Travel Blog

Today I had a chance to make my way over to Two Lovers Point, which is probably the most popular tourist sightseeing landmark on Guam according to locals. Two Lovers Point is located just north of Tumon Bay on a 400 feet high cliff line that overlooks the ocean and gives visitors a striking view of Guam’s western coastline.

Although Two Lovers Point is just north of Tumon Bay it is still one of those sightseeing destinations which is “off the beaten path” like most of Guam’s attractions. There is a paved road that leads to Two Lovers Point, but if you don’t get directions before trying to find the place there is no way you would ever be able to find it. After turning off the main road (Marine Corps Drive) and onto a paved road which leads to Two Lovers Point, I’m surrounded on both sides of the road by jungle. Traveling down the road a few minutes, I see a turn and sign that says Two Lovers Point, so I take the turn and follow the road again deeper into the jungle which seems like I’m just driving out to nowhere. After another few minutes I see what appears to look like a gate and have the feeling I arrived at Two Lovers Point; passing the gate it opens up into a parking lot and there are a few tour buses and cars parked. I’ve arrived at Two Lovers Point.

I park my car, get out, and look around thinking to myself the area looks like a recreational park. A few hundred yards away I can see a platform about two stories high with many people looking off in the distance, so I head my way on over in that direction. The actual lookout platform of Two Lovers Point is surrounded by a gate and there is a $3.00 admission fee I have to pay to get into the lookout platform. As soon as I get to the platform I’m astounded by the spectacular view which consists of the huge cliff line, a panoramic view of the whole coast of Tumon Bay, and the waves of the Philippine Sea crashing below.

The short version of the story behind Two Lovers Point is two lovers supposedly tied their hair together, and jumped off the cliff line to their deaths because their families wouldn’t let them be together. If you ever get a chance to visit Guam I recommend Two Lovers Point as a sightseeing stop you have to make during your stay! The images in this post don’t do justice to the real life view you will experience while at Two Lovers Point.

Tags: Guam, guam attraction, two lovers point

I’m currently on the island of Guam, and over the next few days I’ll be journeying to popular sightseeing attractions around the island while documenting my activities on Traveling Project. I thought it would be a good idea to give an introduction to Guam as a good starter post.

The island of Guam is located at 13º 30′ north latitude, 144º 48′ east longitude on the globe in the Pacific Ocean. It is a small island between the Philippines and Hawaii, and north of Australia. Total land area of Guam is 209 square miles with an estimated population of about 180,000 people at the time of this post. Guam is a territory of the United States and people born on Guam are United States citizens. The official currency of Guam is the United States dollar(USD), and the official languages are English and Chamorro. Everyone on Guam speaks English so you won’t have a problem communicating with the local population if you know English. The majority of the population on Guam are of Chamorro or Filipino descent, with smaller ethnic groups from Asia and the Micronesia islands also present.

The indigenous people of Guam are the Chamorro people, and they account for about 57% of the total population on Guam. Traditional Chamorro culture is very similar to other island dwelling cultures within Oceania with deeps roots in sea navigation, fishing, cultural dance and songs. There is a huge Spanish influence on Guam due to the Spanish colonization of the island when Spain used Guam as a stopping point on trade routes to the East Indies, Mexico, and Philippines in the 1600s to 1800s. In fact, many local Chamorros are also part Spanish.

The Spanish also spread Catholicism throughout the island, and about 95%+ of the population is Roman Catholic. If you ever get a chance to visit Guam be sure to check out the lavish and beautifully designed Roman Catholic churches in various villages throughout the island, specifically the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Hagatna village.

Located almost directly on the equator, Guam has a extremely hot, humid tropical climate and takes a little getting use to when you first arrive on the island. Lifestyle on the island is extremely slow and easy going. The main tourist area of Tumon is the busiest part of the island with hotels stretching down one strip of road along Tumon Bay. Finding attractions and sightseeing destinations is a little difficult unless you have a personal guide or guide book. Many of the best sightseeing attractions are “off the beaten path” so to speak, and have a long traditional history or story behind them so prepare to ask around for tips and directions from the locals.

The main activities to do while your on Guam would be to enjoy the tropical beaches, visit the local attractions and sight-seeing destinations, go shopping, and check out some of the local discos, clubs, and bars at night! I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to Guam and stay tuned for more posts and photos in the next few days!

Tags: Guam, guam information, guam island

While driving on the road today on the island of Guam, I had a chance to pull over along the beach during sunset to take a snapshot of the sun setting behind the Philippine Sea and creating this serene and picturesque photo. When I took this photo it was extremely low-tide and you could walk out onto the water about a 100 yards without the water going above your ankles. In fact, I saw a kid running out into the ocean, and it literally looked like he was walking on water because he was so far out! I was going to take a photo of him, but by the time I got my camera ready he had already ran back onto the shore of the beach. The two bumps right next to the sun out in the ocean are two capsized cargo-looking boats on the reef on Guam (or at least I think their capsized because everyday I just see them sitting their and they never move). Click on the image below for the full-sized photo:

Tags: Guam, guam sunset, sunset

I received some new gadgets in the mail today, specifically my USRobotics Internet Phone which will come in handy when I’m traveling. The total cost of the phone was just under $40.00, and  I haven’t tried it yet so can’t tell you anything about the quality of the sound.  The USB Internet phone plugs directly into a computer and using Skype’s service I can make free phone calls through the Internet from anywhere in the world. This is great to have for people that do a lot of traveling, and I’d recommend the Skype service to anyone.  I’m glad to add it to my collection of gadgets I bring with me when I travel!

Tags: internet phone, Travel Equipment, usrobotics phone

Donating to EDN yesterday for Earth Day put me in a giving mood, and I remembered coming across a micro-lending site called Kiva.org where normal people like you and me could help finance small loans to needy entrepreneurs located around the world, usually in third-world countries.

I decided to head on over to the site and open an account. After opening up an account I funded it through my Paypal account and made three loans of $25 denominations each to people from Nicaragua, Samoa, and Tajikistan! You can see my profile page here: http://www.kiva.org/lender/TravelingProject. The loans are usually used to help these entrepreneurs start up a new business or make improvements to their existing business.

I think helping people through Kiva fits perfectly with this blog, not to mention it makes me feel good knowing I’m helping less fortunate people. Being an entrepreneur at heart and the focus of this blog being about traveling around the world, I think there’s no better way than to help other entrepreneurs from around the world through a non-profit organization like Kiva! In fact, I think Kiva makes such a perfect fit with this blog that I gave it a permanent section on my sidebar to help promote it to my readers!

Maybe in the future I can travel to see some of these countries, and actually meet the people I have helped face to face; documenting the whole trip to share with readers of this blog! This is something I just might have to really think about and look forward too!

Tags: charity, kiva, loans, micro-lending, micro-loans

Today, April 22, 2008 is Earth Day 2008!

A brief history: Earth Day was first started in 1970 as a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. At a conference in Seattle, Washington the Senator first proposed the nationwide environmental protest to thrust the environment onto the national agenda. On April 22 of that year, 20 million Americans took to the streets to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values; and the movement took off! Fast forward to the present, Earth Day 2007 was one of the largest Earth Days to date, with an estimated billion people participating in Earth Day activities from places all over the world! -Excerts from Wikipedia

As a travel enthusiast, appreciating our planet and concern for keeping the environment as healthy as possible comes naturally. If we don’t start protecting our beautiful planet, many of the sites and places I have the luxury of visiting on my travels around the world won’t be the same or even exist a few decades down the road. This is why I like to celebrate and spread the word about Earth Day! In addition, it is always good to give a little back to mother Earth on this day! This year I decided to make a little donation to Earth Day Network to do my part in protecting the Earth and environment. The screenshot of the Thank You email can be seen below. Although it was only $50 dollars, as this project grows I’ll be making more donations in the future!

My $50 Earth Day Donation Pictured Above

Earth Day Network (EDN) was founded by the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970 and promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect, interact, and have an impact on their communities, and create positive change in local, national, and global policies. EDN’s international network reaches 174 countries, while the domestic program engages 5,000 groups and over 25,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. You can check out the Earth Day Network here http://ww2.earthday.net, and I encourage everyone to make a small donation if you can. If your a little short on cash you can still do your part on Earth Day by planting a tree!

If you haven’t heard already, just this month Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced they approved a merging which will form the largest airline around the world based on traffic statistics. Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines are the third and fifth largest airlines in the United States. Under the merger arrangements, the new company will be headed by Delta and keep the name “Delta Airlines”. In essence, it seems Delta is taking over Northwest Airlines in this all-stock merger valued at $17.7 billion dollars. The merger still has to be approved by the companies shareholders, as well as go through an antitrust review before the merger becomes final, but I don’t see any reason why the merger would be blocked at this point.

I’m not sure how the merger will affect ticket costs, but since there are still many more major US airlines I doubt it will really have a big impact on the travel industry as a whole when it comes to ticket prices. If you ask me, I think the merger was due to the rising costs of fuel and the current state of the US economy. Just last year both Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines filed bankruptcy, and I think they needed to do this to keep both companies afloat.  If anything, after the merger  I think the new company will be able to offer better services to its client.