Well, after many months of pursuing the opportunity to live at an overseas location, waiting patiently for it to come through and then the ordeal of pretty much getting rid of half (if not more) of all our belongings, the time finally arrived for us to leave our family and friends and start our new life on Kwajalein. It started with having to rent two full size cars and travel to Portland on 27 June. We couldn't find a van or SUV that we could use and we had 8 check-in size bags, 4 carry-ons, and a dog crate. No way it would fit in one vehicle. The trip went well and spent the night in Portland.
The next day, we woke up at 4 AM to drop off Misty at the Alaska Airlines cargo bay for the trip to Honolulu. Everything went really well, although we had to re-arrange our check-in bags in order not to exceed the 50 lbs limit and get charged an extra $30 per bag. Needless to say, we did not look at any of the people waiting in line behind us, but I suspect they were not happy campers having to see my underwear scattered at the airport. :)
The flight to Honolulu went by relatively fast. In fact, we arrived 45 minutes early. We were concerned with being able to make sure that Misty was delivered to the appropriate location at the Honolulu airport for the trip the next morning to Kwajalein. She made it just fine without any mishaps in her crate, so we were relieved.
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| Happy fam on the way to Honolulu. |
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| Come on, I don't sleep like that... The next morning (29 June) we had to wake up at 1:30 AM in order to make sure we arrived at Hickam Air Force Base and checked in by 3 AM (even though the flight did not depart until 5:20 AM). After such a short sleep, we waited patiently at the airport and watched the sun rise as we took off from Honolulu. The flight only contained about 17 people total and the service was excellent. Free drinks and meal practically the entire flight (approximately 5 and a half hours) to Kwajalein. We past the international date line and arrived at Kwaj at approximately 8:30 AM on Thursday, 30 June. As we were approaching Kwaj, we passed over a few other atolls and the islands and lagoon water was just beautiful. When we got off the plane, it began to rain and we were shocked that the rain was very warm. Living in the Pacific Northwest, you get used to the rain being somewhat cool or cold, even in the summer time. It was a pleasant surprise for us that we began to laugh as we were getting drenched. The weather was very warm and humid. Don, our sponsor, who we have been communicating with us for the last several months, picked us up at the terminal and gave us a tour of the island. It was a surreal feeling knowing that we were so far away from what was home to us, but at the same time realizing that this will be our home for at least the next two years. After the tour, Don took us the cafeteria to eat lunch. We then went to the post office to pick up 25 of the 30 boxes we mailed to ourselves and finally, we were dropped off at our new home. House 475-B on Palm Drive.
   
    
  
 
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