. They do in fact need to be checked in as cargo, not baggage, which is what they accidentally did at first. Anyway, we barely made it on the plane with about 15 minutes to spare with no breakfast or water in our system. Not the best way to start our 24 hour day. The first plane only lasted about 2 hours though! We landed in Houston with about an hour and half 'til our next flight, or so we thought.

9:50 A.M.:

This was the time we were supposed to leave for Hawaii. But nope, we really left at 12:50. Having been awake for 11 hours already, but with food in our bellies this time, we ventured on our 8 hour flight to Honolulu. We had window seats which made it sooo much better! Flying into Honolulu was amazing. I was sitting next to the window so I was able to get some really great shots. (I'll post them later when we get out of the hotel) The airline got us free cab and free hotel for the night which was a huge blessing. We were really glad to get some much needed sleep after 24 hours of being awake. We didn't get to search the island too much, but considering we were moving to an island, we didn't really care.

Monday, 2:50 P.M.:

This flight was not my favorite. Apparently it's actually better to fly through Tokyo instead of Honolulu because they put you on old planes through HI. Which wasn't so bad from Houston, but they had to switch our seats and we got put smack dab in the middle between people on both sides of us. 8 hours of uncomfortable sitting. And they don't give you food, except for purchase. Let's just say I will never complain about driving 8 hours in my life. Every rest stop will be filled with walking, peeing, and lots of snacks whenever we want. I did get to watch some free movies though!

Tuesday, 6:40 P.M.:

Yes, you read that right. No, the flight was not 28 hours long. That's just how crazy the time difference is in Guam compared to the mainland. So you can imagine just how crazy we felt. We were greeted by some of John's coworkers. They have been so great and hospitable already! We still can't believe how nice they have been. Our sponsor (we get assigned one from John's work every time we move), got us one of the best hotels in the area, right on the beach and in the middle of downtown Tumon. Which btw, there are no cities here, just villages. Once we got our stuff in our room, we had to fight the urge to go to sleep and walked down to a local breakfast spot. The food was delicious! We have noticed that just about every restaurant we go to has rice based meals. You can eat fried rice for breakfast here! Which is heaven for me, considering Asian food is my favorite!



It took a few days to adjust to the time difference. Jet lag is a real thing and it sucks. We'd be fine for a few hours and then just exhausted and foggy for the next two. The best thing we did was not take naps. Every time we got tired we made ourselves get up and walk around. Our goal was to at least stay up until 8:30 or 9. We woke up at 4 am one morning wide awake but other than that its been okay. About 6 am every morning so far. I'm just glad the groggy exhaustion part seems to be over!

For those of you who wanted to know, Nala is safe and sound. We have her in the kennel on base and we visit her everyday to play with her. She is a very timid dog around strangers in unknown places, but when she hears our voices and sees us she gets so excited! We can't wait to take her home with us.

We are still in the process of looking at places to rent. We have found a few we like and are looking at more today! They are much different from the states, but have island character! We'll update with pictures once we've gotten settled in a place.

A few of our favorite things so far:

1)The view, the beach, the water. There are no highways here, but just about everywhere we drive there is a view. The cliffs, jungle trees, the water. All are just spectacular! It seems unreal that we live here now.

2) The food. Everything we have eaten has been delicious! Except for McDonald's haha. Yes we have had to eat there a few times, it just helps save money. But like I said, I love love love Asian food. Any kind. We went to this Thai place the other night, best phat Thai I have ever had!

3) Locals are really nice! They have been nothing but helpful and friendly. Excited to get to know them more!



Next post will be pictures! Love you all and miss you guys.


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