Welcome to Okinawa!

Konnichiwa!  こんにちは

So our long trip began Monday morning, July 13, with my dad giving us a ride to SFO bright and early in the morning.  Things went very smoothly checking in with all our luggage and with Ricky Bobby.  Ricky Bobby got to go to the doggie relief area before we went through security and got a nice half pill of Doggie Zanex which helped take the edge off. #happydog

Nate checking us in

Ricky Bobby waiting for his zanex

After a quick double bloody mary, #myversionofzanex, we boarded our plane which would be our home for the next 11 hours.  Nate was super comfortable with both his knees hitting the seat in front of him and we were lucky enough to have his boss approve an economy plus upgrade.  After 3 hours into the flight, the flight attendant finally moved us to some nice exit row seating where we had a nice spacious 4 feet in front of us to stretch out.  #airplaneblessings

Ricky Bob and me ready for take off!

Nate and me iin flight

After a fun 11 hour flight, we arrived in Narita (Tokyo) Japan a bit exhausted.  

Welcome to Japan! Nate, Ricky Bobby, and me after we arrived in Tokyo.

After going through customs, checking Ricky Bobby into the country, and rechecking everything for our domestic flight, we got to take Ricky Bobby for another quick bathroom break.  His first time marking his territory on Japanese soil, it was a special moment.  We only had about another hour wait until our next flight from Tokyo to Okinawa, which was only a quick 3 hours.  

Our gate at the airport for our Okinawa flight

View leaving Tokyo, headed off to Okinawa

We finally arrived in Okinawa around 9pm Tuesday night, July 14 which was about 5am Pacific time Tuesday morning - making it about 24 hours of travel for us.  (FYI - Okinawa is 16 hours ahead of Pacific time)  Nate's work partner, Joe, picked us up from the airport and gave us a ride to the West Pac Lodge at Camp Foster.  After a quick shower, Nate and I finally got to sleep.

Unfortunately I got sick about 6am and spent the rest of the day in bed trying to keep down food.  So my first day in Okinawa wasn't great.  #thestruggleisreal  #butimayhavelostafewpounds #win! Nate on the other hand, got to go run a few errands with his partner Joe including checking Ricky Bobby into the vet on base, and grabbing our car.  The lodge had a few dvd's for us to borrow, so we relaxed the rest of the day in our hotel room.  With jet lag setting in, Nate and I made it til about 8:30pm before we were out again for the night.

Our new car for Okinawa

After a nice 10 hours of sleep, Nate and I both felt alot better our 2nd full day here.  We headed out to Kadena Air Force base so Nate could check in with HR.  We were also able to get his ID card updated for us to use the commissary, exchange, etc and get our SOFA stamps on our passports.  These apparently allow us to get back into the country faster.  We explored the exchange on both Kadena and Camp Foster and picked up some groceries.

On a fun note, Nate has now won about $170 on the penny slot machine at the hotel #hemayhaveagamblingproblem  #rollinginthecash  Apparently most hotels have slot machines in them.  I'll have to make sure his addiction doesn't get too out of hand but as long as he's winning us money, I'll count it as his second day job.

Nate driving us around - weird driving on the other side of the road!

McDonalds in Japan

Driving around Okinawa

Driving around Okinawa

That's all for now.  Tomorrow we go to our housing brief and will hopefully be able to file paperwork so we can move into our new place early next week, and I need to get my military ID.  Hopefully this weekend we can explore the island a bit more, get our phones working, and look for a 2nd car.

Miss all our friends and family but excited to share our adventures and keep in touch.  

I figured I can share different Japanese words with each post as well!  So to end my first blog, I'll leave you with "Ja mata" (じゃまた。)  which means 'see you later'.  Until next time folks!

Megan

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Gettin the Hang of Things

Our New Home