How do we get there?
Travel from the mainland begins at any of the major U.S. hubs for overseas flights. Two main routes are used: via Honolulu and Guam, or via one of the major gateways in East Asia, such as Tokyo (Narita), Seoul (Incheon) or Hong Kong. Hospital HR will keep you posted, as the requirements change frequently.
All of these flights are long; flights to the Asian gateways take about 12–14 hours, and many of us choose to overnight in a hotel along the way. On the Guam route, you typically arrive in Guam in the evening and overnight there before the morning flight to Saipan. See the Travel to Saipan page for current flights.
The hospital pays for your flight to Saipan. If you can use miles to upgrade to business class, it will be well worth it.
Travel cautions
There are a couple of items worth reviewing before you climb on the plane.
1. Cabotage
noun: the restriction of the operation of sea, air, or other transport services within or into a particular country to that country's own transport services.
In simple terms, you can't use a foreign carrier alone to travel from one U.S. port to another. Since Saipan is U.S. territory, a foreign airline can't fly you between Saipan and Guam, Hawaii or the mainland. It's fine to take Jeju Air between Seoul and Saipan, for example, because that flight crosses an international border; the rule only bites when every point on the trip is in the U.S. If you plan to stay in a foreign country for a couple of days, you can also split your ticket there.
Don't count on travel services or locums companies to think of this, since in their minds Saipan is often a foreign country. Being denied boarding halfway through a trip and waiting days for the next U.S. flight to Guam can be really unpleasant.
2. The International Date Line
Yes, this catches everyone sooner or later, especially when planning connecting flights. You leave Seattle at 9:00 PM on Thursday for a 12-hour flight to Narita, Japan. It gets in at 1:00 AM Japan time. You assume it arrives the next day, Friday morning. But you lost a day crossing the date line, and it is actually Saturday morning. It gets REALLY interesting if you have a flight leaving or arriving around midnight. The moral of the story? Review your reservations with a calendar in front of you several times, and see if you come up with the same answer three times in a row!
And once I get there?
The hospital will help you find suitable temporary housing, assisted by a $10,000 one-time signing bonus for initial contracts of at least two years. You will be struck, however, that while a lot is familiar (we ARE a U.S. territory), in many ways we are still a foreign country.
Basic laws, currency, internet (actually better than much of the mainland), driving rules and electricity are the same. Notable differences include:
- Food choices and how to shop; many canned goods and stores have only Asian-language labels
- Languages: English is basic, but not the first language for most people, and the primary languages are colorful and many
- Few street signs or addresses; you'll rent a post office box
- Customs labels on anything mailed to or from here
- Bottled water: untreated tap water is usually safe, but unless your housing has a reverse osmosis unit or rainwater system it tastes bad
- Cable TV with mostly Asian channels
Credit and debit cards are accepted in many, but not all, places. You will need cash much more often than on the mainland. ATMs are plentiful.
The island is very informal. The “uniform of the day” outside the hospital is shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. In the hospital many of the men wear scrubs, or a sport shirt and casual pants. Women wear scrubs or dresses, pants and blouses according to their style. Some like white coats, many don't. Whatever your choice, you will need to supply your own.