So it's been long-coming... but here's the last installment of how we got to Okinawa! This was probably my favorite part of the trip purely due to the fact that I thought things could only go up from our last 24 hours of travel! I'm glad they sort of did...
So at our last installment, we were just learning how I almost killed my dog in a horrible freak cart tipping-over accident, lost my hubby in the airport, lost our tickets to Okinawa at the cart return, cussed out a taxi driver, and almost left my husband in seattle and came home... so...
After about 3 hours of restless sleep we both dragged ourselves up and get ready to head to the airport... again. Our flight was at like noon but we had to be at the airport by 7:30, why, I do not know. The hotel was nice enough to keep our smelly dog kennels down in the lobby next to their front desk so we didn't have to cram them into our little room. We took the dogs potty and managed to somehow get all of our crap downstairs, all the while someone keeping a close eye on Chloe so she didn't have a tantrum and wake up the entire place, or eat the carpeting... again, stupid dog!
We get all of our crap down and manage to catch the 7am shuttle... only it wasn't a shuttle, it was a large van! The guy tried to get our stuff in the back but the kennels and all of our stuff didn't fit with the other 5 passengers' thing who were already on the van... so get this, he actually makes everyone get off the van and get onto the big shuttle. I think I was killed by every single person's eyes as they had to take their baggage and load onto a huge shuttle, haha! I was mortified, but I think they warmed up a little as they watched the dogs pile onto the shuttle and sit in the isle on their very best behavior, thank GOD! They even got a couple pets as they swayed back and forth in the isle due to the drivers inability to take a corner at a humane speed.
So we get BACK to the airport a short like 5 hours later and I find a small becon of hope throughout this horrible day... a skycap from heaven. He was so nice and helped us with our luggage, got us to where we needed to be, stayed with us to help as Mike filled out his paperwork and I wrestled with the dogs. He even helped hold the kennel from slipping and I tried cramming Charlie into his. Yes, I said cramming. He got a little bug up his fanny and didn't want to get in, so he looked like a cat with all four of his paws latched to any side of the kennel he could reach and was craning his neck around the edge, flashing wild and desperate eyes at anyone passing by in hopes someone would save him from what was obviously going to be another round of hell. Poor dog. Of course there was a HUGE crowd of people staring at me from our AMC flight, so I was like perfect... all these people are witnessing this and I am looking like the worst dog mom in the world, and I have to fly with these people for the next DAY! Super...
So we cram the dogs in and there was this total biatch getting people signed in who was furious that the dogs walked into the airport and weren't in their kennels, she was yelling at us about not having their water bottles attached, which if you remember... one was broken, she informed us that the price for flying them was like twice as much as we thought it was going to be, and you could tell she was just relishing in our shock of the amount and the stress she threw up on my already tipping scale of sanity... I was about to go over the edge, and with me I was going to be taking a dripping, duct-tape covered water bottle that had been leaking on me this entire time, and HER!! Thank GOD the guy checking us in gave Mike a break and gave us the small dog price to have the dogs fly with us. I think he saw pure angst and stress leaking out of every pore of my body and had pity on us. So instead of it costing like 500 for them to fly, it was barely over 200, woo hoo, a break!!
We get everything checked in, the dogs stuffed into the kennels, water is dripping everywhere from the one bottle, and at this point I am about to kill someone. We drag the dogs over to the AMC security point where, get this... I have to take them BACK OUT! The guys swab their kennels as we try to rangle back Chloe's pure joy at all the new people and smells and Charlie's outta control fear. His poor little nails were scraping the tile and he was running somewhere but making no ground at all as I half strangled, half held on for dear life to his collar... while the water bottle is still dripping... I asked the security guy swabing our dogs if we really had to have the bottles because the last airport had broken one of them and he said he didn't know.
At this point I was soaking wet and in the midst of the worst hot flash of my life, when some HUGE hawaiian-looking gentleman tried to convey to me in some language that my bottle was dripping on the floor. I'm pretty sure the "no shit, dick tracey" look I gave him translated into his language and he walked off. I was furious at the world and totally stressin, so I dumped the water from the bottle into some fake plants (at my defense, I didn't know they were fake at the time) and chucked the bottle into the trash and stomped back over to the security check-in. I went to grab some money for the amazing skycap guy who was still with us, and realized that I had used the last of it to give to the taxi last night. I told Mike I would be right back and to distract the skycap, and I ran down the hall towards an exchange bank.
I ran up to an ATM, grabbed a 20, and ran to an exchange bank to see if the woman could give me a couple tens, and get this, she said NO! I looked at her, and I kid you not, I said, "You are an exchange and you will not exhange my 20 for 2 tens..." and she said nope. At this point I could have killed another human being and probaply gotten off with the insanity plea. I was seeing white with fury!!
I ran to the store, bought a pack of gum, and ran back to give the money to the awesome skycap who was actually thankful, unlike the dude in NOLA. We handed the dogs over to the crew to bring them to the holding area, and we headed off to the security check in.
We waited in line just for a little bit, it went rather quickly... until I heard an unmistakable howl/screaming. It was Chloe and I could see that same Hawaiian dude looking into her kennel as she was being pushed by. If you know my girl, you know she's a little quirky about people looking at her funny or walking up to her kennel just to look when she's inside. She'll bark even if it's me. So anyway, he was looking at her walking up to her kennel, and she was going insane! You could hear her through the entire airport security area... I was so glad no to be the one to have to deal with her. I felt like I was leaving my young screaming child at school as I walked away, and honestly, it kinda felt good to get rid of them for a little while...
We get to the gate and hang out for a while and we make all of our last phone calls from our cell phones, which will not work in a matter of hours once we board the plane. I sat and looked at my tickets and noticed we were in row 4 and I asked Mike is AMC flights had first class. He said no because they were either space available seats, or government purchased. No one could just be on the flight if they weren't military. I shrugged and didn't think much of it again until we started to board.
As we walked onto the plane, I see a beacon of light shining from above and I could have sworn it was heaven shining down upon me. It was the glowing sign saying the number of my seat should take a left into FIRST CLASS!! I was so thrilled, I couldn't even stand it. I sat in my huge seat, played with all the cool gadgets, and found I had my own personal tv screen, and my seat could recline all the way down so I could actually sleep. I had so much leg room my feet couldn't even reach the seat in front of me. It was like God was testing me the previous day and was now rewarding me for all I had gone thru. It was like 12 hours of heaven. I slept, was fed well, watched all the latest movies for free, and they even had Aveda products in the bathroom. If you are ever going to come visit me, I suggest flying 1st class, it was worth the cool 20K for the ticket... and yes, it's that much.
So we landed on Kyoto Air Base for a quick drop off of some of the passengers and picked up a few more along the way. We were allowed to go see our dogs and let them out for a quick pee and a snack. They were thrilled to see us, and were given one more sedative for the next leg of the flight. Yeah I know, poor poochies, but it was just as much for their sanity as mine. I wanted to make sure they weren't stressed out. But anyway, we tucked them back into their kennels and got back on the plane for another three hours to Kadena Air Base.
At Kadena, we got off the plane quickly being in first class, and were able to quickly make it through the customs check. We got dowstairs, grabbed the luggage and the poochies, got them checked in with the base vet and handed over our paperwork, and headed out the door to meet our sponsors...
Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet Sarah and Derek at the airport. They were busy that evening so they sent a major and another lieutenant from the squadron to come get us. They helped us load up the puppies and the luggage and took us to our TLF. At this point it was 9pm local time, which meant it was 8am Eastern time and we were in a fog. We got into our TLF and found that the Gregory's had stocked it up with some snacks, fruit, water, and puppy food for us. It was awesome! They turned out to be our best allies here on the island, and great new friends! But anywho, we settled the puppies in with some dinner and they were still sleepy from the last dose of meds, so we headed out for a bit to grab some real non-airline food, and we got some subway. We came back to TLF, loved up the poor puppies, and crashed.
The next day we got up, called the parents in the states to let them know we were alive and well, and headed out into what I like to call "wonderland." It was like we had fallen into the rabbit hole... but that's for another day...
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