PCS 2013, Part 3: Crossing the Pacific

The number 1 thing I hated about living in Hawaii was the journey it took to get off the island and somewhere on the mainland. Even California is a 4-5 hour plane ride. When we went home for Christmas last year, it was pretty much a nightmare with Charlotte. Being out past her bedtime, being in a whole new environment, and surrounded by a ton of strangers proved to be a recipe for disaster. Naturally, I was dreading this part of our PCS.

Since the Army pays for a seat for kids {hallelujah!}, we took Charlotte's carseat. Girl does fantastic on car rides, so we decided to take her seat with us. Besides, it really couldn't hurt. For the most part, having her carseat really helped.

Of course, having Bunny helped, too. =)

She was pretty upset for the first part of the flight to Atlanta {an 8hr flight, by the way}. She was so upset, in fact, that she wouldn't even nurse for comfort. Pretty sure she was outside-of-her-mind tired. She'd only had 1 nap and nap #2 should've been an hour before takeoff. Fun. Anyways, I ended up draping a blanket over her seat and she cried herself to sleep. I hated it {and I'm sure everyone around us did, too}, but after that she slept for about 3 hours. I nursed her after she woke up and she stayed up for about an hour...maybe hour and a half. She fussed on and off after I put her back in the carseat. I was so tired, though, so I didn't have the energy to fight with her. I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep, hoping she'd get the hint. I guess she did because the next time I woke up, she was out!

In all, I think Joe and I got about 2 hours of sleep the whole stinkin' flight. Maybe we got more, but I doubt it. We had barely an hour layover in Atlanta - just enough time to change terminals and grab a quick breakfast. Our flight out here was barely 30 mins. =P I was glad because we'd spend the whole night flying, but it felt weird to be in a plane for only 30 mins. Haha! So, after about 10 hours of flying/traveling, we finally made it! Georgia. The mainland. The South. Home.

All the stuff we traveled with, minus the pack n play which almost got left behind.

4 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, stroller, carseat and carseat base.

3 humans, all sleep-deprived. =P

 Getting to our hotel on post was quite an ordeal... But suffice it to say we made it! This place has a separate living room and bedroom - YAY! Charlotte is sleeping in the living room which makes life a lot easier. I'm not constantly living in fear of waking her, haha! I honestly don't know how anyone shares a room - or bed! - with their kids. I'd never sleep well...or do anything else. ;-)

We're adjusting to the 6 hr time difference pretty well. Yesterday was rough; all 3 of us ended up taking a nap, and Charlotte had a hard time settling down for the night. She woke up at 10:30, I nursed her and put her back to bed...and then she cried on and off for like an hour. And all 3 of us slept until about 7:30 this morning. I actually had to wake Charlotte up!

Despite being homeless and carless, I think we're doing pretty well. I'm praying our car gets here soon so we don't have to keep relying on the stupid post shuttle to get groceries and dinner. And maybe, just maybe, we'll get a house soon, too!

Long story short - we made it. It's so good to be back on the mainland! {Though, I gotta admit I miss Hawaii's weather!}

Aloha - Day One

I have successfully completed my first day here on the island! Woohoo!!! And, can I just say what a relief it is to finally be here! Not just because I'm basically living in paradise now, but because all of the junk we had to deal with is over and done with. =) [Insert huge sigh of relief here.]

The plane ride(s) went way better than I expected. We got up at 0430 on Monday morning and got ready to head to the airport. We made it to our gate an hour before our flight was to take off, which was a good thing because they boarded the plane early. About 30 minutes before, I took an entire Dramamine. Oops. I say "oops" because I am very easily medicated. Very. One Benadryl takes me out of commission. Seriously. Apparently, I forgot this. About 10 minutes after we'd gotten on the plane, I started to feel really woozy. Then I remembered I should have taken 1/2 of the pill. Needless to say I snoozed through the whole first flight. =)

The 10 hr flight from Atlanta to Honolulu was long. 10 hours is a really long time to be on a plane. In fact, I don't think I've recovered yet. I still kind of feel like I'm on a plane. I think it's an inner ear issue, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I made it through the whole flight without getting the least bit nauseous. =D This is a very big deal. I always feel some sort of nausea when I fly. I think the fact that the plane we were on was, uh, huge made a big difference though. I watched 3 movies which definitely helped pass the time. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep for more than 30 minutes.

I really should have tried to sleep longer on the plane. Not sleeping was a really bad idea. Yesterday was probably the longest. day. ever. Getting up at 0430 eastern time and staying up until 0200 eastern time (2000 Hawaii time) absolutely sucked!!! And then Joe and I both woke up at 0530 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. We laid in bed until 0630 and then finished the rest of last night's movie. Then we grabbed breakfast and got ready for the day. It was kinda funny. =) Especially since I never get up that early on my own. Ever.

Joe had some Army stuff to do today so I spent most of my day here in the hotel room. It wasn't all bad. I gotta say, the Army is totally taking care of us. We have a really nice room complete with a flat screen tv, dvd player, mini fridge, microwave, and cabinet space in the "kitchenette". It's a lot cleaner than the hotel we stayed in at Charleston and we had to pay for that one. Grrrr. We went to the housing office today and were told that we could have a place [on post] by the 13th. This is assuming that the house isn't a dump. We have the option to turn it down if we don't like it. And, of course, there's always the option of living off post. Right now, we're going to wait to view the house when it's available and then we'll weigh our options. I have a feeling we're going to go with on post because it's going to be wayyyy cheaper.

After housing [and getting shuttled to and from it], we went to the commissary. Thank the Lord it's a 5 minute walk back to the hotel!!!! I'd thought that it was at least a 1/2 mile away from were we are and I was really worried about walking back with groceries. But, we got enough for probably 2 weeks and were able to walk it all back to our room. I think I'm going to be doing a lot of walking while we're waiting for a house...and our car. I can't believe it could be a month!!!!


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