I woke up the next morning to head back to Manila and pick up the boys and my mom. The plan was to meet Randy back in Japan and head back to the U.S. for our Home Leave, 6 weeks in the U.S.!
Here is where things take a turn for the ugly (don’t worry, they turn out ok). I headed to Narita and got there nice and early. I even had time to get a coffee. I walked over to check-in coffee in hand and they informed me that the flight was actually out of Haneda…which is an hour and a half away from Narita. I had a moment where I looked at the departure board and wondered if this was actually a nightmare. I thought about it and realized, no, this was really happening. After some tears and a very helpful ANA worker I was rebooked on the 5 p.m. flight at no extra cost. I can’t complain, even though this meant I had to spend 9 hours at the airport and would have about 2 hours to get all our stuff ready for our 6 week trip. Thankfully I had mostly packed the boys up before I had left for Japan. There is a benefit to being a compulsive packer. And luckily Narita has comfy couch beds.
I was sad as I hadn’t seen the boys in a week and I was dying to see them! Thankfully, I knew they were in good hands with Grandma.
A short 14 hours later I was home! I managed to get everything ready with the help of Grandma Gertch and we were on our way bright and early the next morning. I was definitely a little nervous about this voyage. It was a five hour flight bright and early to Japan, with a very short one hour layover to get to our next 12 hour flight to Washington DC. Not to mention I felt like I had just traveled for 15 hours the day before. I had bought the boys a couple choice toys to keep them occupied and some yummy treats. Here we are not even boarded on our first flight and I already broke out stickers books, not a good sign.
Grandma helped us on our first flight and with lots of stickers, lollipops and in flight entertainment we had a pretty good flight. The boys were great! We came about five minutes from missing our next flight (turns out an hour in between is not enough time) but we just made it and daddy was thankfully there waiting for us. This next flight was the long one and I was worried but the boys slept for 8 of the 12 hours and were again amazing! I don’t know how I got so lucky.
We were all so happy and so excited to be back in the U.S. after two and a half years and off all those planes! It was this little guys first time in the U.S. It felt surreal to be back in the U.S. after all that time. We were ready to see everyone and be tourists.
bosas-from-us.com 