The Neverending Flight

We have officially spent our first day in Japan! Thanks to my confused sleep pattern brain and already present insomniac tendencies, I am up at 0109. I figure I had a few minutes after popping a melatonin and sleeping pill to share our last 48-ish hours with you.

Our ferry ride form Victoria to Seattle was great. Everyone was tired but enjoyed the boat ride. We left Victoria on the 1030 ferry, drove two hours from Port Angeles, took another ferry into Seattle and got to the airport at 1630.





Getting the SpaceA flight was nerve wracking, they said 40 seats were availible and the category before us had like 60 people. We almost left so we could secure lodging on McChord AFB but decided to wait just one hour more. Thankfully we did wait because not only did we get on but so did almost everyone in the two categories below us too! I have come to the conclusion that Airmen can't count. We could tell it was ran by the military and the whole "hurry up and wait" thing was apparent. "Hurry- get downstairs and sign in! Now wait three hours. Hurry up and wait for your name to be called! Hurry up and get through security and wait four hours until takeoff." Thankfully we are well versed in the whole hurry up and wait way of thinking, as well as our kids so we came prepared with toys and movies.





The USO was amazing, as were the volunteers running the 24 hour spot to be sure military members have comforts away from home. I would love to volunteer at one to return the favour if we ever live near an airport in the future.










The flight was LONG but the kids did wonderfully. We unexpectedly stopped in Alaska first, the sun was just rising and the snow covered mountains were beautiful! We have decided that Alaska will be our next SpaceA attempt and it was only a 3 hour flight! As we were leaving the pilot made a huge mistake. Before taking off he said the flight to Japan was only SIX hours away and we were getting there early. So after being served 3 meals and watching Avatar and another 2 hour long movie we realized he meant to say that we were arriving at 0600 hours(or everyone, including myself heard wrong). So here comes and goes six hours and we are all excited only to find out that there is another 6-7 hours! We made it- the kids slept for most of the flight and not once did we have a whine, cry or complaint from them :)








Customs was easy and consisted of just a few questions:>
"Do you have any knives with a blade longer than 5 inches?" "No."
"Do you have any illegal or controlled substances?" "No."
"Do you have any pornographic material?" "No."
"OK Welcome to Japan!!!!"



We are staying our first six days on Yokota AFB in Fussa. I am still not 100% clear where this is but found out is an hour long train ride to Tokyo, not the 30 minutes I thought it was. The price and base amenities far outweigh the time issue though, I was looking for rooms near some of the attractions we are doing and accommodations for five are super expensive- I couldn't find anything under $280-ish USD because tthey charge by person, not room. It is nice and we were fortunate enough to have reservation because many of our spaceA comrades are still sitting in the lobby waiting for a room. We offered the bedroom part of ours, feeling bad since we were in a 2 roomed suite but our offer was declined. I do hope they are able to get some rest.








My sleep aides seem to be kicking in so tomorrow morning I will upload our pictures from today! Goodnight!