Well, looks like the munchkins and I made it here in one piece. Glad we weren't on Oceanic Flight 815. It sure was a long flight, but it seemed like the layover was much longer. We left San Diego on a Saturday afternoon at 16:30 and arrived in Seattle at 19:30. Three hours later (22:30) we checked in for our military flight, which didn't depart until 05:00 Sunday! After twelve hours and crossing over several time zones, we arrived in Japan on Monday at 06:30, processed through customs, the base, and were home by 10:00. The military, Space-A flight out of Seattle took us directly to Misawa AFB. Had we taken a commercial flight, we would have gone through Narita, stayed the night in Tokyo, and then flown to Misawa the next day.
I was quite apprehensive about completing a transpacific flight with a newborn and two year old by myself. Luckily for me, my dad accompanied us to Seattle and stayed with us until we boarded the plane for Japan. Thank goodness the USO at Seattle Airport provided us interim refuge while all other shops and restaurants were closed. Don't get me wrong, having to take my infant daughter out of her car seat, fold the double stroller, take off all three of our shoes, place all my belongings through x-rays, and reassemble everything was a little troubling. Not to mention, my carry-on luggage consisting of a MacBook, iPod, Nikon and Sony digital cameras and lenses, a Panasonic camcorder, some jewelry, children's toys for entertainment, and 48-hours worth of Talia's formula and Camren's food made me feel like a beast of burden. However, despite all of this, it surprisingly was a pleasant 12-hour journey. Because the flight wasn't full, we sprawled ourselves over five seats - two by the window and three in the middle. In addition, Talia slept for 10 of the 12 hours, and Camren slept for 9 of the 12 hours. I too rested about 8 hours.
All in all, I'm glad that the four of us are together as a family again.
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