We Made It

Well, we are finally here at Grandma's house after some more world traveling. Here are some highlights of our recent trip from Okinawa, Japan, to West Chester, OH, by way of Monterey, CA.

We awoke at 6 am on 11 December to catch our flight that left at 930 am from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

We departed on time, and flew from Okinawa to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (about a 90 min flight) located on the southern edge of mainland Japan. There we stayed for 90 min, and were not allowed to get off the plane.

From there we flew to Yokota Air Base near Tokyo. There, we had another 2 hour layover where we were allowed to get off the plane. We got off and choked down quite possibly the most disgusting meal we have partaken of in some time. For those that fly Patriot Express in the future, stick with the airline food.

From Yokota, it was on to Seattle. 9 hours more in the air. We arrived in the US at around 9 am. There, we collected our 7 suitcases, 3 car seats, stroller, 5 carry-ons and children. We then proceeded to entertain the population of the Seattle-Tacoma Airport by hauling all of that gear through customs and over to the United counter to check in for our stateside flights.

Joy and I quickly realized we were no longer in Japan, as the bathrooms were disgusting and the customer service even worse.

We stayed in Seattle for about 8 hours before our next flight left for LAX. While there, our good friends from Philadelphia, the Coppins, came to see us. It was so nice to see them and visit. They helped take our minds off our miserable journey.

We caught the plane to LAX, landed, and had to run with our exhausted children and 5 carry-ons to catch the flight to Monterey. We landed in Monterey at 9 pm, on 11 December in the US, and then drove 2 more hours to Joy's brother's house.

Quick hits -

33 hours total travel time. Joy slept about 1 hour. Scott slept none.

The Patriot Express was ghetto as can be. I was having visions of Soul Plane the entire time.

The boys were angels, even on a steady diet of pure garbage.

Eliza was up for sale when we landed, but we have since calmed down and decided to keep her, despite her Banshee-like tendencies.

We stayed in CA for a couple days to recover at Joy's brother's house in Fairfield. Nice little break where we enjoyed family time, some dope cupcakes courtesy of Kelly (she is a whiz with the frosting), and seeing Joy's brother promoted to Captain of his police department.

Just over 48 hours later, we awoke our family at 330 am to catch the flight from Oaktown to Columbus. 6 more hours in the air. Halfway through the last flight, Oliver leaned over to me, half moaning, half crying, and said "When are we going to be off of the planes?" Amen.

We are happy to be spending the holidays with family, but miss our Okinawa family already.