As you may or may not know...Izac and I have completed our travel to Iwakuni, Japan. We were driven by my mom to the airport. It was really hard to say goodbye. We were met at the curb by a sky cap. Normally I do not mess with them but I am glad we did. He took us to the front of the line and got us checked.
We flew from National airport and I am really glad we did. It gave me an opportunity to see the Capital, the Washington Monument, and the Jefferson Monument as we flew away. I didn't cry but I did feel sad.
This journey has been interesting. Ive never left home/my family in a situation that felt so permanent. In the past all my travels have been temporary (no more than 3 months). I guess in a way this is a coming of age. I am on my own without my family to lean on.
As with this entire move nothing has gone without a hic up or bump. The send off was difficult because of the "Im moving and have to take everything" baggage (thank god for orders that allow bigger bags) and my bookmark being mistaken as a possible weapon (I almost had to leave a Micimoto pearl bookmark at the airport). Our first flight went fine. Our second flight was nice with the movie 500 days of Summer (surprisingly good movie). HOWEVER when we arrived in Seattle we learned that one of our bags decided to stay in Minneapolis (this of course was the bag with all of Izac's digital uniforms). We had to wait for the bag to arrive at the baggage claim in Seattle. Two flights later it made it on to our final flight with 30 mins to take off.
This 3rd flight was the Air Mobility Command (AMC) flight flown by North American. Ive never heard of North American Airline and I think I know why.
Observation of this Plane/Flight
- tiny seats
- short seat belts
- old plane
- REALLY old safety video (the cell phones on it were the size of cinder blocks)
Here is the projected flight plan:
- Seattle To Alaska
- Alaska to Misawa
- Misawa to Yokota
- Yokota to Iwakuni
God help the ones going to Okinawa after us.
23:07 Japan Time 9:00 Virginia Time
At this point Izac and I have been traveling for 23 hours and we still have not left the country. We have had 2 hours of interrupted sleep. We landed in Alaska and were told to deplane for 2 hours for "refueling and cleaning" funny how when we got on the plane there was still trash. This flight to Japan is not restful... the lights are turned on and off with no real pattern, they feed us at odd times, and who knows why they feed us what they do (virginia time 5 am we got sandwiches). One positive of our stop in Alaska is that Izac got us those sleep masks. YAY. Next time I am in Alaska I would like to leave the airport.
Alaska to Misawa and On:
It was challenging to sleep on the flight. Izac and I did our best. It was cat naps. They decided to feed us a hot breakfast 2 hours in to the flight from Alaska (neither of us wanted to partake of it). Through the cat napping Izac and I probably got about 4-5 hours of sleep. When we arrived in Misawa we all had to deplane for 3 hours. Those of us going on went to a large holding room where we sat and waited to board the plane. Here they told us where to go for food and such and then they put on a movie (Hook). Once we got on the plane we flew to Yakota (with a few new people). Once we arrived in Yakota we were again separated: those who were finished flying and those who were going on to Iwakuni. Here they had a football game on and we again had to sit and wait (2 hours). Once we again got on the plane we were told that AMC wanted to stay on schedule so we could not leave early. We then flew for an hour and 15 mins. This was the end of the line for us. We deplaned and I got my first look at my new home. I was so tired it was hard to figure out how I felt. We went in to this TINY room where 3 Marines in uniform waited for us. Most of the other passengers were enlisted men and women fresh out of bootcamp and MOS school. The 3 marines were barking orders at us. They called our names out to confirm our arrival. Yet again our name was butchered and then they checked paperwork. My passport was stamped with two stamps. An arrival stamp and one that will allow me to travel in the country. It is supposed to be good for a year. It was good I looked at it. It had been filled out with an expiration date of the day I arrived. I had to get that stamp redone so that I can legally stay here. After that we were put on a bus and driven to where we picked up our keys to our temporary housing. It was there that we were met by our sponsor Major Taylor and another Capt in the office. Both men were really nice. They brought us to our room and promised to see us the next day. Once they left Izac and I settled down and went to sleep. We figured this out: From wake up in VA on Sat the 28th to falling asleep on Monday in Japan we were traveling for 48 hours.
In the end we got here safe and sound (along with ALL of our bags)
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