Monday April 13
We departed NRT for Guam on JL’s 10:40am fight in business class - clearly not a flagship route - old recliner seats and unedible food. However they did serve icy cold French Champagne in 200ml bottles.
We arrived in Guam (+1 hour) at about 3:30pm and made it through US customs and immigration and baggage collection in about 10 minutes - not too bad. It was hot and steamy in Guam with heavy cloudy spots - thank goodness it’s the dry season - we quickly realised that the climate here is very much like Singapore - when sudden cloud bursts can hit at any time even on a sunny day.
We took a taxi to our hotel - The Westin is rated as the number one hotel in Guam by Trip Advisor. The Westin (and all other hotels) line the beach o a very large bay. All are faded glory - at least 30 years old and showing their age. The whole area looks like a run down version of the worst of the Gold Coast. On check-in we found we had been upgraded to an 80sm suite - huge with sweeping beach views on the 19th floor but with 2 very tiny balconies not even large enough for a couple of chairs.
After unpacking and settling in we went to the Club room for the complimentary drinks and canapes (5-7pm) - the Club can best be decribed as crummy - filled with families whose kids were either playing noisy electronic games or screaming (sight exaggeration here) - they were also making the evening canapes their dinner, the assumption based on the fact they were piling their plates like there was a famine coming. One look at said canapes was enough for us to tell them they could have our share. There was a reasonable selection of adult beverages so Dieter had a beer and I had a gin and tonic (no lemon available). We had dinner at Prego - the hotel’s Italian restaurant - it was not too bad - particualy our shared anti-pasto plate and my lobster pasta, Dieter unwisely choose roasted baby chicken which he was most unhappy with as only Dieter can be when his food does not meet his high standards.
Tuesday April 14
We got up to a day which was a repeat of the previous - very warm (up to 30℃) with lots of cloud and sunny spots. We had a very mediocre breakast in the Club but ginned and bore it - Dieter did ask later if we could go to the buffet breakfast in the main restaurant because he likes to have cereal and the Club breakfast did not even have this - they promised to ensure there was cereal in the Club for the remainder of our stay - this place, as we were finding, out was sooo cheap.
We went for a bit of a recco walk around the hotel strip which hosts 100’s of high end duty free shops - the only thing which has been moderised since the second world war. We could not figure out who shops in these place,s as Guam is clearly not a high end tourist destination.
After getting more and more depressed about our stay in Guam we returned to the hotel for a shared sandwich in the lobby bar - where we tried to use our voucher for a complimentary welcome drink where we were told it was only good for one drink not two with a very limited selection - again how cheap. We shared at ‘club-style’ BLT which at $17 (USD) was a ripoff but then we have yet to find anything in Guam which is not a ripoff.
For the afternoon we booked a beach cabana (only avaialble to Club level guests). These beach front cabanas were daggy (worn and dirty) - again no surprise. We had dinner at Hy’s steak house - the food was good but ambiance was unappealing - old fashioned decor and almost empty.
Wednesday April 15
We hired a car and drove around the island checking out the “best” snorkling spots. All were a bit of a write-off - looking somewhat derelict. We stopped at the famous waterfall which was really a rundown amusement park with a gondola ride to a waterfall. The waterfall was pictureque but everything else about the place was depressing. We never had lunch but our final stop was at Micronesia Mall (largest in Guam) where we had an ice cream.
Back at the hotel just before 5pm we returned the car and decided that our best bet was to cut our losses and "hit the road jack”. I tried changing our award flight segments returning to Sydney via Tokyo but had no joy with the new merged US/AA FF program - well I could not really complain as I was trying to break the rules.
We had dinner at the hotel’s buffet restaurant which streghtened our resolve to cut and run.
Thursday April 16
I was up at 6am trying to book alternate flights home - the best I could do was using LifeMiles - GUM-NGO-ICN the following day at 7am then ICN-SYD on Tuesday evening on OZ. So we booked it. After taking most of the AM sorting this out (a few booking issues with LM meant I spent some time on the phone with the support centre) - we had a lazy arvo.
After fives’es at the lounge we had a quick dinner at the Prego - a shared salad then pasta for Dieter and an entree anti-pasti plate for me - off to bed early as we needed to be at the airport by 5am.