My husband and I have been living in Guam for close to 2.5 years now. We love it! I'll go ahead and answer your questions and I'm sure when my husband, Ben, has time, he'll swing by and give you his thoughts. In the meantime, here are mine:
- Did you take stuff you didn't need?
Not really. We purged what we didn't want to take. But we would do that before any big move.
- Did you leave stuff in storage that you wished you would have brought?
Nope. We didn't store anything. One thing about Guam though is that in general, it is harder to get stuff out here, so if there's something you remotely think you might need, bring it. I can't tell you how many times I've thought of something we need only to not be able to find it out here and have to try to find a way to get it shipped from the States. I'd hate to see what we've paid to USPS these last 2+ years.
- How was the process of shipping a car?
Easy? We dropped the vehicle off, my husband took leave and we visited our families for one big goodbye before we moved to the other side of the world. A couple of weeks later, we were on a flight to Guam. I want to say we were only here a few days before our truck arrived. On a related note: we were told you can totally get by with one vehicle here, especially if you live on base and I've definitely thought it's quite doable. I sold my car before we moved out here and it was a great decision. We brought my husband's truck and it's been very good to us. No issues with Guam damage to it at all.
On a somewhat related note, while shipping a car was pretty painless, household goods was moderately frustrating. Our goods took a decent chunk of time to get to us mainly because customs took a while to get through checking everything. And just fyi, our Express shipment got here AFTER our HHG.
- Married? Did your family enjoy it?
Yep. Like I said above, we love it. The pace of life out here is definitely slower and there are things that get frustrating about the island. But overall, we love the island, the experience, the squadron, etc. We went from a family of two to a family of three out here. I can't speak for how things are in the squadron obviously, but I think we have a great group of wives and girlfriends. Your friends become your family in a community like this overseas.
- Besides diving what else is there to do?
Some of the best hiking in the world and hashing! And the location of the island is awesome for traveling. Asia and Australia are short, cheap flights away along with a smorgasboard of other travel options, like Palau and Fiji. In general, the people out here are VERY social. Lots of parties, bbq's, sports leagues, etc.
- How is base housing (Navy base, not Andersen)?
We live on Andersen and like it a lot. This is our third military base we've lived on. Can't speak for the Navy base, but I do have friends there and I think their houses are a little nicer than ours. And they get garages! They have the better commissary, we have the newer BX (but I think their NEX has a better selection.) Their movie theater shows movies for free and ours charges $4. Ok, that's not even housing related anymore... sorry.
- How Aviation friendly is Guam (assuming it is more SWO centric).
Well, we live on Andersen Air Force Base, so it's very friendly here.
I'm sure someone else can fill you in on that.
- How easy is it to grab a military hop for Leave?
I've done this several times and never had a single issue. As an unaccompanied spouse, I was one of the lower categories/priority and traveling was a breeze. I have always tried to travel at unpopular times though. Basically, if the kids are in school, it's easy. When they're out, getting a flight is definitely more difficult. Overall, if you're smart about when you travel, a military hop is super easy from here. I've never had problems hopping back here either, but again, I haven't tried traveling at peak times.
- Things to see/do (besides G-Spot)?
I think I mainly answered that up above. Diving, hiking, exploring the island. Enjoying life with all the friends you make out here. Playing sports, going to movies, exploring the nightlife. Traveling.
Obviously, I have no sea stories. My husband has deployed twice, one time to the desert. In our 2.5 years here, he's been deployed for easily over half that time. As a spouse, I've had a great experience out here. The community is tight knit, your friends really do become surrogate families and we have never, even for a moment, regretted coming out here. Except for maybe when we found out Joboy was coming out here.
But that's neither here nor there.
Good luck with your move! Here's to hoping you love Guam as much as we have.
