Travel Day 853 and 854 – Waikiki to Guam to Manila, PHILIPPINES
It was an Active Travel Day again and I was facing a 13 hour flight over to the Philippines, but luckily with a stopover in Guam…
Plane to Guam at Honolulu Airport, Hawaii
Guam is one of those places that you always hear about, but never actually go to because it is kind of remote and it seems to have a tourist infrastructure that is mainly tailored to Japanese visitors. Since the 16 hundreds Guam used to be a Spanish colony and it was used as an important point of stop-over on the way between Central America and the Philippines. When the Spanish lost the war against the USA which was triggered by Cuba’s struggle for independence, Spain not only lost Cuba and Puerto Rico, but also the Philippines and Guam…
Today Cuba and the Philippines are independent countries, while Puerto Rico and Guam are still territories of the commonwealth of the United States. So not only Hawaii was and still is a strategic base for US military, Guam too is best known for its military base in the far Pacific region. For me it was a great chance to stop-by and say hello to this furthest corner of the US, even it was just for a quick and simple stop-over…
Red-light district in Manila, Philippines
In general my Active Travel Day was actually not that active at all, as it involved mainly just sitting in airplanes and it was actually occupying two entire days. I was leaving the hostel at noon on the 3rd and arriving in Manila at 10pm on the 4th. In-between lay a total 17 hours of travelling plus a full 24 hour day. Since I was crossing the date line on the way to Guam, I was technically travelling for 31 hours straight between Honolulu and Manila
So I was more than happy when I finally arrived in Manila, found the hostel, settled in and could go for a quick beer down to the street. While having a cheap beer outside in the warm summer air was a fantastic ending for this long Active Travel Day, it was even better to watch the characters on the street. As it turned out, my hostel was located in the middle of the local red-light district…
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