Travel Two Days: Seattle to Kadena

July 9, 2009-July 10, 2009

Not even sure if this is the right date. Time is meaningless right now when we’re in the air crossing time zones willy nilly.

We got on the military flight at 1:30 AM. I am not sure how seats are assigned, but the gods smiled upon us and we got row seven! The plane is set up two seats-four seats-two seats. (xx_xxxx_XX) We got the right hand block of two seats. Awesome!

By 1:32 AM I was asleep in my chair. I woke up almost four hours later when Dean poked me. We were getting ready to land in Alaska to refuel and there were these majestic snow capped mountains poking up above the clouds. He figured I’d want a picture and he figured right. I whipped out my camera and clicked away. Alaska looks like a very cool place to visit. Literally and figuratively.

Being on a military flight is a lot different than being on a commercial civilian flight. There is a real sense of fellowship on a military flight. You’re all Americans going to a foreign land, so there is a lot of talking, mainly about what “you heard” about the new duty station. Everyone is very nice to each other, though I think that might have more to do with you never know who could be a C.O.’s wife or a General in civilian clothes.

We had a layover at Yokota, which is on the mainland, for an hour or so. Filing into the airport, I noticed a sign for WiFi, so I had my PC out, up, and connected before some people even sat down. I checked in with my ma and visited just a few very important sites, like Facebook. Then we hopped back onto that plane to go to our next stop, Iwakuni.

The way into Yokota was full of green mountains with little towns nestled in valleys. On the way out, all we could see were buildings stretching all the way to the horizon. Both sides were equally as impressive, really.

On the descent into Iwakuni, it was raining really hard. When we touched down, most people could tell something was wrong. I looked out the window and saw the wheels were creating huge fans of water, like we we hydroplaning. Dean told me that the ATC (air traffic control center) was mid-runway, and we landed directly in front of it. A few of the Air Force guys started taking bets with each other if we were going to hit the “oh, sh*t” line. Well, I didn’t know what the “oh, sh*t” line was, but I knew I wanted the guys who bet we WEREN’T going to hit it to win. Our front wheel just about crossed the row of red lights marking the end of the runway, and the pilot whipped the rest of the plane into a left turn. I saw the line that the guys were talking about. It was a thick metal cable stretched across a few feet above the ground to catch us in case the plane wasn’t able to stop at the end of the runway. Thank goodness, we avoided it. A collective sigh of relief was breathed. That was too exciting a landing for me, but most of the guys were already making jokes, like that we were doing the “taxi of shame.”

We waited an hour or so for the weather to clear before taking off again. From Iwakuni to Kadena (on the island of Okinawa) was only about an hour and fifteen minute plane ride. The landing was much more uneventful. We filled out our affidavits that we didn’t have swine flu, got my official passport stamped (woo hoo), collected our bags, and cleared customs. Our sponsor was waiting for us. He was fantastic. We got really lucky there.

Uncharacteristically, I was in sweats and flip flops with no makeup left on. Nevertheless, we were brought all around the island for administrative stuff. I just felt bad all of Dean’s coworkers’ first impression of me was with dried drool on my face and a hair style that looked like the one from “Something About Mary.” Anyway, Dean checked in and we got a PO box set up. It’s: PSC 559 Box 6141 / FPO AP 96377-6141. Please feel free to mail us letters, cards, gifties, or checks for large sums of money. Just kidding. Checks for small sums are okay, too.

We’d somehow lost a day while traveling, so after two days we were dead tired and fell fast asleep.