We're not in Kansas Anymore..................... Part 1: Jax to Oki

We've been on Okinawa about a week, and I thought it was high time I shared our adventures with you all.  It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride, so sit back, grab some coffee and enjoy the show!

We left Jacksonville on Tuesday, June 21.  The few days leading up to the departure were stressful in that there was so much to do and it felt like it would be impossible to get it all finished.  But, finally, we stuffed as much as we could into our suitcases, loaded our things (and ourselves) into no fewer than 3 vehicles, and headed down to the Jacksonville airport.  All total we had 7 huge duffel bags, one large rolling suitcases, one hanging bag (solely for Bill's uniforms--because they can't possibly mingle around with the rest of our civilian attire!) a carry-on duffel bag, a carry-on rolling suitcase, and 4 backpacks.  It seemed impossible, but after we checked in 9 of the larger pieces of baggage, our load got much lighter.  After a not-so-long and tearful goodbye, we finally went through security and eventually boarded our flight to Seattle.  And I'm happy to report there were no journalists or film crews making a news story of our pending departure!  Here are some pictures of the eager travelers:

Nine long hours later we finally landed in Seattle.  This is when we realized we may have been a little too optimistic in the carrying capability of our little ones.  Here's Bill trying to figure out the logistics of dividing & hauling 14 pieces of luggage to our shuttle area: 

Look at Andrew trying to escape!  He
knows he's about to get drafted into service!

 
I had mistakenly assumed--since all the luggage was on wheels--that the kids would probably be able to drag it around without trouble, but once I saw Mary heaving & grunting  and practically pulling her arm out of her socket in an effort to move her 50 lb duffel bag, I realized I had overestimated their abilities.  And we didn't quite know how far we could take the pay-to-borrow luggage carts and whether or not they were allowed in the shuttle area.  So, after a lot of whining and dragging and threatening we finally managed to get all of our things to the area where the shuttle would pick us up and take us to the hotel.  Here's the "after" picture...don't they all look happy to be here?

Finally, our hotel shuttle guy, aka Mr. Muscles, arrived and must have seen our pitiful condition, because he insisted on loading ALL of our things into the van by himself!  Then once we got to the hotel, he took all of our belongings all the way up to our room.  If the girls had been old enough, I probably would have married one of them off to him, but since that would have been a little creepy we settled on giving him a tip large enough to buy a weeks' worth of groceries.  Don't judge--grumpy children, exhaustion, and aching muscles make you do crazy things. 

We had one day to spend in Seattle before our trip to Okinawa, so we decided to head over to Downtown and visit the famous Seattle Pike's Place Market, home of the flying fish.  I had heard a lot about this place and many had told me it was a "can't miss" Seattle landmark.  But, to be honest, I don't know what all the fuss is all about.  Here's a quick video--you be the judge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrLE3Wr6oLs&feature=player_detailpage

The kids We all were slightly disappointed that I had picked this as our main destination because, really, it was short-lived entertainment.  I mean, you've seen one fish fly, you've seen them all.  And I'm not sure how great it is to be eating fish that has been thrown around like that in the first place!

Eventually, the disgruntled tourists and I made it back to the hotel.  We ate dinner and prepared our things for our early morning trip to the airport.  Finally, we laid down for a whopping 3 hours of sleep.  At the horrific hour of 12:45AM, we received the dreaded wake up call.  We zombied out of the hotel and into the shuttle...back to the airport.  This time were were much better prepared and we did not hesitate to spend a small fortune on those fabulous luggage carts.  By 2:30am we had checked in to our flight and were sitting in the USO...to wait, and wait, and wait.  The littler kids fell sleep wherever they could as the place was filled with dozens of other weary travelers heading to Okinawa. (Mary chose the floor.)  The older kids were able to watch a Disney movie playing in the USO--just what they've always wanted to do at 3am! 

Our boarding time was 7:30am, so around 5:30 we went through security and found a restaurant that served breakfast.  Finally, after having been awake for over 7 hours, we heard the much anticipated boarding call.  Apparently everyone else was just as excited we were because this line formed in about 6 seconds:

The line moved surprisingly quickly and we were on the plane in about 15 minutes.  Let me tell you, once we got on that plane you immediately felt a sense of kinship with all the other travelers.  This was a military flight primarily filled with other families moving to Okinawa.  We'd all been through months of excitement & frustrations & nervousness as we prepared for this move, and finally we were all here, ready to embark on this long-awaited journey.  Ok, maybe I'm over-dramatizing this a little, but I, for one, thought it was special.

(Quick sidenote:  When I say "Military Flight" I'm not saying we were all strapped into nets in the cargo hold of some gray military aircraft.  This is a regular, commercial-like airplane managed by the Air Force whose sole purpose is to transport military personnel & families back and forth from overseas locations.  There were movies and meals and beverage service and everything.  They even had little screens showing our flight path and where we were on our trip.  However, if the Marines ran this thing, I have no doubt we would have been strapped into nets in the cargo hold, like this....)


The Marines' version of First Class


We took off and settled into our 11 hour flight to Japan.  The boys were still wound up from all the excitement of the last few days, so I gave them a little "flying medicine" and they drifted off to dreamland for a few hours.  The flight was surprisingly smooth and we saw some amazing views of mountains and glaciers as we flew over the Northern Pacific.  I was very impressed, since glaciers aren't too common in Florida.  We finally landed in our first stop in Japan.  We were all so excited to have finally landed, but that excitement was short-lived as we were led to this very hot, very crowded waiting area where we sat around for a few hours as they cleaned & readied the plane for the rest of our journey.  This is not a fond memory of our first hours in Japan, and we couldn't get back on the plane soon enough.  Unfortunately, when we eventually did get back on the plane, we had to wait around some more because there was some kind of warning light for one of the doors.  I'm very glad the pilot was taking the time to make sure the doors didn't fall off in mid-flight, but the extra waiting was not fun.  But, at least we were back on the plane and it was air-conditioned! 

Once we finally took off, we all fell asleep for most of the rest of the trip.  I woke up as we were getting ready to land on Okinawa, and it was a little scary because Typhoon Maeri was churning around Okinawa and causing all kinds of atmospheric disturbances.  (Isn't it a coincidence that the typhoon was called "Maeri"--a name eerily similar to one of our more rambunctious children?  I guess an almighty power was trying to warn the Okinawan people of what was coming.)

In addition to the turbulence, the runway is very close to the coast, and I couldn't see any land from our window.  So as we're getting lower and lower all I could see was water and I kept thinking, "It would be really terrible to crash into the ocean after coming this far!"  Luckily, we did land on the runway, but due to the winds the landing was a little rough.  

Other than the tropical storm conditions which met as we stepped off the plane onto the tarmac, the rest of the story is kind of a blur (and not too exciting, to be honest.)  We did the usual arriving-in-a-foreign-airport kinds of things--went through customs, got luggage, and finally left the airport.  Our sponsor did arrive with a few strapping Marines and we again loaded ourselves and our luggage into 4 cars and headed to the hotel where we'd be staying until we found housing.  And that's the place we're still calling home.  We're really hoping that will change soon! 

This past week has been quite an adjustment period, as we familiarize ourselves with a new duty station, culture, and driving style. (The "rules of the road" are quite different than those in the U.S.)  I'll get more into that in my next post, but I'll end with saying that at least the first step is over--and we all got here in one piece!  I'm looking forward to settling into our new home and discovering all the unique experiences this place has to offer.