All the Way to Palau

Wow, it seems like forever since I left Shreveport... The flight from Shreveport to Houston, was as always, a bit harrowing. I don't like the small planes that much. And of course, the 5:45am departure time totally sucked. But it was worth it to get to Houston with plenty of time to spare before my flight to Honolulu. All flights were on time, and after a fairly easy flight (business class on Continental has a way of doing that), I arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii! It was my first time in Hawaii, and since I made it in just before 1pm, I was excited to have some time to explore. I was planning on touring Pearl Harbor, but the weather didn't cooperate. It was rainy and overcast, so I went to the shopping areas near the hotel hoping to wait it out. The rain never stopped, and everything was ridiculously overpriced, so I ended up not seeing much at all in Hawaii. Thankfully, I have four days at the end of my trip planned there, so I am hoping that the weather will be more forgiving.

One interesting note, for a place the Japanese bombed less than 60 years ago, the place was absolutely crawling with Japanese people and even a lot of the signage was in English and Japanese. I don't mean this to be a racist comment at all, I just found it very interesting that so many Japanese would want to visit the place they bombed... I guess it's like Americans visiting Vietnam? I've never been to Vietnam, but I highly doubt there are as many Americans there as there are Japanese in Hawaii...

After my rather uneventful day in Honolulu, I tried to stay up as late as I could to prevent as much jet lag as possible. I eventually called it a night and was up and put of the hotel in the morning, and before I knew it, was back at the Honolulu airport waiting on my flight to Guam (with a connection to Koror, Palau). An interesting note about the Honolulu airport... this is one of the craziest airports I have ever been to, and this includes African, European, Asian, etc. You clear security, you walk into a duty free/shopping area, and then you walk outside to where the gates are... It's just a bizarre setup. After waiting in the most ghetto of business class lounges I have ever been privy to, the flit departed on time, and we arrived in Guam a couple minutes early, which was a good thing, since the connecting time for the flight to Koror was less than 45 minutes.

In Guam, we had a quick meeting where we met the other participants on the trip and got briefed for customs and arrival in Koror. I am (again) the youngest person on the trip, by far. The next youngest person is probably 15-20 years older than me. Oh well. I have met many amazing people who are older than me who have helped shape my life in positive ways... It just would have been nice to have someone my own age to hang out with for the next two weeks.

We waited about 10 minutes before boarding, and departed on time for Palau. The flight was a short one (just under 2 hours), which compared to the last two flights (Houston to Honolulu and Honolulu to Guam) felt like just a few minutes! Immigration and customs was a breeze and before I knew it, we were at the hotel. It is small and a bit more rustic than the lavish hotels to which I've become accustomed, but it has AC and a bed, so it will do.

Tomorrow is our first day of snorkeling, and I can't wait to get out to the reef! I have an underwater camera and plan to take tons of pics! Be sure to check later posts to see them all!!!


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Location:Koror, Palau