We were lucky to be able to visit friends and family for a few weeks as we took leave en route to Okinawa. We said goodbye to Kansas and off we went. Our first stop was to Houston, where we spent 10 days at Chris's parents house. We saw friends and Chris' aunt even flew over from California to spend some time with us before we left. It worked out nicely that my parents were also in Houston, (all the way from Alaska) doing Ironman Texas, so we were able to cheer them on and see them before we left the country. It was a fun and relaxing week and we were so thankful we got to see both of our families for a few days.
Our view from our hotel room!
Cruise with his Dove and Pappy
On our flight into Tokyo
Visiting my cute siblings in Seattle
Cruise and his cousins:
Our flight was going to be taking off at 8:45am on Thursday. The check in line opens at 2:30am, but we had read to be there before then, as the line starts forming early. So Chris set his alarm clock for midnight and was in line at the airport by 1:00am. Cruise and I slept in until 2am and caught the shuttle service over to the terminal. Luckily Chris got there early to save us a place in line with all of our luggage. We were the 6th family in line at this point. They separated the lines into family and single servicemen, so luckily we weren't behind the huge line of servicemen. After checking in for the flight and getting our seats, we found the SeaTac USO and slept for another 3 hours before boarding the plane to Japan.
Sleeping at USO
We were able to all sit together on the plane, (which is called the Patriot Express- a civilian Airliner that the military contracts out) and Cruise was comfy in his car seat, and we were off on our 11.5 hr flight. I had an abundance of snacks and books and games for the flight, but cruise slept on and off and watched movies on the iPad. The flight actually went really well, for someone who hates to fly, I was terrified of this portion of the trip, but it went very smoothly.
Upon landing in Tokyo, at Yokota AB, we heard that the plane was leaking hydraulic fluid everywhere. Awesome. So then it was a waiting game. We were scheduled for a 2 hour lay over before getting back on the same plane to take the final 2 flights into Oki. Buuuuuut it didn't turn out like that. We were on the ground for 2 days and stayed in a hotel room while waiting to get a part and for maintenece. When we finally boarded the plane for Iwakuni, continuing on to Okinawa, we were all delirious with jet lag and very grouchy. Both of the final flights went well, quick and easy. Finally we had made it our new home!
We were greeted by our wonderful sponsors, the Yeagers. They have been so helpful, we are very lucky to have them! They set up a beautiful beach hotel for us since the on base hotel was full. We have been living the high life at this swanky beach resort while looking for housing.
The first day on the island we bought a car! It's a funny little car (all the cars here are funny looking, similar to the Cube style car) ours is a red Mobilio by Honda. We had to pass a new driving test since the cars drive on the left side of the road, so everything here is backwards for us. Chris is doing great with the transition, but I am still terrified and have nightmares of driving the wrong direction into traffic! It's going to take some getting used to!
Our flight was going to be taking off at 8:45am on Thursday. The check in line opens at 2:30am, but we had read to be there before then, as the line starts forming early. So Chris set his alarm clock for midnight and was in line at the airport by 1:00am. Cruise and I slept in until 2am and caught the shuttle service over to the terminal. Luckily Chris got there early to save us a place in line with all of our luggage. We were the 6th family in line at this point. They separated the lines into family and single servicemen, so luckily we weren't behind the huge line of servicemen. After checking in for the flight and getting our seats, we found the SeaTac USO and slept for another 3 hours before boarding the plane to Japan.
We were able to all sit together on the plane, (which is called the Patriot Express- a civilian Airliner that the military contracts out) and Cruise was comfy in his car seat, and we were off on our 11.5 hr flight. I had an abundance of snacks and books and games for the flight, but cruise slept on and off and watched movies on the iPad. The flight actually went really well, for someone who hates to fly, I was terrified of this portion of the trip, but it went very smoothly.
Upon landing in Tokyo, at Yokota AB, we heard that the plane was leaking hydraulic fluid everywhere. Awesome. So then it was a waiting game. We were scheduled for a 2 hour lay over before getting back on the same plane to take the final 2 flights into Oki. Buuuuuut it didn't turn out like that. We were on the ground for 2 days and stayed in a hotel room while waiting to get a part and for maintenece. When we finally boarded the plane for Iwakuni, continuing on to Okinawa, we were all delirious with jet lag and very grouchy. Both of the final flights went well, quick and easy. Finally we had made it our new home!
We were greeted by our wonderful sponsors, the Yeagers. They have been so helpful, we are very lucky to have them! They set up a beautiful beach hotel for us since the on base hotel was full. We have been living the high life at this swanky beach resort while looking for housing.
The first day on the island we bought a car! It's a funny little car (all the cars here are funny looking, similar to the Cube style car) ours is a red Mobilio by Honda. We had to pass a new driving test since the cars drive on the left side of the road, so everything here is backwards for us. Chris is doing great with the transition, but I am still terrified and have nightmares of driving the wrong direction into traffic! It's going to take some getting used to!
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