The Journey to Japan

Our physical journey really started a week before our flight when we were displaced from our home to a hotel.  We actually ended up staying in two hotels—four nights in a Marriott Towne Place Suites a few miles from our house and four nights at the hotel on Quantico MCB.  With the last two weeks of June being “moving season” in the military, I couldn’t get reservations for the entire length of stay at either.  We had to move out because the movers had three days scheduled to pack out our belongings and load them into crates on big trucks so obviously we could not live there while this is being done.  I sent Leah and Aaron to summer camp during the day and my in-laws helped me by being at the house to supervise the movers.  Those last two weeks before we left were stressful and jam-packed.  In addition to the three days of Household Goods (or HHG as the military calls it) movers I also had one day of Non-Temporary Storage (or NTS) movers.  This was all the stuff that we are not bringing to Japan and will stay in a storage facility in VA until we return back to the USA.  In between (and after) the movers I had to sell my car and close on my house (which we sold—yea!).  To make matters even more interesting, Aaron developed a mild cold, which means I developed a mild cold a few days later.  To top things off, I also got pink eye.  If I were to look for the bright side I could say at least it wasn’t the horrible cold I caught conveniently before my trip to FL a few months ago and I was still functional.  And none of the kids caught pink eye either (although I am convinced Aaron had a mild case before I got it but I thought it was related to his cold).  So by Thursday, June 28, 2012 I was exhausted, congested, stressed-out and looked like a red-eyed tree frog.  (OK, maybe I didn’t look that bad but it was bad in beginning before the eye drops kicked in.)  In short, I was just ready for the journey to be over and just be there already.

The day of our flight Leah woke up with the beginnings of a cold.  I was actually amazed she went that long.  Aaron’s cold was limited to the occasional cough and mine seemed to settle into a gooey sinus congestion.  The cold had slowed me down so that I couldn’t stay up as late as I had wanted to finish not only packing but packing our lunchbox (always a challenge on long flights with Leah) and a last priority mailbox to ship off to Matt.  Packing itself would be easy if I weren’t limited to a 50-pound limit.  You try packing for three people all the clothes and shoes they will have for 4-6 weeks plus toiletries and whatever and keep all the suitcases under the weight limit.

If it sounds like I am whining I kind of am.  That morning of our flight was busy and stressful.  Packing the rest of everything, getting the kids ready and fed, checking out of the hotel (Quantico does not have the easy no-front desk check-out) and loading the rental car.  Then we had to go to the Post Office to mail the box and drive to Dulles International Airport.  I much prefer Reagan National Airport—it is much easier to get to for us and I think, more user-friendly, but I didn’t make the flights.  We had to drive on the dreaded Beltway and all its construction to return our rental car back to Enterprise and then take the Enterprise shuttle to the airport.  I figured it would be like every other hotel and rental car shuttle I have ever taken in my life and it would drop us and all our stuff (three suitcases, two car seats, three back-packs, two Trunkies and one lunchbox) to the departing terminal for United.  Little did I know at the time that at Dulles, there is one place for dropping off and picking up rental car shuttles.  It just happened to be the farthest possible point from the United counter.  It also happens to be on an island and non-accessible to Skycaps.  So there I was, with two small children, a pile of luggage and later than I should be for an international flight.  Looking on the bright side, I was about 100 yards for a Smart Cart dispenser and was never so happy to spend $3.00 in my life.  We gathered our stuff and made our way into the airport as fast as I could, which with 4-and 6-year-olds is not necessarily fast.  Of course there was a cry of “I need to use the potty,’ on the way and thankfully (bright side) there was a family restroom open that actually fit our cart and stuff.  Personal business out of the way when we got within sight of the United counter a United person helped steer us to the counter and tried to scan our passports but it wouldn’t accept them.  We were too late.  By ten minutes.  One potty break too late.  I tried to lobby for an exception (“We are moving and we have nothing here—no car, no house, no nothing,”) but it didn’t work.  I just wanted to cry right then but I knew I couldn’t.  I had to be calm so the kids wouldn’t get upset.  They were hungry as it was after 12:00p by then.  The whole re-booking process took what seemed to be a long time to me but we were re-booked for Friday, June 29.  At the end of the day the fault lies with me but I did feel like there were conspirators against me every step of the way that morning and all the ten minutes here and there added up over time.  So by 12:30pm with a new itinerary in hand we stopped by the first food kiosk we saw to grab some water and treats for the kids and then to the information desk where we could get a hotel room at a “distressed traveler’s rate” since the room was on me (and not the airline).  Snaps to United worker Luis (he looked like a baggage handler) who saw us on the elevator and pushed our cart not only to the information desk but then all the way to the spot on the island where the hotel shuttles pick-up (ironically next to the rental car shuttle spot).  His shift hadn’t started yet and he saw me with two small children and wanted to help.  He wouldn’t let me tip him so on my list of things to do is to write United so his boss can find out what a helpful employee he was.  So at 1:00pm the kids were eating a picnic lunch of junk food from Cinnabon plus some fruit and cheese from the lunchbox while waiting for our shuttle.  We checked into the Hilton Dulles Airport at 1:36 pm and by 2:15pm I got to eat my room service lunch.  I had sent Matt a message so he wouldn’t make the trip to the airport in Japan and he was able to modify our bus and hotel reservations.

Believe it or not, the rest of the afternoon was great.  I felt like I was “off the grid” as I called no one else and no one called me because they thought we were on a plane.  It felt nice just to decompress with absolutely no responsibilities.  The kids and I went swimming in the hotel pool, which was empty because it was a random Thursday afternoon at a business hotel.  We took a taxi to Dulles Town Center, a mall near the airport that had not only a play place and a Chick-fil-a but a full-sized carousel!  The kids loved it and Leah said it was the highlight of her day.  The next morning we ate at the buffet in the hotel restaurant.  Leah and Aaron made them regret their “kids eat free” policy.  We caught the hotel’s shuttle to the airport (early) where a skycap was eagerly awaiting us at the United terminal. It did take us a while to get through airport security—it was almost as bad as Toy Story Mania without a Fast Pass.  I was able to buy Aaron & I a sandwich to take on the plane although I had hoped to eat it in the airport. The airplane was a Boeing 777 so it was plenty big and we were sitting right near the wing, had our very own overhead compartment and, most importantly, each seat had its own personal TV screen.  That TV screen was the best thing that could have happened for our flight.  Aaron watched two Phineas and Ferb episodes, half of Cars, all of Toy Story 3 and the entire Winnie the Pooh movie.  In between he played with his Matchbox cars and napped.  (That’s easier to do on a plane when you are small enough to lie down.)  Leah watched the two episodes of Phineas and Ferb three times each throughout the course of the flight, three-quarters of Toy Story 3 and played the heck out of her Leap Pad.  She and I only napped a little as Aaron seemed to take over our space and we could not stretch out as well.  Also, we had the requisite crying baby two rows in front of us.

 Our 13 ½-hour flight was scheduled to begin at 1:00pm EDT but because to was so hot that day in Washington DC (102 ° F), it was too hot for this big plane to take off with all the weight it was carrying.  Since it couldn’t take off fuel or the passengers’ bags to lessen the load, they had to remove cargo and this delayed our flight by an hour.  I thought for sure we would miss our connecting flight to Fukuoka since we only had an hour and a half in between flights but they must buffer some time into the flight times.  It was close when we arrived in Tokyo, but that is a very user-friendly airport.  Not only is there a lot of English on the signs and spoken in the airport, everything is color-coded.  We had no problems getting around, going through immigration and customs and then re-checking our bag for our “domestic” flight.  We were going through security at 4:45pm (Japan time) for our 5:00pm flight and we still made it.  What a difference between American and Japanese airline experiences.  Our flight to Fukuoka was two hours and we were on a Boeing 737.  The plane was maybe half full.  At the gate we had to get on a bus that took us to the plane and then we had to walk up the stairs onto the plane—no jet way at the gate.  The in-flight snack consisted of a large Dixie cup full of water (with no refills).  We were told near the end of the flight when a good time to go to the lavatory was.  The flight attendants were nice, though, and they gave Leah and Aaron each a tiny Japanese toy.  The flight was (thankfully) uneventful.

When we arrived at Fukuoka and grabbed our luggage (no skycaps in Japan but free Smart Carts everywhere), we still had about an hour and a half to wait for Matt to meet us.  He was taking the Navy’s “Blue Bus” shuttle to the airport and it only has two trips to the airport and two trips from the airport each day.  We made our way to the waiting area where the bus would arrive and the kids did quite well waiting.  They did quite well all day, actually.  I did everything I could not to fall asleep sitting there.  Finally 8:30pm arrived and so did Matt and we were all very excited until we heard the Blue Bus didn’t leave for Sasebo until 10:00pm.  I had Matt take the kids to the bathroom, exploring, etc. while I just read the newspaper I had gotten how many hours ago? at our hotel.  Finally 10:00pm came and that is really just the boarding time.  The bus left at 10:30pm to make our two-hour drive to the Sasebo Naval base.  The kids fell asleep just as soon as the bus’ interior lights went out.  Leah reluctantly woke up when the bus arrived at the Navy Lodge on base and was able to walk to our room but Matt had to carry Aaron, who slept in his clothes that night.  Needless to say, Aaron was the first one awake the next morning and thus begins our new adventure!