False start

After a series of mishaps and false starts, I have finally arrived to my new home in Okinawa, Japan. Thanks to the great people at United Airlines, I was delayed a week in D.C. due to a cancelled flight. Somehow my bags made it to Tokyo without me the next day instead of being delivered to my hotel as was promised by United. Long story short, after talking on the phone to numerous United call center employees in Indian and the Philippines, I got my bags back 4 days later - damaged, of course. Fortunately my sister Carol lives in Richmond and came to my rescue, picking me and the dogs up and letting us stay there until my rescheduled flight the next week. I was so grateful for that. After an angry email, several more phone calls by me and my sister, and a visit to the Richmond airport, I was upgraded to business class on my flight to Tokyo. I thought the worst was over until I arrived for my rescheduled flight and was given the run around about whether or not my connecting flight in Tokyo would accept my dogs. Apparently my ticket agent had no experience shipping dogs or dealing with government travel orders. Again, long story short, the United employees were completely incompetent and nearly caused me to miss my flight...again.

After all the headaches and near misses, I am extremely grateful the dogs and I have made it safely to Okinawa. First impression of the island is better than I imagined. Our neighborhood is great and I can see the ocean from my bedroom. I spent the first day trying to catch up on sleep and spying on my new Japanese neighbors.

I hope to post more regularly than Fred has on his blog. He is gainfully employed and a productive member of society - I am not...at least for now. Stay tuned!