Located in the islands of Micronesia, Guam...]]> Perhaps every mainland American’s dream vacation is to visit the Islands of Hawaii. Who wouldn’t want to see the beautiful sights of this American paradise? But there is another American island that few people know of. That is the Island of Guam.

Located in the islands of Micronesia, Guam is tucked between Asia and Hawaii in the Western Pacific Ocean. It is a tiny island-only 32 miles long and 8 miles wide. You could drive the whole perimeter of the island in about two hours. Just like Hawaii, Guam is surrounded by coral reefs and gorgeous white beaches. Lush rainforests boast colorful flowers and dense vegetation. Beautiful waterfalls are around every corner. The water in the ocean surrounding the island is crystal clear and you can easily spot colorful fish darting among the coral. The climate on Guam is typical of paradise-the temperature hovers around 80 degrees year-round.

Guam is an American territory, so there is no need to worry about currency exchange or language barriers. One thing you won’t find on Guam, however, is a myriad of American tourists. It is a popular resort location of Southern Asia, but somewhat unknown to Americans. When you arrive on Guam you feel as if you have entered another country, without the hassles of changing your money or dealing with language translation. It really looks like Hawaii, but with an Asian flair. Everywhere you look you will see Asian touches, specifically catered to the Japanese who frequent the beachside resorts. You quickly forget that you are still on American soil!

The native people of Guam are the Chamorro people, who have their own culture and language. One fun thing to do in Guam is to explore the culture of the Chamorran people. Other nationalities include Filipino, Pacific Islanders, Chinese, Japanese, Europeans and many other Asian nationalities. It is a truly racially and culturally diverse island.

One of the most striking attributes of the people of Guam is their friendliness. Nowhere will you find a more hospitable people. The reason for that is obvious as you tour the island. The only industry on Guam is tourism. They do not have factories or agriculture. They base their entire economy on making tourists comfortable. Hafa Adai is the local greeting and you will hear it wherever you go.

Hotel accommodations are second-to-non on Guam, but be prepared to pay for them. There are not cheap hotels on this island. Along the Western beach is a strip of gorgeous luxury resorts filled with every amenity you can imagine. Most of these resorts have beachfront property with their own private beaches for guests. Or, if you prefer, you can skip the salt water and take advantage of the pool or water park that the hotel owns.

Don’t be surprised if you are witness to a wedding or two during your stay on Guam. Guam is like the Las Vegas of Micronesia when it comes to weddings. Many Asian couples come to Guam to be married in a beachfront chapel. In fact, most of the resorts have a chapel to be used for this purpose.

What is there to do on Guam? Well, one day of your visit should be spent simply driving the perimeter of the island. This serves two purposes. First, it will allow you to get your bearings on the island and second it will give you an appreciation for the vast cultural variety on the island. Be sure you stop at a few waterfalls on this tour. Plan at least two days to spend on water activities. Snorkeling, scuba diving, submarine tours, boat rental and swimming are just some of the activities you can do on the water. One thing you should not bring to Guam, however, is your surfboard. The waves on the island are not large enough for surfing. One interesting cultural attraction on Guam is the Chamorro village. Located along the beachfront, this area provides a place for local Chamorro artists and chefs to pedal their wares. This is a great place to sample the local cuisine. Also, if you enjoy history, plan to spend a day touring the World War II monuments and memorials. Make sure you catch a sunset on the beach during your stay!

The best time of year to visit Guam is during the dry season, which runs from January until May. The island is composed of tropical rainforests and averages around 80 inches of rain a year, so keep that in mind if you plan a trip in the rainy season.

Guam is truly an undiscovered paradise to the American tourist. The island will provide you with a taste of Asia with a touch of home. When planning your next dream vacation, keep this tiny gem in mind!

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Vacations

There were wild monkeys in the trees. We never saw monkeys ouside of a park. But here, you could watch them.

There were large ...]]> While staying in Villahermosa, we frequently went to La Venta to see the giant Olmec heads and wildlife there. (I’ll get to the airstream story in a minute.)

There were wild monkeys in the trees. We never saw monkeys ouside of a park. But here, you could watch them.

There were large termite nests on some of the trees. These had tunnels build on the trunk of the tree and then along the ground. If you broke open one of these tunnels, you could watch the termites scurrying around and then repairing the tunnel.

Another insect that was fascinating was the leaf cutter ants. These tiny creatures could completely strip a tree of leaves in a night. They took them back to their nests to grow a fungus on them. They then dined on the fungus.

Following a trail of these once I was amazed to find that the opening of the hole was large enough to roll a golf ball into. Quite a change from the ant nests I was used to seeing back home.

There were also many butterflies and birds to watch.

On one trip, we were surprised to find a group of about 30 Airstream trailers with Americans sitting in lawn chairs in front of them. One couple called us over and had us sit down and visit with them.

While enjoying a cold soft drink that they offered us, they told us the story of the Airstream Maelstrom.

One of their group had pulled into a Pemex station. He had forgotten to turn off the pilot light to the oven in the Airstream.

The Pemex gas stations (the only brand available) commonly had enough fuel spilled on the ground to make it slippery to walk. You could smell them a mile away.

It was easy to understand why there was so much fuel around. The hoses were often substandard with the nozzles not shutting off automatically. Also, the drivers would rock their cars back and forth to jostle air bubbles out of the gas tanks and then put the last little bit in. They would often put in just a little too much.

Unfortunately for this gentleman, his pilot light set the station on fire. He was able to pull his Airstream forward enough to put it out, but the station was a complete loss.

Even though he had purchased Sanborn insurance (your insurance from home does not work in Mexico), he was put in prison pending an investigation.
The insurance adjuster showed up and started working out a deal with the station owner and police. However, this man was getting scared that he would not get out. So, he agreed to give the station owner a check for $10,000.

The station owner came back to the jail the next morning claiming that he could not cash the check. So, he was going to press charges.

At this point the Airstream owner panicked and had his bank wire $10,000 down to the station owner.

The people hosting our visit said that he did not get his check back, so there was a possibility that he was actually out $20,000.

There are a few lessons to be learned here. First, extra care is needed on Mexican roads. The other drivers are erratic at best and there are frequent animals on the road.

Care at gas stations is especially needed as the fire danger there is much higher than you are used to.

Finally, Sanborn insurance is a highly reputable firm and they will take care of you. There was no reason for this gentleman to panic. However, if you have seen the inside of a Mexican jail, you probably would have a lot of sympathy for his anxiety.

Following our sympathetic hearing of this sad story, we had to reply with the story of 25 Mexican Babies.

The gentleman hosting us said, “She probably just coughed.”

Ron’s family has traveled to all the continents except
Antarctica for volunteer work and vacations. Read more about their unusual
experiences at I
Love Travel Vacations and I Love
Mexican Vacations.

Several years ago, my wife, oldest son and I were able to travel to Sarawak, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. We went with a group of mostly high school students that was going to build a church....]]> One of the truly inexpensive ways to travel is with a group doing volunteer work of some type.

Several years ago, my wife, oldest son and I were able to travel to Sarawak, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. We went with a group of mostly high school students that was going to build a church.

My wife and I were going to provide medical treatment for the local people while the rest of the group worked on building the church.The cost for us was about $1300 apiece for airfare, bus, boat, room and board. That covered a two week trip. Try and get a trip anywhere for that and you will see what a bargain that is flying from the United States halfway around the world.

We arrived in Kuching early one morning and were taken to a mission to stay the first two nights and get a chance to acclimate to the different time zone and temperature. It was very hot and humid.

During those two days, we were able to tour the city, visiting the museums and shopping for souvenirs. We were also able to go to a cultural center where we could watch native craftsmen and dancers. They had some unique stringed instruments – like a cross between a guitar and a sitar.

The next morning we took off by bus before daybreak, riding about twelve hours through typical tropical vegetation and small farms. Whenever we stopped for a break, there were many large cicadas. The largest ones in Borneo are about the largest in the world, the size of a large mouse with about an 8 inch wingspan.

If you catch one, they sound like a frog croaking. Although I’m really not interested in partaking of them, I’m told they are good to eat.

When we finally got to Tatau, we got off the bus and took our things down to the river to get on a boat. At least that is what they called it. It was more like a large torpedo. Very narrow but large enough so that inside we could sit four across with an aisle in the middle.

Once we had loaded all our gear – which included a small cement mixer – we took off at an estimated thirty miles an hour. The river had enough twists and turns that I was totally disoriented by the time we arrived at our destination. During our time there, I was convinced that the sun rose in the west and went down in the east.

On the way, we passed a village that was the home of Nyla – the subject of the book “Nyla and the White Crocodile” which I had read as a child. As a young girl, a local witch doctor had told Nyla’s (pronounced ‘Neela’) father – the cheif- that she must be sacrificed to a large white crocodile which had appeared in a creek next to their longhouse. The book describes her adventures.

One of our interpreters, a local pastor, was a nephew of Nyla and told us that later in life she had been killed by a crocodile. An ironic end to one of my childhood heroes.

When we finally arrived at our destination, there was a great commotion. We started hearing music and then a procession of dancers led us up to the longhouse. This was a very impressive structure of over one hundred houses built into a single long building and sharing a covered and enclosed front porch about twenty feet wide. The porch serves as both sidewalk and community meeting and play area.

We were welcomed with a party of dancing, music and food. After a long trip, we were then mercifully shown to our accommodations. Our family was given one of the houses for our use both to sleep in and to serve as a clinic during our stay.

We had brought our own cook and water filter, so we were not as worried about getting sick. Local dishes were interspersed with potatoes, bread and peanut butter. The potatoes were imported from China.

During our short stay, the youth worked hard and mostly finished a very nice cement block, metal roof church.

In the meantime, we were treating everything from head lice to leprosy. We were told that people had come as much as six hours by boat to get treatment from us.

One of the saddest things that we saw was a woman with severe burns on her back. It was the custom for women who had recently given birth to sit by a fire for the first 24 – 48 hours. This poor woman had fallen asleep and then leaned back against the burning hot bricks of the kitchen fire. We were told that this was a very common injury. Fortunately we had some good creams for her and treated her twice a day.

One of the problems that I had was with the toilets. Each house had a board behind it which went up at about a thirty degree angle to a small hut on posts. Inside was a small toilet. What you would do is take a small pail of water from the rain barrel beside the back door, climb up the plank and take care of business.

The roof of this little hut was only about 5 and a half feet from the floor. The hut was about three foot wide and three foot deep. I’m glad nobody was able to watch this 6 foot 3 inch man who after entering the hut had to squat down and do the hokey pokey to get turned around get the pants down, do the required actions and get dressed again.

We were told that these toilets were not only inconvenient (though much better than the squat pots – just a hole in the ground) but were dangerous. The year before, a pastor had lost his balance in one and fallen through the wall head first to the ground and breaking his neck.

We slept on air mattresses with mosquito nets covering us. While this gave us pretty good protection, it did not keep some rodent from biting my toe through the net two nights before we left. This happened about three in the morning. I made a pretty good commotion trying to scare it away and get a light so I could look around and make sure a Cobra was not following him.

After that, I was more than ready to go home.

On the way back, we boarded a bus that had a fairly loud engine knock.

We got on the bus about dusk. During the night, the knocking got worse and worse. Finally, about three in the morning, the driver stopped, stood up and said, “Scuse please, scuse please, change bus!” We got off and in another hour or so, another bus came to get us and take us back to Kuching. We later found out that for an additional $50 each we could have bought plane fair and skipped the bus ride altogether.

Despite the great memories of the trip, getting on a Malaysia Airlines plane with air conditioning and cold soda pop was a real pleasure.

We were able to go back to Sarawak to another village the next spring – but that is another story.

Ron McCluskey has prepared more valuable information for you including updates to this article. Go to I Love Travel Vacations now to find more great travel resources.

http://ilovetravelvacations.com

It's very important to keep track of the money you take with you when you leave on vacation. It can be easy ...]]> You certainly must prepare for your vacation by packing your bags and having your mail forwarded, but fewer and fewer people today are preparing for money matters while on vacation.

It’s very important to keep track of the money you take with you when you leave on vacation. It can be easy to overspend your money, lose your money or even have it taken from you.

Pickpockets are prevalent in tourist locales. They operate in different ways and according to different standards according to the locale you happen to be in. There are some places where parents teach their children the art form of pick pocketing so be aware that just about anyone can be a pickpocket, whether it be a well-dressed man or the children running around the neighborhood. There are some simple precautions you can take to reduce the chances of being picked. Keep your money in a zippered pocket or fanny pack properly worn at the front of your waist. Pickpockets will often try the back pockets first because it is less likely to be noticed. You can also walk against the current off a crowd to make it more difficult for a pick pocket to follow you.

Often travelers find that simply making use of money and accessing money can get a little tricky. Besides local currency, keep a few smaller denomination US currency bills on hand. Some people will gladly accept US currency and others will be able to exchange a small denomination for local money if you run out. For back up cash see if you can add cash to your credit card so that you actually have credit. That will give you a wider range of places to use your money without having to flash a lot of cash. Don’t neglect to make use of the ever steady traveler’s check.

Gail Leino is known throughout the internet world as Mrs. Party. She has become the internet’s leading authority on selecting the best possible party supplies with clever themes. Her simple party planning approach demostrates how to use proper manners while teaching etiquette with organizational skills. She shares lots of interesting fun facts. See travel vacations for more travel tips.

There is no denying the charms of Stratford-upon-Avon. It is a beautiful town, nestled in the countryside of m...]]> Each year, far more tourists visit Stratford-upon-Avon than do Winchester. Why this should be so can only be because of marketing. Winchester has so much more to offer the visitor.

There is no denying the charms of Stratford-upon-Avon. It is a beautiful town, nestled in the countryside of middle-England. However England is blessed with many beautiful old towns and villages. The main reason that coach-loads of tourists descend upon the town is because of the life and works of one man; William Shakespeare. And, there is no doubting his importance in history and the great gifts of his writings. But, apart from the cottage of his birth and the cottage of his wife, Ann Hathaway, there remains very little left for the visitor to see, apart from the RSC theatre – the great majority of visitors never actually go inside, never mind watch a Shakespeare play.

In the south of England there lies another beautiful town; one that has far more history for the visitor to explore. The town is Winchester. It’s actually a city but its size and the compactness of its centre lend it a feel of no more than a country town.

Winchester cathedral is undeniably England’s most beautiful. Its setting is sublime, surrounding by parks. The present day plan of the cathedral was laid out in 1079 AD by Walkelin, the first Norman Bishop. The cathedral has witnessed the coronation, marriages and burials of many English kings and queens. The cathedral saw the coronations of Edward the Confessor (1043), of Matilda of Flanders as queen consort (1068), of Henry the Young King and his queen, Marguerite (1172) and the second coronation of Richard I of England (1194), as well as the marriages of Edward the Confessor and Edith (1045), King Henry IV and Joanna of Navarre (1403) and finally Queen Mary I and King Philip II of Spain (1554). King William II (son of William the Conqueror) is buried in the cathedral.

Winchester has had many famous residents but surely, its most famous of all was that of King Alfred the Great. It was this Anglo-Saxon king who withstood and then finally defeated the Vikings and saved the south from their pagan rule. He made Winchester his capital of England. He married, lived and died in the city. He was also much more than just a military genius; he was a codifier of law, a promoter of education and a supporter of the arts. He, himself, was a scholar and translated Latin books into the Anglo-Saxon tongue. He is the only English king ever to be given the epitaph, “the Great”.

Winchester had many other famous residents and visitors. St Swithin was Bishop of Winchester and was tutor to King Alfred the Great. Most of us have heard of the legend ‘that if it rains on St Swithin’s day (15 July), then it will rain for forty days’. The legend says that as he lay on his deathbed, he asked to be buried out of doors, where he would be trodden on and rained on. For nine years, his wishes were followed, but then, the monks of Winchester attempted to remove his remains to a splendid shrine inside the cathedral on 15 July 971. According to legend there was a heavy rain storm either during the ceremony or on its anniversary.
Keats and Trollope were just two of many writers who visited Winchester and based their works on the places and people they met whilst staying there. But perhaps the most famous writer to have lived (and died) in Winchester is Jane Austen. She was buried inside the cathedral. Today, a black plaque is to be found on the wall of the house in which she died; the house is a private residence.

Winchester has a rich history. Today, many Roman artifacts are dug up from the Roman period; Winchester being an important Roman town. Its past is clearly visible to the visitor today in its buildings. Within a five minute walk you can see beautifully preserved buildings from Anglo-Saxon through to Medieval, Georgian and Victorian. But Winchester is not a museum piece. The ancient buildings are still lived in and traded in. The city is a vibrant place that many people have discovered and some are lucky enough to call home.

Robin O’Brien is founder of Winchester Tourist Information that provides information of this beautiful, historic town. You can find walks, pictures, things to do as well as details of accommodation in Winchester.