Homecoming??? A chronicle of my journey home

March 19- 10:15pm.

Today was day 1 of my journey.

Usually one wouldn't refer to a trip home as a journey cause it's not, it's just a trip. You buy your plane tickets and when the happy date arrives you get on the plane and go. There are no unknowns, no adventure, just a trip... right?? Not for us.

I'll explain.

Next weekend my sister in-law is marrying a wonderful guy and we will be in Arizona for the wedding. The wedding date was set long ago and before we even moved to Okinawa we knew that our first trip home would be in March 2009. The plan was to get our tickets early (for a good price!!), wait for our happy day, and then go home and have a great time visiting family and friends. But as we searched for tickets online we realized it wouldn't be that simple.

You see, we are a family of four. Not only are we a family of four but we are living on a single income. Now, don't get me wrong, that single income is great. It has afforded many things, the most important of which is the opportunity for me to stay home with my children until they are school-aged. Which btw is something I never intended for myself but am grateful for everyday. I'll write a blog about it later. Okay where was I?? Oh, our single income. Although our single income provides everything we need and more, it gets lonely sometimes. It misses having another income to play with, to go shopping with, to go on trips and split hotel costs with. And when a family of four needs to take a trip to the other side of the world our single income really, really feels the pain.

Fortunately for us and families like us there's a way to ease that pain. When you live overseas you are eligible to take military flights, provided there's space available, to anywhere in the world- FOR FREE!! So we decided to take a military flight to Hawaii and from there we'd take a commercial flight to Phx. Our single income was happy.

Unfortunately, with these military flights you're pretty much on standby so there are no guarantees. For someone like me- who has to have every detail planned, who always needs to know what's going on, who literally hates not knowing- this.is.torture.

But for a family of four who needs to take a trip to the other side of the the world sometimes it's necessary.
Did I mention it's free?

So here's how (I think) it works. You fill out the required paperwork and get it signed by your boss or command. Then you go to the terminal, get everything stamped and get on the standby list. There are 5 categories. Category 1 is for those going on official gov't business or with okay'd emergency situations while Category 5 is for dependants traveling without their sponsor (ie, us without Marcus). I don't know what the categories in between are, all I know is that Marcus filled out some special form that bumped us up to Category 2. YAY!

The next step is a bit of a headache. You go to the terminal a couple hours before the flight you want to be on is scheduled to leave... and you wait. You wait for the standby list to be read. If you make it, you get on the plane. If not you go home.

This part is not ideal, especially for me, because you don't really know anything. You have to pretend like you know- I mean you have to pretend like you're getting on the flight which means you have to have all your bags there and ready, because who knows, you may actually get on, but you don't know. That is, until you know.

Today we woke up with every intention of being on that plane to Hawaii. We were cautiously optimistic because there were only 10 tentative seats on the flight, and although we were Category 2 there could be other Cat 2s that got on the list before us.

Our friend and Marcus' co-worker Kiomi, who is awesome by the way, drove us to the terminal and played the waiting game with us. We lugged 3 bags, 2 carryons, 2 carseats and 1 stroller in and were met with at least 25 other people who were also hoping to be on that flight.
I scan the room.
Be cool Nik. All these people can't be category 2.
We sit.
We wait.
And wait.

Finally, a voice on the microphone- All Category 1 official or emergency travelers please come to the counter.
Two men get up.
Looking good, I think to myself.

All Category 2 Active Duty or DOD Civilian travelers please come to the counter.
He starts calling off names. Yadda... Yadda... Updegraff.
We were the third name called.
We're high on the list, I think to myself. We might make it.

Unfortunately, the first Category 2 guy has a family of 5. I instantly realize there are only 3 seats left. The second Category 2 guy has a family of 4. They give him the option of splitting up his family.He declines.
They give us the same option.
We decline.
We decline because in order for us to remain Cat 2 Marcus would have to travel with the girls and leave me to try a flight on another day. And I could've done that, but since my sponsor wouldn't be with me I'd get bumped down to Category 4 therefore lessening my chances of making it at all.

So we left. We lugged all our sh*t back to the car and drove home.

There are 3 flights tomorrow. Each with 10 tentative seats. Again I am cautiously optimistic. The family of 5 is gone, kickin' it in Hawaii by now. There's still the family of 4 ahead of us on the list but unless there are a couple dozen emergencies that go down between now and 8am tomorrow morning, we should make it.

Here's hoping!

PS. If you're wondering why we chose Hawaii instead of someplace closer (like Washington or Northern California), it's because I've never been. Marcus and I were supposed to have our Honeymoon in Hawaii but life happened and we wound up never going. My awesome husband saw this as an opportunity to give me my trip to Hawaii. If we're lucky we'll get there in enough time to relax and enjoy it for a few days before heading to AZ.
If we're really lucky we'll also get to hang there for a few days on our way back :).