So I'm finally getting around to blogging about our arrival here in Okinawa. I wish I could say that I took a bunch of pictures while traveling here but I cannot. I can say that our trip involved lugging tons of checked bagged, carry-on luggage and an almost two-year-old child from our hotel at 6:00 a.m. to the airport in St. Louis, Missouri. Of course, we arrived super early as recommended and breezed right through check-in despite traveling on military orders and security despite having a crazy child in tow. We then waited forever for our flight to Chicago. Finally, we boarded the plane and traveled the very short trip to Chicago. Wonderful. Of course not!
We get to Chicago and of course, I should know better than to be confident about how this is all going because from my experience, flights out of O'Hare always have a short layover and you have to run all the way across the airport with little time to even use the restroom and practically want to kill yourself for bringing so many carry-on bags. But thankfully, we made it in time to get on the plane to Tokyo. Unfortunately though, we had to walk past these lovely business class seats that allow the passenger to lay down and sleep during the flight and on to the cramped, crunched together economy seats available for us to sit in. Technically, they aren't any different than any other flight I have ever taken but having never flown 12+ hours at a stretch, I couldn't imagine doing it in these seats. My husband has however done this before multiple times and lived to tell so I figured I could suck it up and do it. For once, I'm cursing the government for not spending more money!
Frankly, it went well. Our daughter napped a couple of times and only cried a bit. She did kick the seat in front of her a few times but we did our best to control that and no one complained although the lady sitting there did jokingly offer me a Xanax for our little darling before the flight took off. Being a responsible parent and an RN, I declined. Anyway, we did our best to entertain ourselves by watching the movies offered on the plane (Dinner for Schmucks was a waste of time) and watching Mad Men on the iPad. I made sure to walk around to avoid blood clots and yelled at my husband to do so also. We had a couple of really nice flight attendants who were very helpful with keeping our daughter happy throughout the flight.
Finally, we arrived in Tokyo at Narita Airport. We had a three hour layover at that airport but most of the time was spent collecting our luggage, going through Immigration and Customs and then checking in with the airline taking us to Okinawa. This is where I really started to notice the difference between the US and Japan. Everyone at the airport is friendly and helpful. The level of customer service is amazing considering I am used to encountering people that would rather do anything but help a customer. Long story short, we finally did get on the plane and our daughter had a meltdown. It was too good to be true to think we could travel that far without it happening. Thanks to the iPad, I threw on a Mickey Mouse video and entertained her for a few minutes before my husband, child and I zonked out and slept through the whole three hour flight. I remember taking off and landing and that is it. When I woke up, I was holding my daughter who was awake and holding a cute little book and airplane given to her by the flight attendants. Of course, the book is in Japanese and it was then that it hit me that we are now in a new country with absolutely no clue about how to read or speak the language. I was starting to get a bit nervous.
We finally did collect our luggage and met my husband's sponsor (although we really didn't meet him, we knew him from a few years ago when he and my husband were stationed together) and he drove us from the airport to our temporary living quarters. Even though I was dead tired, I spent the whole ride looking out the window at the signs mostly in Japanese with a few English words thrown in there to give me a clue. Mostly I saw restaurants, casinos, car dealerships and hotels. I have to admit I was excited but still nervous and almost dreading this new experience all at the same time. But the dread didn't last long and by the next morning, dog tired from the time change and confused about when to sleep, I met our new adventure with nothing but acceptance and anticipation of what is to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment