Well after trying to get home for a couple weeks I finally made it on March 4th! I say "trying" because while living overseas I get the perk of being able to fly Space Available. Meaning if there are military flights going somewhere I basically show up and attempt to fly standby if there are extra seats available. So I made it, a direct flight from Misawa to Seattle and then on to Omaha on a commercial flight. Space A is great if you're flexible with travel because it costs little to nothing but there's no guarantee of getting a seat!
I spent almost a month in Nebraska, getting lots of family time, seeing friends, celebrating birthdays, watching basketball (niece & nephews plus NCAA tourney), catching a couple soccer games, eating foods that I've missed and of course shopping! I just wanted to wander around stores like Target and Bed Bath & Beyond...we have nothing even close to stores like that here! Somehow I ended up with more than my suitcase would hold and had to mail a couple boxes to myself...
I started my journey back to Misawa on March 30th...and arrived in Misawa April 2nd...
Catching a Space A flight from Seattle to Misawa (the only direct option) is a very lucky thing, especially for a dependent like myself that is traveling solo. I'm a in a lower priority category than if I was traveling with Keenan. If I didn't get a seat in Seattle I'd have a couple options, wait a week there and try for the next flight or buy a one way ticket last minute from Seattle to Tokyo. Both options were bad. So, instead of taking that risk I decided to try flying Space Available from Travis AFB in California. They have several flights per week to Yokota AB in Tokyo, usually with lots of extra seats available, so at most I'd only be stuck there a couple days. I flew from Omaha to San Fransisco (not the closest to Travis, but my only option, that's another story), had a shuttle lined up from the airport to Travis. Spent the night on base and showed up in the morning for Space A roll call. I luckily got a seat, but the plane was a huge SLOW one. After a LONG flight we had a stop over of a couple hours in Hawaii, but couldn't leave the terminal. From there it was another LONG flight to Yokota. I arrived there late so stayed on base and headed for Tokyo Station in the morning.
The cherry blossoms were at their prime for viewing when I was in Tokyo so I did take a short walk though a big park before catching a train to Misawa.
My total travel time from Nebraska to Misawa was a whopping 71 HOURS...yuck!
Here's a few highlights of the trip, I didn't take many pictures in Nebraska...totally unlike me, I know!
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| Carter modeling the hat/beard I made him. |
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| After Carter hit a game winning buzzer beater in OT! |
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| Maura's team didn't win the tournament :( |
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| But happy that they got medals anyway! |
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| Of course I made it to a casino with my parents at least once... |
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| Surprise! Happy Birthday Jen!! |
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| Lakeside crew past and present. |
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| 2/6 of the munchkins! |
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| The other 4/6 of the munchkins! |
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| Maura wanted a hat and booties for her bunny...so of course I made it work! |
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| Soccer star Lillie! |
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| Soccer star Logan! |
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| Got the whole fam together for some bowling my last night in NE! |
Once in Tokyo I checked out the cherry blossoms (sakura) in Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, one of the top places for sakura viewing in Tokyo. They have over 1,000 cherry trees and 12 different varieties. Each year it is traditional for people in Japan to celebrate this time of year with hanami (cherry blossom viewing parties).
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| One of Shinjuku's' many skyscrappers. |
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| Thousands of people in the park on a Wednesday afternoon. |
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| Many groups having hanami parties! |
Up next:
I'm obsessed with Cherry Blossoms...
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