Episode â„– 113 Outbound for Japan!
Welcome back! Lady Jupiter Podcast is the audio accompaniment to LadyJupiter.com a lifestyle blog that I update when I can.
It’s my little corner of the internet where I write about my family’s military life, our home life, and other domestic details that I just like to share.
I’m happy that you’re here with me.
In this episode I’ll share an update on our life as affected by the U.S. military, then continue with a blog update, and wrap up with something domestic.
Today in our military-affected lives I have a *significant* update; worthy of a new season.
Last episode was a tiny cliff hanger. Kid Jupiter and I had a little Pacific Northwest vacation while we waited on his passport. I finally had it in my hot little hands, which was my green light to finish loading the rental car, and immediately drive back to Seattle.
** KID JUPITER **
So there you have it. We’re moving to Japan.
Welcome to Season Two of Lady Jupiter Podcast!
Kid Jupiter mostly stayed out of my way as I loaded the rental car. I wanted a Volkswagon Jetta, but got a Nissan Maxima instead. It’s wider than I like, but it fit our large suitcases perfectly. Without delay we left Spokane and didn’t stop until we parked at our hotel in Seattle. Because we left Spokane later than I preferred, we were VERY pressed for time. Kid Jupiter and I checked in to the hotel, and I emptied the rental car. Then we got back in the car, filled the tank (under $6 a gallon…barely), and dropped it off at the Sea-Tac rental car facility. We took the courtesy shuttle to the airport, where we then waited for the hotel shuttle. By this time it was already about 11pm; it was too late to buy any real food (not without a car anyway), so The Child feasted on goldfish and applesauce when he was already three hours late for bed. Luckily he did go to bed without protest. That was nice.
Kid Jupiter and I started our moving day at four am in our hotel. I packed our suitcases for the last time, while Kid Jupiter slowly woke up. Frankly neither one of us slept much that night - but once we were both up and moving, we were both awake and generally ready to tackle the day. We shuttled back to the airport, quickly got a luggage cart (which was so much more manageable with only three cases and one boy), I even managed to get us in the right ticket counter line as the sun slowly rose.
We flew on Japan Air Lines, operated by Hawaiian…and the gate agents don’t get there until two hours before departure, which seemed so silly to me for a packed international flight. But since we needed to check some baggage, we needed to wait in line. Please note that I didn’t make coffee in the hotel room, and I didn’t see any complimentary cups in the lobby at 5am either. Certainly no coffee available in the ticketing section of the airport…and I can’t yet send Kid Jupiter to find and buy me a cup. We waited in line for an hour before bags and humans started moving at all.
Our two checked bags were weighed, and I was complimented for packing them JUST below the maximum weight limit. Funny story, the past month that we’ve been moving so frequently, I’ve been hauling plenty of suitcases and honestly think that I gained some muscle mass in my little chicken wings. I had no idea that the bags were 50lbs each - I’ve never checked heavy bags before, much less two! Lugging them around was easy now.
So Kid Jupiter and I shed our two big suitcases, and got through security quickly. Our ticketing agent gave us a priority stamp that let us bypass the big line. I have Clear, but Kid Jupiter doesn’t, so the priority stamp easily got us in the short priority lane - that was definitely nice. But for the record I was just Googling and apparently Kid Jupiter can go with me to the super short line for Clear users. According to ThePointsGuy children just need their boarding pass; their guardian’s retina scans and fingerprints are enough verification for both. This would have been good to know last year when we were in Denver. Oh well, now YOU know (or at least know that it’s worth a search if you have Clear and are traveling with a child).
After the carryon scanning, and after being generally deemed non-hazardous humans, we shuttled to our terminal, and rushed to the gate…I saw that our flight was already boarding. It was now 8am, I had been up for four hours after sleeping for four hours, wrangling a bored four-year old without a drop of coffee.
I was crying on the inside. But then I heard a phrase that I was okay hearing that moment “maintenance delay, boarding is paused until further notice.” Finally. Kid Jupiter and I hastened to the nearest family restroom, then we comfortably walked to the nearby Peet’s for a big cup of coffee for me, and a snack box for my passport-weilding boy child.
The delay was just that - a delay, and not a cancelled flight. I didn’t get worried until I finished my coffee and was able to use the restroom again, but the maintenance issue was resolved with an aircraft switcheroo, so we were able to board, just from a different gate than originally planned and ticketed.
An hour and a half later we were finally seated.
** Hawaiian announcement **
And now - we’re flying! I’ll have more next episode.
For today’s LadyJupiter.com update…the site is still up and running.
I am taking photos of all sorts of things that I want to write about, I just haven’t been able to do anything about it.
You may be surprised that there are consecutive days that I don’t use my computer or tablet at all. I’m definitely surprised because I prefer to do a million little computer things each day, so each day that I don’t use said computer, those things just pile up. Like sorting and archiving photos for example. It takes time, and when I don’t do it regularly, my phone gets so full that I can’t take new photos, so freeing up that digital space has been eating into my writing time. I wish that I could teach Mike Dog how to sort and archive my photos so he could help me out while I shower, or do one of the other million little things that I do. Oh well, I dare to dream.
And lastly something domestic.
Remember all of those packages I’ve been mailing to myself for the past several weeks?
Well, Mister Jupiter has been picking them up while I was waiting in Spokane. And turns out that they have been useful! In a surprise twist he actually needed his Mess Dress shortly after he arrived in Japan…and it was waiting for him. He didn’t need to buy towels because he unpacked the ones I used to pack some jars that missed our main shipment (and were also a color that I can’t easily replace, so I could justify the postage).
The boxes are half practical, and half nonsense.
I’ve moved via mail before (ages ago when I left California, I shipped everything that didn’t fit in my car, and did fit in a box. It was similarly useful and ridiculous), but the international version definitely yields more banged up boxes. I’ve even managed to send myself some clothes from my favorite internet thrift shop, and Amazon. Turns out that Amazon Prime shipping from the states to Japan is only about ten days - so it’s pretty manageable and worth it for the things that I still want to use, but can’t buy in Japan (like my favorite chewable iron supplement, and Mister Jupiter’s preferred electrolyte drink tablets).
And that’s all for today.
Just for fun, I wanted to remind you that you can always reach me via email - podcast @ LadyJupiter .com . I can’t promise prompt responses, but I wanted you to know that I am here and available for questions or feedback.
Podcast @ LadyJupiter .com use it wisely!
I will talk to you when I can record next.
—Bye for now!
