The US military provides a cool perk to service members and their families, and it is called "Space-A travel". Space-A (Space Available) travel allows you to get on a plane for free, and "hop" from one base to another. "Hopping" is very common over here as it is a great alternative to paying an exorbitant amount to get from one country to another.
This weekend we had our first Space-A attempt. There are different categories varying on the importance of your travel. A brief rundown: Category I is for emergencies, CatII is for service members on EML (Environmental Morale Leave) and their families, CatIII is for service members on leave but without EML paperwork...etc etc etc. It goes up to CatVI, I believe. We were CatIII.
Our plan was to hop from here to mainland, then go into Tokyo Sunday - Wednesday. On Wednesday after a few days jam packed with sight-seeing, we were going to go back to Yokota AFB and wait for a hop. The idea was to make it back in time for Dan's econ class, which was Thursday evening.
We started our Space-A adventure on Saturday morning. Early. We were out of the door by 4:40, if I remember correctly. I may not be remembering correctly because I don't do well with such early mornings. We almost made a flight to Atsugi but we needed three seats, and they only had two available. Bummer.
To be honest, Saturday was a blur and it seemed as if the day was 36 hours long instead of only 24. I think we went back home for a bit until the next flight was going out. I put Evelyn down for a nap around 7, and I fell asleep with her for a bit. Then we went back to the passenger terminal, where we were going to try to get on another hop.
The next hop didn't have space for us either, so our next option was to try again on Sunday morning. There were three flights going out on Sunday morning. Instead of leaving between roll calls, we stayed at the terminal.
Luckily as we were leaving the terminal Saturday mid-morning, I realized they had a family room -- complete with toys, books, and little furniture for the wee ones. We definitely utilized the family room on Sunday while we waited. It was much less stressful wrangling Evelyn in and out of the family room compared to when she was driving her piggy around in the stroller, as she had been doing on Saturday.
Unfortunately we were unable to get on any of the hops on Sunday. Our plan was to try again Monday, if possible, but there were no flights available to mainland. Our fun time in Tokyo was not able to happen...this time. We will get to Tokyo yet! Not sure when, but it will happen. We both have certain things we'd like to do -- I'd like to see the Hachiko statue, and Dan would really enjoy going to a Japanese baseball game. Amongst other things of course, such as Shibuya crossing, Roppongi Hills, the Imperial Palace, and much, much more.
Plus if we go in the future and Evelyn is a bit older, she would be able to enjoy Disneyworld Tokyo! The family that got out on the last flight to Atsugi on Sunday morning was headed to Disneyworld Tokyo, and all three of their kids were pretty excited.
Everything happens for a reason, but it was a bummer we weren't able to make it to Tokyo before Dan's post-deployment leave is over. We'll make the best of our time here, though and we've learned quite a few things for our next Space-A adventure.
Anyone else have some interesting travel stories they'd like to share?
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