Steps to Space-A (in brief):
1. Obtain your command sponsored letter for travel
2. Sign up for the waitlist for your flight ASAP
3. Show-up for role-call before the crack of dawn with ALL of your bags and EVERYONE that will be traveling with you (don't forget your passports!)
4. Wait... Wait... Wait to see if you will actually be boarding the plane
5. Go home or attempt another flight if they don't take you
*For more information, attend a Space-A brief or contact your Passenger Terminal*
Let the Adventure Begin!
Oh wait... that's right. We have to make it there first, lol.
Let the attempt begin!
Day 1: Tokyo trip...
1. Obtain your command sponsored letter for travel
2. Sign up for the waitlist for your flight ASAP
3. Show-up for role-call before the crack of dawn with ALL of your bags and EVERYONE that will be traveling with you (don't forget your passports!)
4. Wait... Wait... Wait to see if you will actually be boarding the plane
5. Go home or attempt another flight if they don't take you
*For more information, attend a Space-A brief or contact your Passenger Terminal*
Let the Adventure Begin!
Oh wait... that's right. We have to make it there first, lol.
Let the attempt begin!
Day 1: Tokyo trip...
We woke the girls up at 4 am to go get on the plane. My husband's unit was scheduled to fly out that morning to Atsugi and we were going with them.
We arrived at the passenger's terminal and got checked in (bags and all) and were told we would be getting on the plane within the next hour or two as no one else was attempting to board the flight and there were plenty of seats available. Yay!
We hung out in the playroom until we heard our names called. Thinking it was time to board I gathered all our things and we made our way to the counter. Unfortunately, another entire unit of Marines had showed up wanting passage to Atsugi so we would no longer be able to board our flight. There it is... space available travel. And now there was no longer space available for us. Thus, My husband shipped out without us.
They put us on the top of the list for another flight to Atsugi that same day. We spent a few more hours in the playroom and ate the breakfast I had packed. Then found out we would not be catching that flight either. There were no more flights to Atsugi that day, but there was one going to Yokota.
Since we were just trying to get to Tokyo and both bases are about the same distance away... sure, why not? Sign us up for that flight.
Up until then, we would still be traveling with daddy once we got to Atsugi since their transportation to Tokyo had still not arrived. Now, we were on our own. I took the girls to get lunch and they fell asleep in the car. While they napped, I went home and down-sized our luggage from 2 suitcases to 1 and lightened our backpacks. We had a long road ahead of us and this momma knew she'd be carrying everything (if not everyone) by the end of it. Not to mention trying to maneuver it all through public transportation.
We caught our third attempted Space-A flight to Yokota. We were excited and happy to be on our way to Tokyo... until landing. 45 minutes of slowly lowering to plane for an extremely bumpy landing took it's toll. 2/3 girls got sick on the plane.
We picked up our luggage and cleaned up the best we could in the bathroom. By the time we were done, we were the only people in the building except for two employees getting ready to lock up in 1/2 an hour. After talking with the young service-member at the counter, he called us a cab to go to the train station we needed in Fussa.
So here we are in mainland (I've never been here before) at our first train station. A mother with 2 kids just trying to get to Tokyo. Someone forgot to mention that this far out of normal tourist areas there is literally NOTHING in English to help guide you and the station workers won't know how to communicate with you.
So... we're completely lost. COMPLETELY LOST. I mean, I have absolutely no clue what to do now and no way to find out in the place I am. A very nice lady eventually offered to help us, but even she couldn't get the station worker to understand where we were trying to go and eventually had to leave. Thank you for trying nice lady!
I ended up calling my husband, whose friend is married to a Japanese woman from Tokyo, and he sent me step by step instructions on where to go and which transfers to make. As you can imagine, she is now one of my favorite people ever! And I still haven't actually met her.
We arrived at the passenger's terminal and got checked in (bags and all) and were told we would be getting on the plane within the next hour or two as no one else was attempting to board the flight and there were plenty of seats available. Yay!
We hung out in the playroom until we heard our names called. Thinking it was time to board I gathered all our things and we made our way to the counter. Unfortunately, another entire unit of Marines had showed up wanting passage to Atsugi so we would no longer be able to board our flight. There it is... space available travel. And now there was no longer space available for us. Thus, My husband shipped out without us.They put us on the top of the list for another flight to Atsugi that same day. We spent a few more hours in the playroom and ate the breakfast I had packed. Then found out we would not be catching that flight either. There were no more flights to Atsugi that day, but there was one going to Yokota.
Since we were just trying to get to Tokyo and both bases are about the same distance away... sure, why not? Sign us up for that flight.
Up until then, we would still be traveling with daddy once we got to Atsugi since their transportation to Tokyo had still not arrived. Now, we were on our own. I took the girls to get lunch and they fell asleep in the car. While they napped, I went home and down-sized our luggage from 2 suitcases to 1 and lightened our backpacks. We had a long road ahead of us and this momma knew she'd be carrying everything (if not everyone) by the end of it. Not to mention trying to maneuver it all through public transportation.We caught our third attempted Space-A flight to Yokota. We were excited and happy to be on our way to Tokyo... until landing. 45 minutes of slowly lowering to plane for an extremely bumpy landing took it's toll. 2/3 girls got sick on the plane.
We picked up our luggage and cleaned up the best we could in the bathroom. By the time we were done, we were the only people in the building except for two employees getting ready to lock up in 1/2 an hour. After talking with the young service-member at the counter, he called us a cab to go to the train station we needed in Fussa.So here we are in mainland (I've never been here before) at our first train station. A mother with 2 kids just trying to get to Tokyo. Someone forgot to mention that this far out of normal tourist areas there is literally NOTHING in English to help guide you and the station workers won't know how to communicate with you.
So... we're completely lost. COMPLETELY LOST. I mean, I have absolutely no clue what to do now and no way to find out in the place I am. A very nice lady eventually offered to help us, but even she couldn't get the station worker to understand where we were trying to go and eventually had to leave. Thank you for trying nice lady!
I ended up calling my husband, whose friend is married to a Japanese woman from Tokyo, and he sent me step by step instructions on where to go and which transfers to make. As you can imagine, she is now one of my favorite people ever! And I still haven't actually met her.
We finally got on the trains and made all the connections. 1/3 girls sick on train. AND O almost fell under the train on our last switch over and her shoe had to be rescued from the tracks.
We arrived at hotel at 11:30 pm. Everyone was settled and asleep by 12:30 am.
Today project reclaim this trip for happy fun begins! Got my shower so we're off to a good start. grin emoticon
