How to Enjoy Six Days in Guam

You know how people usually say they need a vacation from a vacation? I feel that way after almost every trip. I want packed schedules and productive days. This goes for both weekends, holidays and vacations. This is totally opposite to my husband who prefers to wake up late and lounge around during vacation. He always tells me that's how vacations should be.

 

Last week, we found ourselves booked for a 6-day vacation in Guam. Prior to the trip, friends have been telling us that 6 days in Guam might be too long since the place is pretty small. As soon as we arrived, we knew they were right. We can practically see our hotel from the airport. No kidding. It was indeed quite compact.

 

One thing we discovered about our family during the trip is that we are pretty much 'plug and play'. You put us anywhere and we can create a packed schedule. We do not run out of things to do.

• Shopping during the day - we don't really care if we go back to the same shop over and over again. We enjoy trying different clothes, sneaking to get more testers of the yummy chocolate macadamia, and road testing various perfumes. Never mind that we don't really get to buy a lot of things. Window shopping is free and fun.

• Late afternoons at the pool and  beach - the resort we stayed in has really nice pools. All of us took turn going down the water slides - every one from my 66-year old dad to my 5-year old daughter. On some occasions, we end our afternoon dip in the Jacuzzi. We would play word games where everyone (again, from grandparents to kids) can participate.
  

  
• Nice dinners and stroll down the boulevard - we spent one evening enjoying a sit-down dinner + show at the Sand Castle (which was an awesome acrobatic and magic show, by the way) and the rest of the evenings visiting nice restaurants and walking down the main street. We would stop for ice cream or visit the Godiva chocolate for free hazelnut coffee. Easy breezy evenings.

• Movie and late night snacks - this is something we do even at home in Manila. We spend late evenings watching a nice movie, drinking tea/coffee while enjoying cookies, chips and mixed nuts. We came to Guam prepared with a moved-packed external hard drive. We did movie marathons in the hotel rooms until late at night.

One very noteworthy thing about our vacation in Guam is that we got to wake up relatively late most of the time. On our last day, we woke up at 10:30am. It was my first time in probably 10 years to get 10 hours of sleep and not be woken up by my alarm or the kids. I just woke up on my own. It was uh-ma-zing! I felt very relaxed the entire day and keep on dreaming back to that morning even after our trip.

 

I was chatting with Dens last night and told him I miss that 10-hour sleep in Guam. He reminded me of his concept of a vacation. And I must say I am almost convinced. For the first time in a long time, I did not need a vacation from my vacation. It was easy and relaxing. No hectic schedule.  No rushing to meet an appointment.  We just go by our own pace and enjoy. I guess there is value in booking a vacation in a small island.  You will not be tempted to over-schedule. And once in a while, you will get that vacation that you truly need.