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The Wake Island 74th Anniversary Commemoration is confirmed for December 12, 2015. Not visited by tourists since 2009, it is a go this year through Military Historic Tours.
The day charter is $1,795 when booked alone. A $500 deposit is required to confirm your place. There is a Dec 8-14 tour stretching from Hawaii to Guam to Wake for $3,495, with optional Saipan/Tinian extension. I do not receive any compensation from Military Historic Tours and if I go, I will be paying full price.
Photo by US Navy, flickr
This is for veterans and their families, history buffs, and country collectors. Count me in the later two.
I went on the Iwo Jima 70th Anniversary charter this year and it was one of my best travel experiences, see my posts on Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima will be back for 2016. Wake’s frequency is unknown and I may have permanently missed my chance at Midway by not going several years ago. Now the birds are so destructive to jet engines (and vice versa) that a Midway fly-in tour may no longer be feasible.
Reaching Guam on award tickets from the US the primary options are Delta and United. Delta has typical gouge-pricing. United has better availability, mostly in economy, both with quick routes through Honolulu and Tokyo, and the longer Micronesia Island Hopper between Honolulu and Guam. Several South Korean budget carriers fly to Guam, as does Philippine Airlines, which can be booked using several point currencies.
The issue from the US is cabotage rules preventing a foreign carrier from flying you on a US domestic trip, so you cannot cruise to Guam on Japan Airlines via Tokyo on the same ticket. On my Iwo Jima trip I had a mental freeze, booked a Delta award on Korean Air and day of departure Korean called Delta to cancel my flight; fortunately Delta honored my ticket on Delta metal.
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@Daniel – it is a steep price.
@Ed – will study up.
@Linda – wonderful story, makes me even more excited. There were be a lot of Travelers Century Club Members going, I am sure, many have the mindset and the means.
This brings back so many memories for me. I spent 3 days on Wake in 1988 when I was a young teenager. My dad worked on Wake right after the war as an air traffic controller. He also served in the navy during the war. He always felt an intense connection to that island and the sacrifices that occurred there. My mother, father and I went on a charter with some of the survivors and country collectors, I think they called themselves The Century Club. The purpose was to dedicate a memorial there. I remember jumping off one of the… Read more »
Wake has some interesting pre-WW2 history including use by Pan Am as a refueling base. The Wikipedia article is worth a read.
This former Marine and present Sailor would love to go, but man thats some cabbage…its worth it if you can afford it I bet. Semper Fi