The Plane Ride

Let me back waaayyy up and start at the beginning. :)

We came to Japan from Lemoore, CA. It's right smack, dab in the middle of the state. I'm originally from CA, born and raised my whole life even though I'm a military brat. We just stayed pretty much in SoCal. My husband, also a military brat, is from all over. But this is the first time in his career that we are NOT stationed in CA.

My husband left before me and my son to come here because we knew he had to for work. We assumed that housing would be an issue and therefore thought we were smarter to stay behind while he caught up to the ship. We have never gotten straight into housing...until we got here. Andy got us a place within two days once he went to the housing office. Two weeks after he arrived here, my son and I arrived. We figured it would be months. Anyhow, that means I had the pleasure of enjoying an overseas flight with my son, who was 1 1/2, ALONE. I know what I told my family/friends...and it was a complete lie. I told them he was fine on the trip across. When he wasn't screaming (top of the lungs, makes you want to cry or beat your head against something hard and probably dangerous, screaming.) he was trying to climb over me, the seat, the seat in front of him, or trying to slide down and under his seat. Anything to get away from me, who was, for some unknown reason, the enemy. He slept, but not much. Since our flight was booked at the last possible second, thank you military, we were in the exact middle of the plane. Maybe if we had had a window or aisle seat it would have been much easier. Or if we hadn't been experiencing so much turbulence that the fasten seat belt sign could have been turned off so I could have let him walk/run up and down the aisles...

I was told how lucky I was because he was so young, he wouldn't be bothered by the move or remember it. That may be true. But first we had that plane ride. I brought along juice cups and candy. Let him eat or have anything he wanted in the hopes that he would settle down and act human. But once we were on that plane he completely broke down and flipped out on me. So, yeah, it was stressful lol. The first flight was only an hr long, from Fresno down to LAX. Then we flew for about 10 hours straight across the Pacific to Tokyo. Once in Tokyo I was smacked in the face with the fact that I was no longer, and wouldn't be for quite some time, "home". The signs have English, but not much. I had gotten a description of the airport from my husband beforehand, otherwise I'd probably still be there now lol. The airport workers are also very nice and they do speak English which was a huge relief to me. Once I got through customs I had to figure out where to go to get to the right terminal and re-check our baggage...this was a bit of a problem. I couldn't remember what I had been told about where to go. I was already exhausted, pushing a luggage cart piled high with our suitcases and had poor Devyn either walking next to me or on my hip. After two laps up and down the airport I gave in and pushed past my shyness to speak to the women at the information desk. They informed me where to go and to look for the yellow bus sign because the bus is yellow. They are very into color coding here. It's useful and actually makes sense.

Thank goodness for long layovers (sometimes). I got to the bus, rode it to the correct terminal, checked us in, was given a stroller to use for Devyn and then got to the gate and only had about 30 minutes left to wait on our plane. The flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka was about 2 hrs and Devyn and I slept the entire flight. Devyn was actually asleep before we took off. I do appologize to my fellow flyers since I'm fairly certain I was snoring for part of the trip. :P Once we got to Fuk (short for Fukuoka) I made a mad dash for the restroom to change a very soggy Devyn. I couldn't during the flight since he was sleeping. But as soon as I came back out I saw my husband waiting for us over by baggage claim. I literally wanted to cry. I didn't though. Instead I walked right up to him and without saying a word handed him our son and then walked away to get our bags. In retrospect, no, it wasn't THAT bad. He was just a little guy and honestly he was just expressing what everyone else was feeling. No one enjoys a 10 hr flight across the ocean while having to sit in the middle of the plane. It sucks.

From Fuk, it's a 2 hr bus ride to the main base in Sasebo. That part was actually fairly pleasant since Devyn was awake and happy to be with his daddy. The bus dropped us off right in front of the Navy Lodge and we were already checked in since Andy had done so earlier in the day, so we were able to go right into the room and get Devyn to bed. To total all that up: Got up around 5am Sept. 24th PST, drove to Fresno, flight left around 8am, got to LAX an hr later and had a longish layover...and then a delayed flight, flew 10 hrs or so, arrived in Tokyo-Narita 5pm Sept. 25, had 3 hr layover most of which I used :), Left Tokyo around 8pm Japan time, got to Fuk at 10pm, got on bus, arrived at the base at midnight. That's something like 20 hrs of traveling!!! And I woke up and had lost a day because of the time difference lol...It was Sept. 26th. :) I hope that people at least get a chuckle out of this blog. Looking back I still cringe a bit, and I definitely hope that I'm not alone for the return flight to the states in a few years, but yes, I laugh too. :)

-Robyn