Yo Yokota!

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That love/hate relationship I was speaking about? Well, I just bought Space-A a diamond ring and asked it to marry me forever...

We arrived at Travis AF Base at around 9AM and a thick fog greated us... I was a little worried about this at first but my nerves were settled when 1. - I heard that this would not affect any flights and 2. -the airport itself was dead... We knew pretty much off the bat that we'd make it on the Yokota hop. Sure enough, the time came and we (along with 30 other active duty, dependents, and retirees) boarded our c-10 AF cargo plane. I ended up getting two seats to myself and found many semi-comfortable positions to fall asleep in...

The take-off was one of the smoothest I've ever felt (commercial or military) and everyone was in high spirits. There was a bit of turbulance but it was nothing compared to what I've felt in the past and I probably slept through most of it. I never imagined a 12 hour flight could be so painless... I took a nap for what felt like an hour (really, it was 6) and awoke to to an adorable group of young kids in front of me playing with their toys. They were some cool kats- and I gave each a high-5! Yea!

The seat's themselves were nice, especially for a cargo plane... No net-seating, thank you. And the plane itself was giant so there was quite a bit of both leg and headroom; I probably could have jumped on a small trampoline and still not hit my head on the yellow ceiling.

Mom, my new headphones work like a charm. They are amazing and I can't thank you enough... I just wish you were here with us. Dad's already managed to embarrass 6 or 7 times... 😉 The fanny pack he wears is 3 times the normal size and he wears it to the side, like some hip dellusioned teenager or something. But his stories have kept everyone entertained. He must have talked to the AF guys for hours on this flight.

Anyways, we arrived at around 3PM Japan time and it was brisk and foggy here as well... It felt like we hadn't even left Travis yet. We settled at the base lodge, dad went to get a haircut, and daniel and I got a drive from a very nice Marine into the local town. He took us to a cute tiny sushi bar and we dug in... We stuffed ourselves (ammmmmazing food) and I even had a glass of wine; total cost: 1600 yen... Around $14 dollars for both of us.. Afterwards, we grazed the local shops and then walked back to the base.

I'm more tired than I thought I would be, but it's understandable seeing as it's in the wee hours of the morning back home.

Tomorrow we'll wake early and attempt to catch a hop to Singapore... Tokyo and Disney Sea will have to wait till we re-enter Japan on our way back home to the states. One problematic note: to enter Vietnam you need a visa and these take at least 5 days to process... We're not sure how we're going to handle this one but I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Wish us luck tomorrow as we attempt to continue our mission and reach Southeast Asia... We'll just have to wait and see what happens... If we don't manage to get onboard, you'll be able to find me at that same sushi bar... digging in like I did tonight. Not so bad, eh?

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Comments

[Mom]

So happy for you!
Chris, it was wonderful getting up this morning and reading your blog. So glad that you had a good time. Shame it take so long to get a visa but in case it does remember to go with the flow. Miss you all. Keep the journal going. Dad already sent an email so I feel thoroughly informed. Love and hugs Mom