The Dreaded Day of Traveling...

Preparing to travel for 24 hours from door to door with 3 small children is a daunting task to say the least. I have been thinking and stressing about these flights for months. Being in the military, I have learned that we do not have control over a lot of things. We did not have any flight info or dates of when we would be traveling to Japan till about 2 and a half weeks before departure. We could not get onto the housing list until we physically checked into the base. There were so many unknowns with moving out to a foreign country that it really took a toll on me. The only thing I knew for a fact, was eventually we would be flying for at least 12-14 with our kids. Up until we got the actual flight info, I didn't even know if they would be sending Phillip and I together or separate. I felt like everything was out of my control and the one thing I could plan for was a long flight. It was on my mind for months. I scoured the internet hoping to find some magical toy, activity (or pill haha) to make the flight(s) as pleasant as possible. I found several tips and ideas but nothing like I had hoped for. Little by little I started collecting things to entertain the kids. I wanted to make sure that I had everything that we would need for the flight so that we did not have to waste anytime during our last week in the states on the hunt for things.

On Sunday August 19th we woke up at 6 AM for the last time in the United States of America for a long time. My stomach was in knots as we emptied the two bedrooms that we had been staying in at my parents house. We loaded into our van for one last time and said our good byes to my mom, dad and two younger sisters. Saying good bye was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Living in Las Vegas, we were able to come down to California to visit several times a year since it was a fairly short drive. Saying good bye this time was a weird realization not knowing exactly the next time we will see family again. With heavy hearts, we drove to Phillip's parents house to pick them up to take us to the airport. We could not fit them in our van with all our luggage so they drove their car as well and we made the trek to the LAX airport. We unloaded the van and piled high two carts with 4 suitcases, one large military duffle bag, 3 car seats, a small duffle to carry on, 5 backpacks, one double stroller, and 3 kids.

We made it through the first check in process after having 3 different airline workers help us. They had a hard time figuring out our tickets and luggage allowance since we were on military orders. We got our boarding passes for our first flight on United and proceeded to the security line. I was so nervous about getting through security because of the bags and bags of snacks I had, as well as some Tylenol (Madison had her molars coming in) and the Benadryl we had to "help" with sleep issues on the plane. We made it through security without too much fuss. It was just an ordeal with all the kids unloading all our backpacks, taking off our shoes, collapsing the stroller, shoving Maddy's car seat through the conveyor belt, etc. We made it to the United counter and Phillip grabbed us some quick breakfast at the only place that was within walking distance to the United International counter, a Carl's Jr. We scarfed down our food and began lining up to board the plane. For the first flight it was about an hour to San Francisco. Our 5 seats were not all together. Me and Maddy sat in window seat and middle seat with someone next to me. Phillip, Chase and Abby were about 5-6 rows behind me at the back of the plane. Luckily the flight was so short that I was not too worried about not being together. I had decided to take Maddy's car seat on the plane with us. I figured it would be the only way that I could keep her in her seat because she is at least familiar with being confined to that seat when we are in a car. Because she was higher up from being in a car seat her little legs were at the perfect distance to kick the chair in front of her. I did not think anything of her kicking the seat in front until the lady sitting in front of me stood up and started yelling at me for it. I was completely taken aback and went completely into defensive "mommy mode."

She said "You need to make your child stop kicking my sons seat. How are we supposed to have a pleasant flight when she is kicking his seat the whole time."

I responded "I'm sorry. She is only one. She does not understand. I am not sure what you want me to do. I will try my best, but do you want me to just hold her legs and have her scream for an hour?"

 

"I don't know. It is not my problem. She is your child. If you can not control her then we can switch seats, and I will. I have children too so I know how it is."

 

"Ok, sure. Let's switch seats. After she is screaming for about 2 minutes you will be over it."

Then the stewardess came back and asked the lady to sit down so we could take off. The lady responded, "How am I supposed to enjoy my flight when her daughter is kicking my sons seat the entire time?"

The stewardess responded "Ma'am, its a 55 minute flight, and she is a baby. Sit down please."

After that Maddy kept kicking the seat but I held onto the back of her sons seat and tried to counteract the kick as much as possible. Needless to say my arm was so sore and I was grateful that Maddy slept for almost the entire flight. I just could not understand how someone could be so rude and self centered. Especially since she was a mom, she should understand that there isn't much you can do with a one year old. Her kids were probably about 7 and 9 so yes I would expect her kids to not kick the seat in front on them. Anyway, I was glad that flight was a short one.

We disembarked that flight, threw the kids in the stroller and ran to the counter for our next flight. For the last two flights we were flying on Asiana Airlines. We had to go out of security to check into our next flight. Luckily at the counter we were able to check into the last flight and get those boarding passes as well. We also received the very good news that our seats were together. Well 4 of them were, so it would be easier to just ask one person to move for us. We had an hour and 15 minutes from the time we got off the plane to check into the new flight, go through security again and get to the next gate. We were in a huge hurry. I was annoyed that we had to go through security again as I had filled all the sippy cups and water bottles after we had gone through security at LAX. Luckily the TSA agent was nice and let me take the sippy cups through after he tested them all. We ran to the next gate and had about 20-25 minutes to let the kids run around and stretch their legs because the flight was delayed a bit.

 

 

I wanted to kids to run as much as possible and get as much energy out since we were about to be confined to such a small space for hours to come. We boarded the plane and had to walk past first class. If only we could travel like that, flying wouldn't be so dreaded. Then we walked back to the "economy" area. It was a huge plane compared to the one we had just gotten off of. Luckily a lady traded seats with Phillip so we could be all together. I sat with Maddy in a window seat again, then me, and then Abby or Chase (they would rotate.) Phillip sat in the middle seat in the middle row with either Chase or Abby on the aisle seat. I was so relieved to have all our seats together so we could pass things back and forth. I had all the bags organized. My backpack was the "snack bag." Phillip's backpack was the electronic/passport and important documents bag. I also packed a small duffle bag with a change of clothes for each of us in case of spills or lost luggage, diapers, wipes, and pulls ups. Then each of the kids had a back pack full of all new toys or activities. I had enough snacks, activities, or toys that the kids could have something new each hour if we needed.

We started the flight with giving all the kids a melatonin to help calm them down so that they could maybe take a little nap since it was about 1:30 PM and we had 12 hours stuck in a very small space. Chase and Maddy both fell asleep fairly quickly and were out for about the first two hours of the flight. Abby settled in by watching shows on the inflight entertainment system. Each seat had their own screen with on demand shows and movies with head sets. Abby fell asleep as well and then we were served "dinner."

I ordered a Korean dish for Maddy (who was awake by now) because it came with noodles and rice which she loved. Phillip and I ordered the "American" dinner which was a steak, salad, dinner rolls, veggies, and a little piece of cake. For "airplane food" it was actually very good. The entire flight the stewardess were walking the aisles serving drinks, snacks, meals, etc. There was almost too much food. The last full meal before we landed I didn't even want to eat. (Granted it was basically 1:30 AM according to my body, so I did not have an appetite anymore.) Overall, it was a very pleasant flight. All of the stewardess were Korean or Asian and loved our kids. They were very friendly and courteous towards us. There were many times where we wandered the aisles aimlessly with Chase and Maddy to let them stretch their legs. The bathrooms even had little toothbrush and toothpaste packets, razors, mouth wash, lotions and perfumes to take. The kids did absolutely amazing on the flight. It was like they were not my kids, haha. We had a few little meltdowns here or there but nothing of the nature that I was anticipating. Between the inflight food and entertainment tv and all my snacks and activities that I kept dolling out, the kids were pretty entertained. For future reference and for anyone planning a long trip with children here is a list of some of the activities that I packed: (About 95% of the activities I purchased at the dollar store in Westminster, CA, it had a GREAT selection of things)

 

A little paint set for each kid

Color Wonder books and markers

Moon dough pack with little molds

Pipe Cleaners

Foam papers with foam stickers

Little wood cutouts with markers to color them

Stickers books and paper

Temporary tattoos

White board crayons with activity book

A little Dr. Suess felt board with felt letters and numbers.

Finger puppets

Little craft sets with stickers or jewels

Little foam blocks for Maddy

Travel games of connect four and tic-tac-toe

Puzzles

A little Dr. set with a box of real band-aids and a little stuffed animal to "fix" (this was the biggest hit with the kids)

I'm sure I am forgetting something :)

 

We didn't even use half of the activities I packed. Also before the flight I searched on Craigslist for about a week and purchased another iPad so that we would have two for the flight. I figured if we didn't use the second iPad much after the flights that I could resell it, but I am happy to report that I use it enough that I think I am getting my money's worth from it :) I also spent a day or two before the long trek researching new apps for the iPad so that we would be loaded up on plenty of new and exciting things for the kids to play. I also made sure that we had 5-8 full length movies on the iPad in case the flights did not have any in-flight entertainment.

 

I know that I was probably over prepared for the flight, but like I said before it was the only thing that I felt like I had control over, so I wanted to be ready for anything that came our way. With all the activities and little toys that I packed I knew that even if we did not use them for the flight that once we got to Japan we would be in "temporary lodging" for who knew how long and the kids did not have any other toys with them, so the activities and toys from the flights could help entertain even once we got to Japan.

The one thing that was so strange to me on the long flight (12 hours) was that it never got dark on the entire flight. We literally were following the sun the whole time. For me, I think that is what really threw my body off. At about 5:30 PM, the time that our bodies we were used to, the stewardesses came around and closed all the windows in the plane to mimic "night time." Abby kept asking, "why are we closing the windows, its still light outside." Around 8:30 PM (who knows what time it was wherever in the world we were at that time) we gave Madison some Benadryl to try to get her to sleep some. She had been really good up to this point but she was starting to get restless and needed to get some real sleep and since it was about her normal bedtime we tried to keep her on a bit of a routine. Also we still had about 4-5 hours left on the flight at this point. She finally fell asleep around maybe 9:15 and slept till we had about an hour left. Abby fell asleep again right at the end of the flight and we had to wake her up to get her shoes on and everything ready to get off. By the time we got off the flight into Korea it was about 1:30/2 AM the time we were used to but it was around 6 PM in Korea and Japan. WE MADE IT! Well, ALMOST! :)

 

 

 

So we loaded up with the kids, back packs, car seat, duffle bag and stroller and walked down the corridor. The heat and humidity hit me like a wall and was almost suffocating. We had to figure out how to get to our next and final flight to Hiroshima. The kids got a burst of energy and enjoyed the moving walkways while Phillip and I tried to decipher the signs to figure out where our connecting flight was. This was our first culture shock when we were no longer in the US. We could not read any signs and everyone we tried to ask could not understand what we were trying to say. Eventually after asking about 8 workers or other passengers we figured out that we were in the right line. We had to go through security yet again before we could check into the last flight. I was so over going through security and I so ready for the day to be done. We got through security again and managed to figure out what gate we needed to get to. Chase and Maddy were zoned in the stroller and Abby was a champ and walked the whole time while she carried her backpack and surprisingly, she hardly whined at all. :) We got situated on our last flight to Hiroshima and luckily it was only a little over an hour. By this time my body was beyond exhausted that I started to feel really sick. Even on this short flight they served a meal as well which I thought was crazy with how short the fight was. Phillip filled out all our customs forms while I dozed on and off and tried to keep the kids from completely losing it. We got off the flight and made our way to the passport check point and customs. It wasn't a terribly long line but I was absolutely in no mood to wait any longer. The kids somehow managed to get another burst of energy and we just roamed around and played on the seats while Phillip waited in line.

 

 

We got through the passport check point and luckily our luggage was right on the other side of the line. One of the stewardesses from the flight was kind enough to help us load our luggage on two carts and helped us get through customs. Once we made it through, our sponsor Sara (who is a dentist with Phillip) and her friend Alice Ann (who is also a dentist) and her husband Robert were all there to help us. We loaded up into a van that they had rented to pick us up and started on the last leg of the trip. It is a little over an hour drive from Hiroshima to the base. Once we were at the cars, Sara gave us some bad news that the temporary lodging we were supposed to be staying in didn't have air conditioning because it had been struck by lightening a couple days. So they had our reservation moved over from the Nashiki Lodge which is like a little hotel suite with a kitchen and one bedroom, to the regular hotel rooms. They reserved two different rooms for us but there wasn't a kitchen. They both just had a small fridge and microwave. Alice Ann offered to let us stay at their house instead of being split up into two different hotel rooms but at this point I just wanted our own little space and I didn't want to impose on people with my cranky kids. We decided to just stay in the hotel rooms which were still on base. I tried hard to stay awake on the car ride home and take in the surroundings but I was beyond exhausted that I could not keep my eyes open. It was a very strange feeling seeing Sara get into the drivers seat on the right side of the car and then to drive on the left side of the road. All of the kids passed out within about 2 minutes of being in the car. By this time it was about 9:30 PM Monday evening in Japan which was 5:30 AM California time. We got to the base around 10:30 PM and Sara and Alice Ann had stocked our hotel room with food and snacks and a pack n play was ready for Maddy which was so nice of them. Phillip slept in one room with Chase and me and the girls took the other room. Luckily even though according to our bodies it was about 7 AM, since we all hardly slept at all in the last 24 hours we all were able to sleep through the night. We woke up at about 6:30 AM in the next morning and we ready for the days adventure to come!

 

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