The Incredible Island of Guam and My Travels with the U.S. Navy

I recently took the long journey from Dallas, Texas to Guam, where America's day begins...

This journey wasn't for fun, although it was a lot of fun, it was, in fact, travels with the US Navy. I serve in the Navy Reserve and every year, I fulfill a 2-4 week active duty commitment. While my wife and daughter weren't excited about me being gone for 3 weeks, and while I would surely miss them, I was excited for this new adventure to a small Island I had never been to.

The travel began with a series of plane rides and layovers of lengths I had never experienced before. First a quick flight to Houston, then I was in it for the long haul. A 14-hour flight to Narita Japan and that was only the middle leg.

After spending a 6 hour layover in Japan happily sitting in the United Airlines lounge, it was off to Guam – an island so small that the dot saying Guam on maps covered it up.

I arrived and instantly had the weekend to get through being jet lagged and explore some of the island.

The beaches were crystal clear, although the rip tide was deadly. In my 2.5 weeks on the island, we heard of 2 people being killed by the dangerous riptides on the long flat beaches with coral reefs. We enjoyed our weekend on the island and it was off to work for a week. Now, I'm from Texas, so I'm used to hot and humid weather. However, tropical islands, as I found, take that definition just a little further.

After a week of working in a warehouse, I was ready to get back out there and relax

I spent some time on the beautiful beaches right outside of our hotel.

I went for a morning run on a treadmill with what was probably the best view I've ever run with.

The weather was beautiful and my time on the island flew by. Not only because I was enjoying myself so much in my down time, but also because I was putting in 12+ hour days in a hot warehouse.

After spending 2 weeks on the island, I was ready to get back home and see my family, but I certainly wasn't ready to say goodbye for the last time. I trecked home on flights of what was a total of 36 hours of traveling – but only 8 hours of the day because of the time difference.

I'll be back next year Guam to soak up some more of your beauty.

Stay tuned for a second post about my hikes through and to some WWII historical sites on the island