Tags
Commonwealth, Islands, mariana, northern, Saipan, travel, vacation, wanderlust, wednesday
I’m not going to lie. I didn’t know of Saipan’s existence before about 2 hours ago when my boss told us that his first job after college was playing in a rock band in Saipan for a year. Excuse me WHAT, that sounds like the dream! Oh, all of your housing and eating accommodations were provided? Now you’re just being rude. How dare you make us all jealous and wrap us up in the throws of nostalgia by hearkening back to a time when a musician could just casually move to a tropical Island that is sort of owned by the United States and pay nothing to be there while partying, playing covers, and getting $500 a month. ACTUALLY I THINK THAT TIME WAS NEVER. What a crazy life he once had.
Anyways, Saipan is part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands which is apparently a territory of the United States despite being located pretty damn far away from our great nation state. It’s probably really politically incorrect/terrible that we are there/own them/whatever our relationship to them is, but I can’t pretend that the idea of going to some place foreign and tropical where everyone speaks English and no passport check is really necessary doesn’t appeal to me.
“What about Hawaii?” you ask, “Isn’t that the same thing?” Well. Yes. And also No. Because Hawaii isn’t next to Guam and also it’s just not Saipan. OK.
Hee hee! It IS a dream place! I’ve been here for a year now (ok, I don’t get to just party and rock, but I do love my job!) — anyone who has the chance to visit should!! …though, you often DO still need your passport, because most flights will take you through some stop in Asia, and they’ll need to see it still.