Saipan Trip - Day 4

On Sunday, November 2, we woke up, had breakfast, and prepared to check out of the resort. We called the front desk to get one of those guys with the golf carts to come and pick us and our luggage up and take us to the front desk. We planned to catch the bus to town to do some last-day shopping after we checked out. But the golf cart guy was running late, so I ended up pushing the luggage to the front desk, which made me sweat in the humid Saipan heat. However, we made the bus on time.

We didn't do too much in town, it turned out - just ate at McDonald's and looked around a bit. I was happy to see the soda machines there where you can get refills; they don't have those in Japan except at the family restaurants with the drink bars. What they also don't have in Japan are the promotional games where you have a chance to win money, and a much better chance to win a free drink or something. They had a Monopoly promotion when we went, and I won a free McFlurry. However, the M&M McFlurry that I ordered was far too sweet for me. I guess I'm getting used to Japanese tastes.

After shopping, we went to the airport to return to Japan. The wait in line to check-in at the airport was the longest I've ever been in, because they had security there checking every single bag and suitcase. Seriously. They opened each bag and checked everything, from underwear to eye drops. I've never seen such thorough searching before. I asked one of the staff if it is always like that, and she said, "Security is always tight in Saipan." Indeed.

We felt a lot better, though, when the Northwest Airlines counter lady gave us each a $5 gift certificate for use in the airport snack shop because we checked in online. We got $10 worth of snacks free. That's a very nice parting gift!

On board, the flight attendants handed out these cookies to the left. If you click on the picture to make it bigger, and you look carefully at the top, you can see my name. Why did they go through all that trouble to personalize my cookies? :)

Overall, the trip was okay. It was relaxing and enjoyable. If you want an active vacation, though, don't go to Saipan. There's not that much to do besides relax.