A Trip to Japan--How Exciting

Our trip started at 6:00 driving to the SLC airport. Half way there we realized that the stroller (the new one that goes with the car seat) was still in the garage. No time to go back. Hopefully, we can get it shipped.

At SLC we tried to check in at Skycap, but they wouldn’t let us do it because we were international travelers. Fortunately, the skycap man wheeled our 10 pieces of luggage (There’s nothing better than traveling light) right up to the counter and got us checked in.

Our flight ended up leaving late and we only had a 1 hour layover in San Francisco. As we were arriving in San Francisco the flight attendant came over the intercom an announced that those of us catching the flight to Tokyo should meet the agent at the gate to be escorted to the next gate.

The agent was a short little Asian woman, but let me tell you she could move. Di was a trooper—remember the forgotten stroller? Yes, she ran across the airport with the Ashley in her car seat in her arms. I was trying to keep track of the agent and get the other kids to hurry faster than their little legs could carry them. Don’t you think that if the connection was tight they would have one of those handy little carts to move everyone? I was really hoping I had found my chance to finally get a ride. We finally made it to the gate after everyone else was on the plane.

At SLC they were unable to give us our boarding passes for the flight to Tokyo, so we had to get them there when we were already late. Wouldn’t you know it that we didn’t have two seats together? Two were on one side of the plane in adjacent rows and the other three were on the other side of the plane in three adjacent rows. Di took Ashley to one side of the plane and I took the other kids. A flight attendant helped Di get someone to move so she and Ashley could sit together. I was a little more direct. I told the people in our rows that my children and I had the three middle seats of their rows, so I needed two people from one row to move to the other rows or my kids would have to sit next to them alone. No one really seemed to mind. I guess they didn’t relish the opportunity of spending 10 hr 45 min of quality time with my children the same way I did.

In all fairness the kids were actually fairly well behaved on the flight. They each only had to have the person sitting in front of them ask them to stop kicking their chair back once, but after that I was constantly on their case to leave their feet off of the chair back. The most aggravating thing was the every half hour bathroom trips.

When Jonathan arrived in Tokyo, what was the first thing he wanted to visit?—the bathroom. We sent him in alone; after all he is 8 and can go to the bathroom by himself. When he came back out he announced, “Japanese toilets are so weird.” Apparently, the Japanese style toilet is a hole in the ground that you squat over to do your business.

Immigration was a snap, when they saw we had a baby we were ushered over to the short line reserved for the elderly, handicapped, pregnant women, and babes in arms. We then proceeded to baggage claim to get our luggage and clear customs. The luggage was already off of the conveyor, but circling the conveyor was a sign that read, “Mr. Bruce Ball, please see a United agent.” Remember our rush to our connecting flight? Two of our pieces of luggage apparently couldn’t keep up with the rest. I filled out the necessary paperwork so they could ship them to us in Misawa. The United agent then escorted us through customs.

Now with Ashley and her car seat stacked on top of the two full luggage carts we made our way to find a shuttle to the hotel. On arrival at the Holiday Inn they would not let us get our luggage to take in; they did it for us. When I checked in they asked us which of our bags we needed in the room. They brought those up and stored the others for us until we checked out in the morning.

The next morning we got up and went to get breakfast in the hospital restaurant. They had a buffet with some American style food and some Japanese food. I have never seen salad or soup on the breakfast buffet before, but I guess they do in Japan.

After breakfast we caught the shuttle bus back to Narita airport where we bought bus tickets to Haneda airport so we could catch our flight to Misawa. At Haneda we checked in with Japan Air Lines (JAL). The agents were so helpful. One of them pushed some of the luggage from the check in counter to the baggage check area. Once we got to the gate the gate agent saw Ashley and came over and told us that we would be able to board early with the baby. When it was time to board she came and got Di, Aubrey, and Ashley to board. Once on the plane one of the flight attendants brought Aubrey and Ashley little stuffed elephants to play with. After Jonathan and I got on the plane she came around again with a basket of toys for him to choose from—he chose a small Lego set.

After and hour and a half flight we arrived at Misawa. The airport and the base share a runway, so after landing the plane taxied to the airport and a very large gate closed behind the plane. When we got off of the plane Jason was waiting for us with almost the entire clinic staff there to greet us. We got our luggage loaded into about three cars and came to the base hotel. “Home” at last, at least for the next week or so.