We have arrived...Ohayou (Hello)

To start with, it should not surprise me to see my blog site in a different language, but never the less it through be for a loop when there was conji symbols instead of the normal English layout I am used too. At least in Norwegian it was still in letters I recognized, I am totally guessing here on how to sign in and post...we will see how this goes!

So Monday and Tuesday were travel days. We left on Monday at 9:50 am out of Providence, RI and flew to Dulles, Washington, DC. We were supposed to have an hour layover in Providence. Instead we had a 40 min race from one gate to the next. I can not remember the last time I have ran so fast through an airport.
When we landed, we checked the monitors and they already were saying that our flight was boarding. Mind you we landed at A2 and needed to get to C2. Here is a link to the layout of the airport to give you an idea of how far we traveled (http://www.united.com/page/article/0,,1124,00.html) Each terminal is 1,240ft long, I think that because we walked half of A and half of C we walked the full 1,240 ft and then some! All the while caring a cat carrier!
It was a mad dash down A terminal, up an escalator, down the stairs cause the escalator was too full, across a bridge, up more stairs, down the stairs, around a wide turn, long hallway, dodging the 60,000 people who leave from Dulles each day. On a train to switch terminals, down another long hallway. Onto a moving sidewalk, not riding it, running on it, then up an escalator, walking up it, across a bridge, on another moving sidewalk, and then we make it to C terminal only to be at Gate C14 we have to run the full length of the concourse, we can hear them calling, "This is the last call for Flight United 803 to Tokyo." At this point I am like, I am going to have an asthma attack, just make it to the airplane.

We get to the gate, we stop to see if we can be seated next to one another, they tell us we should have shown up sooner. We are like, oh well. We get on, get seated, and relax. It was an act of congress to get me on this flight...I was NOT missing it.

The flight was uneventful, Bill and I sat on opposite sides of the plane. We both had middle seats, but we were in Economy Plus so we had more leg room. We were fed 3 times with OK food nothing to write home about. Degas did just fine, about hour 9 of the 14, he got restless and was pushing to get out. He was under the seat in front of me, I tried giving him food and water, but he wanted nothing of the sort.

When we landed in Tokyo we had to clear immigration. We are traveling on a SOFA visa (something to do with the military that says we get to stay longer, don' ask what the acronym means, I don't know) Then we had to claim our luggage. As Bill claimed the luggage, I cleared Degas through quarantine. I had all the paper work and things went smoothly. Technically he has to be quarantined for 180days, but the vet at the Air base has granted that the quarantine be done in my on base housing. Degas has a briefing he has to attend in 72hrs and then he is good.

Next we cleared Customs, I had to declare that I had a cat that had been cleared through quarantine and then we had to get our ticket for our next flight. So we left the secure area and went to the ANA ticket counter. Bill was booked on a flight to Okinawa out of another airport, we were trying to get him on my flight. It was no big deal, there was no fee or anything. They just moved the flight over.

Degas had to go as cargo on this flight, so he was switched from his large carrier to his small hard-sided carrier. Then they put him in a cargo net for hand carry-on to the plane. I am not sure where he went from there.  We had to wait for an hour or so for our flight. Again this flight was uneventful, both Bill and I slept through food and beverage service.

When we arrived in Okinawa, Degas was sitting right near the luggage claim area. He seemed fine, unharmed and really not phased. A co-worker of Bill's, Dan picked us up and drove us to the BOQ (Bachelors Officer's Quarters) we settled in, unpacked a little, showered, skyped with family and went to bed.

All in all not a bad trip! Glad to have made it to Japan...FINALLY!