Space A Day 1

So, this adventure is going to have to be made into parts. This has been such an amazing and crazy adventure and that is putting it lightly. It all started because I wanted to go to California to visit Hunny's family. Well, there is this amazing service for the military called Space A(vailable). There are flights that leave and go all over the WORLD and if there happens to be open seats, first come/sign up, first served. So I signed up to go to Seattle or Travis. Every other time Space A has been presented or brought up I have never taken it seriously or have been freaked out of the idea. It might have been because I had a friend recently have success but I just felt over all good about this trip. I wasn't stressing at all, even the night before when I was packing.

I made it over to Osan Airbase early and waited FOREVER to be the person After the last seat available. But that was okay, almost perfect, because there was a flight later that day that had more seats available and ended in Travis which would save buying a commercial flight. So I waited some more and came back. When I asked what time it arrives in CA I got a very unexpected answer. "I don't know... there is an overnight layover in Kadena (Japan) and Hickam (Hawaii)." O.O WHAT!? That is NOT what I was prepared for. But again... I felt good about it. I was a little hesitant but overall I felt like it was the right thing to do. I mean, Japan and Hawaii! I had no idea where I would stay or what would happen but I decided it would be okay. So I signed up and went.

While I did some more waiting, I went into a room with other folks that had flown in and were continuing on. I met an older man that was retired Navy and had great flying stories and now lives in Alaska with tons of stories there. We loaded and I heard someone talking about lodging and mentioned the little info I had collected and was greeted with an offer to stay in her apartment with an older couple she had offered her apartment to too. Well! How nice!

We got up to the plane, a C5! She said it was the largest plane in the Air Force. It was hilariously awesome. We all got ear plugs, there were no windows, tons of space, and very open. We got to see them load some of the cargo below us as we pulled in. Wow. It was pretty interesting!

This lovely lady and I sat together and chatted the whole 2 hours we flew. She was actually pretty funny and really interesting. It was easy to chat and we had a lot of similar interests. The more we talked, the more I liked her.

We got to Kadena and got a ride from her husband over to her place. She warned us it was small but it was fine. She had two adorable cats and a nice husband. They were SO giving and tried to give us anything we needed. She was precious! We were very well taken care of. I could not believe how blessed I had been to find someone that lived in Kadena and was nice enough to offer her home, was cool and fun, and oh so nice.

The older couple that stayed too were the liveliest older couple I have ever seen. In waiting and talking, I learned there are quite a few retired couples that use Space A to fly everywhere! Sprinkled all over the states, EUROPE, and Asia. They had been all over and are ready and willing to do most anything. They are very talkative but super friendly. The more I listen and learn the more amazed I am. They have been married for 42 years and travel the world together all the time. I hope that I will be able to say the same thing.

To be continued...

Helpful Space-A links:
Take-a-hop signup
Osan Passenger Terminal
Kadena Passenger Terminal
Hickam Passenger Terminal