Maj Oh Maj

After a seemingly normal Island Hopper through three previous islands, we finally arrived in Majuro. Only to find out that we were stranded. Here is the story. A plane load of travelers disembarked the ailing aircraft, and were checked into hotels by rank of seniority. Passengers who embarked in Guam, the origin of the eastbound Island Hopper, got the luxurious Village Hotel; passengers from Truk and Pohnpei got the newer, upgraded Long Island Hotel; the rest... I didn't even stick around Air Mike (Continental Air Micronesia) terminal to find out.

So this was our hotel room.

Majuro is an atoll, which 5-Star Scotty so accurately describes as a string of link sausages. Indeed, the "island" is made up of tens and tens of long and narrow islands connected by one road. One. If I had to ask for directions to Long Island Hotel, I would have gotten "chuss trife town teh roht." Just drive down the road. No, there is no left or right turn. Just drive, and you'll get to it.

Sure enough, there was our hotel, just as the directions would have been. Just drive down the road.

We, the stranded hotel guests, all had pancakes, scrambled eggs, ham, and a choice of coffee, tea, water, or orange juice. Quite a limited choice, but it sure beat airplane food.

On the up side, this was right outside our hotel room.






On the down side, I didn't indulge. We were violently awakened by the telephone; it was the front desk telling us that our plane (a new plane that specially flew in from Guam to "rescue" us) had arrived, and was leaving at nine thirty.

"It's eight forty-five..." said 5-Star.

Yes, and the bus leaves at nine o'clock sharp.

We HAD TO be Stateside by May 7! We jumped out of bed, barely washed the shampoo out of our hair, and ran out to the lobby with clothes still sticking out of our carry-on bags.

There was no bus. 

Noooooo!

But wait... there were a good dozen of us milling around. In fact, there was probably another half dozen stranded travelers having breakfast in the hotel restaurant next door. So we decided to have breakfast as well. And that's how the pancakes, eggs, and ham story came to be.

I still wish I had had time to take a dip in that water...

On the ride back to the airport, we saw pristine ocean to our left...

And crystal clear ocean to our right...

Kids played and did their Saturday chores on this breezy May 7th morning in Majuro.

And just up the road is our rescue plane that would take us Stateside, where May 6th was coming to an end.

The clock ticks for us, but for some fellow travelers, Majuro was welcome interruption.

And the locals sit in the shade without a care on the atoll about what day or time it is.

When the ground crew finally called our row to board the aircraft at one thirty in the afternoon-  yes, four hours after the hotel morning call told us-   we rushed down the tarmac as if wasps were flying after us.

We HAD TO be Stateside by May 7 for this.