No matter how well you plan, no matter how prepared you think you are...there will be curve balls! We learn this time and time again in the Stuart Family...
We had plenty of time to get Cliff to the airport for his 12:30 flight. The airport is about an hour away...and we figured he should be there about 10:30...so we wanted to leave about 9:00 since we had to make a quick stop along the way. His orders authorized him to travel with 5 checked bags and he had managed to fit everything into 2 seabags, a large suitcase and a gorilla trunk. The only problem was, the battle gear is very heavy...so he was having a hard time distributing the weight so none of them would go over the limit...so we just decided to stop and buy another gorilla trunk on the way.
You can probably guess that it took a little longer to get on the road than we planned, and it was REALLY difficult to configure all that luggage and 6 people into the egg van (The Emina...I seriously need to do a separate posting just on the bizarre car names over here. Our friends drive a Homy!) so we were cutting it close.
And then...Cliff took the wrong turn-off for departing flights...and the Naha airport is not conducive to just looping around again. I told Cliff just to park and we would help him carry in his stuff. So, it ended up being a good thing, because I don't know how he would have handled 5 bags and 2 carry-on items in that long, snaking line. By the time we got up to the counter, he had about 40 minutes till the flight was supposed to leave...and then they informed us that, although his orders stated he was entitled to 5 checked bags, what that meant was, he would be reimbursed by the government for the ginormous, excess-baggage fee with which they were about to gift us. $800. No problem...Cliff had a shiny new government travel card in his wallet. He whipped it out and...FAIL.
We had no time with which to contact anyone about why it wouldn't work (we later found out the command rep had not activated it)...he still had to get through customs and security. We just had to cover it ourselves. (These are the [not so] little expenses we get slapped with all the time in the military...and only sometimes are they reimbursed. It's seriously crazy. Don't even get me started on the thousands we are out of pocket every time we move that we don't see a dime of!)
Anyway, so as we are now listening to the giant, sucking sound of cash leaving our bank account...Cliff says, "Shouldn't there be a baby crying about now?"
I gave him a courtesy smile, and turned back to the counter agent who was slowly writing up our credit card slip in neatly printed Kanji. It was painful to watch. Cliff started smoothly saying his goodbyes (for the sake of time, I suppose) but I let him know that I refused to have my farewell multi-tasked in the ticket line. Just then, 2 lines over, we had it...the shrieking baby, for comic relief, if nothing else. We both looked heavenward and laughed hysterically. The agent finally finished her calligraphy masterpiece, Cliff signed, and we all ran toward the security checkpoint...which was (of course) on another floor.
We took him to the point of no return and said our goodbyes while the proper Japanese pretended not to notice our conspicuous display. We watched him disappear through the door, finally pulled ourselves together, and tried to think of what to do now. Coree voted for shopping (there are SO many pretty shops in the airport...amazing stuff!) and the boys all voted for ice cream...so we did both. First, we had to make a pit stop, where I was introduced to the Cadillac of toilets...
Some of you know, I am a total public-restroom-phobe, so this was the first public toilet I have used here...I've since found out that we have these in our bathroom at church, too. The funniest part...the seat is heated. It's kind of shocking when you first sit down. Click to enlarge so you can see all the fun gadgets, too. The Japanese even do toilets better... I'm getting a total inferiority complex living over here!
So that's our latest adventure. Hopefully the rest of the deployment goes more smoothly, but I'm not holding my breath!
2 comments:
Sooo sorry your good byes were soo frantic and rushed and EXPENSIVE!!! Wow on the 800 smakeroos! OUCH! Yeah, they always forget to activate the card BEFORE our guys leave! amazing! Ed has only been authorized 2 sea bags, so haven't been hit like that before! YIKES! aren't the tiolet gadgets soo funny?! I just wonder about the water that sprays out to clean ya...does it come from a separate line or is it the toilet water....hummm....LOL! i drive a town ace, yeah i rock! Hahahaha!!! Ed's first car here was a lime :)
I wondered that same thing...hmmm...I think I'll just stick to what I know!
I don't know why Cliff was authorized so much baggage for sure, but I think it has something to do with the fact that he was not deploying with a unit and was required to show up with a ton of stuff that normally would have been shipped over with the unit. I guess it must be financially advantageous for them...but $800 is a lot for baggage!
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