I am now in Tokyo on my way to Misawa to meet my command. My journey began at 0330 on the 17th, I got ready and had breakfast with Stella. We than got the children up and dressed so we could be out the door at 0515. We drove to the base where I said my goodbyes and got on the Whidbey - SeaTac Shuttle. It departed the base at 0600, we made two stops as we headed south on the island toward the boat. The shuttle made the crossing at 0730 we landed at 0800 and actually made it to the airport by 0845, had it not been by for the HOV lane it would have been more like 0945. I was able to make it through security without incident. Boarding began soon after I made it to the gate. The flight from SeaTac (SEA) to San Francisco (SFO) was pretty short. I had not been to SFO since 1994. It seems that not much has changed. Because I am in the Navy the agent in SEA checked my through with a code that allowed me to bypass international security and ride an employee shuttle from the where we landed to the international terminal. When I got to the gate the airplane was just minutes from boarding. I got on the plane at 1300. I have never flown on a 747-400 before. It is much larger that I had imagined. Once I was settled in I learned that we were going to be delayed. Some maintenance issue. Probably just something simple like an engine change or maybe they had to swap out a wing or two. The ground crew finished up and we took off at 1415 and a short 10 hours we landed in Tokyo international Airport (NRT). Immigration was a breeze; my luggage was on the carrousel after just a few bags came out, and I cleared customs no problem. I found a counter that sold tickets for the shuttle for Haneda. I was surprised how far it was from where we landed, about 100KM. I stayed in the Airport Hotel and in just 20 minutes I check out and head off to Misawa. Wish me LUCK!

¶ 10/19/2005 08:33:00 AM

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