Leavin' on a Jet Plane...(Part 2)

We made it!

But as we were driving to the West Pac in our sponsors car, we heard the news of the quake and tsunami that hit Tokyo. We were lucky enough to have left Tokyo about 5 hours before it hit, and the only affect on the island was a small tsunami that didn't do any damage. Please continue to pray for those affected, and those trying to rescue people.

First off, let me start by saying that our flight path and experience was completely different from our friends who PCSed here a few months ago, so please know that yours might be different too, but here is how our's went down:

We left Seattle at 215am and landed at Yokota AFB about 10 hours later. There, we got off the plane and went inside the passenger service center for 2 hours. Inside there were phone booths, although I don't know how much it would cost to call home, not many people were trying to. They had a charging station, restrooms, and a single restaurant. They also had a very small exchange counter where you could purchase snacks and a few travel needs. If you left the seating area to go get food, you had to go through security to come back in, but it was easy and quick. No yen was needed here, as we were on base. They did tell us that the next stop would be Iwakuni and that the layover would be 2 hours and we would NOT deplane, so you might want to plan accordingly and purchase some snacks and drink from the vending machines before getting back on the plane.

It took us another hour to get to Iwakuni, where they said we'd have the 2 hour layover. We were actually there for only about an hour. From there, we flew another 2 hours and finally landed at Kadena AFB on Okinawa at 2:30pm, local time.

The process from here was much easier then I had anticipated. We deplaned and went through customs, which was basically just getting our passports stamped. Once again, make sure you have your passport!!! We then got our luggage (we waited at the claim for about 45 minutes before ours came out!) and found our sponsor. Luckily ours was a Marine that David was friends with years ago at Camp Lejeune so we found him right away. If you don't know your sponsor there are people there to help you. We loaded up in the Marine's car and came here to the Westpac to check it.

All in all, it was so much easier and smoother then I thought it would be. After talking to my friend who came here on a commercial flight, I can safely say that the AMC flight was much more hassle free. And we didn't need yen until we got here, so I'd get some just in case, but it's not a huge issue if you don't get any in Seattle. I'll make a post about the Westpac and the first few days of being on the island later. Until then, take care!