Penn-Ten, Day 3: Touchdown!

Early wake up, pack up and walk down to the Yokota AMC terminal. After being marked present for the flight, we came out second on the roll call list - felt like being on the call back roster for American Idol! The family of six ahead of us had a passport malfunction (left them at home). Made room for the Texas family of five to ride. The 14 seats available turned to 10 because of the bigger crew. Yokota was much more laid back, maybe because it was so early in the morning. Grabbed some breakfast from the eatery and boarded the KC-10. Shout out to the crew of Bora 61 for making our flight to Hawaii a smooth ride: Nick Varner, Mandi Messinger, Brian "go Tar Heels!" Register, Alex Pannone, Jeremy Shiflett, Leonard Melad, Klinger and others whose name tapes I wasn't able to read. Carolyn basically had a 7 hour play date with 5 year old Alyssa (of the Texas fam). Landed on the Tarmac of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam objective reached! 2 days ahead of anything I had planned! I called Charlie's taxi and got good gouge on a place to stay for our next Hawaiian vacation: the Bellows. We pulled into the Hale Koa to see if we could get a spot for a couple nights. Booked! But wait! Low and behold there were 4 cancellations! Hallelujah!

Penn-Ten, Day 2 (continued): Yokota AB Japan

Kanto Lodge, Yokota Japan

In-flight snacks - score for the fam.

In-flight romantic comedy - score for mom.

Roller coaster-like turbulence - score for Carolyn.

Room reserved at Kanto Lodge - score for dad! 

We arrived at Yokota to find that the bathroom situation in the terminal was not too keen. Had to wait for customs and checked bags before we could get to the waiting area with restrooms. Note to self: use the latrine on the plane before de-boarding.

There is no base taxi service. Shuttle bus comes once an hour.   While waiting for the bus I called to confirm a room at the inn. I had not received a confirmation email before we started the journey, but they had us in the system! Went to the bus stop, and ended up getting a ride from a high school junior named Kaitlyn. She promised not to kill us with her driving, but seriously, after experiencing downtown Seoul? Bring it! Kanto lodge is actually about a 13 minute 10 second walk (I timed it later) from the AMC terminal. Kaitlyn dropped us off, we checked in to our room and walked down the road to scout some food. There is a Chili's here (must be an Air Force thing), but we opted for the food court. Pretty cool setup, 3 floors of Commissary, food court, BX and specialty shops. The third floor is actually parking access. If we do not make tomorrow's flight to Hickam we have some souvenir shopping to do. Found it is hard to break my Korean language habits and recall my Japanese.

Did some laundry after dinner, now we are racking out for an early morning tomorrow: 0700 roll call.  BtW - bus starts at 0600 (doesn't go toward the terminal till 40 minutes after the hour) and the off base taxi's don't run till 0800. Looks like we will be doing the left-right Cadillac express. Can't say we didn't get our cardio in!

Only 12 seats to Hickam tomorrow! 

Of note: both Osan and Yokota terminals have family rooms with tv, movies and play stuff. The Kanto Lodge family rooms are far better than the family rooms at Turumi Lodge in Osan - full kitchen, almost like in the low-rise at Hannam Village minus all the cabinet space. Our room at Kanto is great. It is super convenient to be next to the laundry room, but there seem to be some night owls washing clothes. Tired enough not to notice the ruckus, though.

Penn-Ten, Day 2: Osan AMC

Osan AMC


So, here we are at the AMC passenger terminal aboard Osan AB. Breakfast at the World Hotel was worth the price of admission. The bed however was torture on us soft Americans...at least for my wife. She also awoke to some kind of insect bite on her arm. That's what you get for being a sweetheart! There is a flight to Yokota and Kadena today, two more tomorrow. There was a question on passports. Since we were vacationing I only brought our commercial passports. We entered country on our military no-fee passports; so those are the only ones I have stamped at this point...let's see how this rolls out. BtW, the Environmental Morale Leave paperwork does need to be stamped "original" on top! Noted. We happened to get it done at Yongsan prior to leaving for Osan. Good call, Lord!

Penn-Ten, Day 1: Osan AB, Pyeongtaek, S. Korea

Osan AB Korea
So the first leg of our journey to Hawaii starts in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, home of Osan Air Base. We took our time getting here, just to make sure we had everything covered. Avoided the rush hour traffic (but isn't that every hour in Korea?) only to find out there was no room at Turumi Lodge. So we are staying at a local place, World Hotel: $75 no breakfast, $85 with breakfast. Parking - score for dad; jacuzzi tub - score for mom; butt-washing toilet - score for Carolyn!


World Hotel, Pyeongtaek, Korea
Butt Washing Toilet
Toilet Controls


The in room computer keyboard did not work, but the wifi is free. Microwave, micro fridge, lcd tv. Truth be told, as long as it has a working A/C I'm good. My aluminum wallet is on it's last leg. Decent idea, but not Marine proof. Back to leather. Ordered my 2nd suit at A.Q. Tailor shop: grey 3 piece with burgundy lining, also getting a couple shirts. Chili's for dinner now off to bed.