Up in the sky (part 2)

At the end of part 1 I was hanging out in Tokyo Narita airport. That was nearly three days ago and since leaving, I sadly haven't had any good enough internet to upload this part 2. Until about now. Wifi is a tad patchy out here so blogs might be a bit less frequent. But here was the rest of journey....

It was a very pleasant visit to Tokyo - everything was incredibly calm (given it was an airport) and I'll be looking forward to going back at the end of my elective for a week of exploring Tokyo. 

They have rather intriguing toilets! Including some that have a function to spray you clean, warm the seat and play some background flushing noises to cover up any noises you might make whilst doing your business (!)

The terminal lounges also had lots of places dotted around for your to hook up your chargers and charge your devices - very handy when you're travelling for as long as I am. And it had great wifi too.

During the 7 hours I was there, I managed to find a great spot overlooking the departure runway so I had the good fun of watching lots of planes take off and hoping to see my next plane land.

And it was here that I began to get nervous again - this next flight marked the transition into the slightly more 'off the beaten track' travels, and of course would take me even further away from home. I felt like I was heading off into real unknowns now.... But hey ho I thought, that's what it's all about - let's go and find out what's it's like. 

Now flying with United Airlines, here's the lowdown on the third flight of my four...

Food: pasta (again, but I ain't complaining - it was tasty!) in a tomato sauce with the obligatory pot of salad and bread roll. 

Film: alas, this flight didn't have any inflight entertainment but that was ok becuase it was only 3 hours and I was planning on sleeping anyway.

Book: likewise, as I slept for most of it I didn't get round to reading much. (It's not going so well on the book front so far is it!?!)

Stories: the flight attendants contine to get increasingly happy the further east I go. They were particularly nice and helpful on this flight. And the chairs were especially comfy (more so than Etihad in my view). The main story from this flight was that I was the only Caucasian person (in economy class). There were a few up in business class but maybe only 3. It was quite an experience. It didn't make me feel awkward but I was very aware that I was a little different and the nice person I was sitting next to seemed a little unsure how to act with me. Nonetheless, I offered him my brownie I was given with dinner because I didn't really feel like eating it. I'm hoping it didn't come across like I was insulting him in assuming he'd want two. Haha. The plane was a mix of Japanese, Chinese and Polynesian people and it was quite interesting observing the subtle physical/facial differences between these races. 

Sadly not much to tell about the view because it was the middle of the night, but it was pretty neat seeing, within the space of 24 hours, two different facets of the moon. Once in Abu Dhabi and once again here in the Pacific. It looked totally different. A little reminder of the wonders of the earth's position in the solar system, spinning around and the moon doing the same.

And then there I was hanging out in Guam airport. 

What nice people they had there! I was still pretty nervous getting off the plane - I felt like a lot of eyes were on me in the immigration queue (from fellow travellers by the way, not from the border control staff!). I guess it's because I look comparatively different. I wasn't offended in the slightest, but it did make me rather self aware and particularly aware to the fact I was by myself. 

All my nerves were put to rest thought when I reached the immigration counter. And it struck me at that moment that I was back on relatively familiar ground - America. Because Guam is part of the USA. So all the staff were friendly American folk who I enjoy the company of a lot. And they all managed to ease my nerves by being helpful and conversational. And the nice lady on the duty free counter where I bought some face wash gave me some free shower gel. At 3am in the morning, that was a very nice gesture.

What struck me here was the amount of small children in the queue at immigration and general young age of the travellers. I can see why the average age of these islands is pretty young (around 20s). I did wonder where they're hiding all the old people though. Maybe they don't travel? I had a thought that perhaps their lives were so content in their home country and they felt so well cared for that they didn't find they needed to go on trips or foreign places. 

And the little people in the queue were incredibly cute. I'm not normally one for babies but all of them were so chirpy and totally enchanting.

Another fun thing about here - all the airport staff wear brightly coloured tropical/Hawaiian shirts with 'Guam' written all over them. 

6 hours here before off on he final leg: the island hopper plane to Kosrae, stopping at Chuuk and Pohnpei along the way. 

Chuuk airport - stop #1

Pohnpei airport, just after we'd taken off

A couple of the 607 Islands of Micronesia

Some stunning Micronesian clouds: all the blue underneath is ocean!

Food; lots of short flights = just a few snacks, a nice lemon muffin.

Film; no inflight entertainment but I did fall asleep again

Book: couple more pages of Paul Merton's autobiography

Stories: this flight, despite being one of the short ones felt twice as long as any of the others. I was definitely starting to flag when I got on the plane. It was 8am in the morning, I'd only slept about 2-3 hours overnight since I was half on a plane and half in Guam. So I slept on and off for a lot of this flight, waking up usually when landing to then observe the funny exchange of passenger shenanigans. 

See, this plane really is a bus for the sky, and it's the only bus every 3/4 days to cover these islands. It's quite a lifeline for the people (and it picks up/delivers the mail). So it really is like watching people get on and off a London bus at the multiple stops it was making. It made the flight seem to drag a lot too. 

Anyhow, by 2 in the afternoon it stopped off here to drop myself and about 7 others off. 

And onwards from there to my accommodation for the first week! 

....

So there we have it. 8000 miles to the other side of the world. 6 take offs and landings, 5 airports, two and a half days worth of travel. And I made it. In one piece. Sadly without my luggage, that will have to wait to be found and delivered later this week. But what an adventure! And I guess it's only just begun.