danelle's diary day 1: the longest day of our lives...

today, well two days ago japan time, since it is friday at 1:44am all of the sudden- i only slept for about 3 hours before getting up to be at the airport at 7am.

we miraculously got all of our luggage which consists of 12 full size checked suitcases, 22 instruments and gear for our excess baggage and then all of our carry ons checked an on the plane to chicago. i got the mco (mis. charge orders) all worked out thanks to a very nice lady at the united counter...and it only took around 2 hours. she asked if i had done this before- and said i was doing a good job. that felt good!

we then landed in chicago around 12:30cst and ran as fast as we could to our connecting flight and then boarded immediately onto a huge plane for a 11.5 hour flight- thanks to the captin speeding over canada, alaska, the bering sea, the pacific ocean, ect ect... it was supposed to be a 13 hour flight we thought. we had 2 full meals, tons of free drinks, and one ramon noodle bowl.we watched some good movies: music and lyrics, freeedom writers, catch and release to name a few. all in all- not too shabby.

any who we get to narita in tokyo and get through customs and get all 35 of our bags that weigh at least 50lb each...my aching back!! around 3 pm japan time we meet spike, our tour coordinator for part of japan and he helps us get onto our chartered bus. but first he takes us to mcdonalds. first meal in japan- funny we couldn't find any sushi in the airport. we then take the bus for an hour ride to the domestic airport- haneda- and spike (thank god) helps us get everything checked. im sooo glad he was there because they all didn't speak english and we had our 900 bags. we got all of that done, missy and erin found a place that sold saki to go, mandy got a 3yen chair massage and we boarded our plane to okinawa around 7:30pm.

this plane was on japan air and a double decker. wowowoweeweaaa. it was very nice. they ladies that worked for the airline were all very pretty and had cute uniforms. they served us green tea in cute aprons. they also were selling things from makeup to handbags duty free at different times during the flight on carts. that was funny.

my key phrase from today was: domo-thank you. the people of japan are very nice and willing to help.

after that 2.5 hour flight we went and loaded up our 20 carts of luggage and waited for them to check to make sure every 35 pieces was there. they were very particular and organized. they gave all of our bags fragile tags and even asked if they could tip our PA boxes to load them...how nice.

we then find our new contact gal jazmin and load onto a huge marines charter and load the pa into a separate truck since we wont need it for the festivals this weekend.

we then had a 45 min drive to camp foster- the marine base where we are staying this weekend. i guess the beach is less than 5 miles away-so you know where i will be checking out tomorrow. anyways back to the trip to get here...we stopped at the base shopette and got some water and snacks and FINALLY got to the hotel around 11:30pm on thursday night. (that is 12pm wednesday afteroon nebraska time) yes we were up forever!!

unloaded for what seems like the 100th time today...did i mention im getting pretty buff on this tour...and got stuff back to our rooms. king size bed, awesome tv, computer with internet (but nothing else...that's why i have no photos for you today-ill try to find some wireless tomorrow) a fridge...but no a/c. but a little fan...so it's all good even in this 80% humidity and hot temps at midnight.

first thing i did: showered. thank god for showers. i feel alot better- i was on my way to a breakdown after breaking every nail, rolling over my big toe and breaking that nail off and shutting my fingers in the bathroom door that swings shut with a vengeance- but after the shower i feel like there is hope for tomorrow.

there is a 7am lobby call for me and the girls. we have radio interviews, meet and greets with the marines, and a personal lunch with some of the base big wigs. the boys get to sleep in...lucky.

just a media day today- until 1pm then we have the rest of the day off...beach here i come!!!

more to come tomorrow and hopefully pictures if i can find some wireless for the old powerbook.