Space A travel - Osan AB to Misawa AB

  I'm back to misawa ab this morning. As I mentioned at the post earlier, Roll call for space A to misawa was 0900 today morning. (Every Tuesday) I got to passenger terminal at 0830 then I checked at the desk as present. though the roll call was at 0900, I couldn't find my name on the screen on the far left side. I was nervous about not catching on the space A because my husband is supposed to come back from the states next Monday and my mom will be coming to Japan on the next day. The next Space A to Misawa AB is in a week, I was getting nervous. I asked the military lady on the desk, what I heard from her was 'Stand by, We'll have more roll call on the screen in a minutes' I waited about 15 minutes, then I finally could see my name on the list.

  I checked my baggage in then got the boarding pass. My seat was 4D which was equivalent to business seat (kind of) on the commercial flight. there was almost 70 seats open for misawa, but only 1 seat open for Seattle. there was so many people waiting to get on the plane for their pcs to the states.

  Not like the Space A from misawa, the space A took off very soon after I moved to waiting room. I got on the flight and I arrived in misawa around 1pm. I picked up the baggage and wrote the custom then finally got in misawa.

  If you need a taxi, this is a dial you can make from your cell phone.

   017 666 5438

Trip to Korea - Pyungtaek

  Today, I went to pyungtaek to meet friend who has a boyfriend as an american army. I went there little earlier than the time we actually set so I can drop by some stores around the station. This place is the one of the city near Osan AB. There is department store called AK mall. this department store is connected to the station. My husband and I used to watch movie here. Though this place is pretty small, It's still fun to walk around the station area to see lots of stores and restaurant. There's humprey army base around here. I found the sign saying 'army TMO' in the station which was pretty cool. I recommend to see the cheap cosmetic stores around the station, they actually real good quality compare to its price.   

Hop to Osan AB - Military space A travel (2)

  At Osan, several military people got on the airplane and explained about customs and things that is going to happen to people who is PCSing to Korea. Lots of army people needed to hop on the bus to go to wherever they're going to work for few years. I remembered when I PCSed to Japan a month ago. People there would feel the same way that I did before and I understood how tired they are right before finishing their long trip of PCS.

  Everyone who was on the airplane went to the conference room to write down customs paper and entrance paper as a foreigner in Korea. After writing down the paper, I went through customs in Korea then I needed to find my baggage that I send from MIsawa. It was absolutely chaotic because there were tons of same colored and same sized bags turning around of 3 conveyor belt. also, many bags were already out from the belt and displayed on the floor near conveyor belt. I kept moving around and finally found twp bags that I send from misawa.

  After all of these process, I finally could be in the terminal at osan AB. I registered my name at the customer desk to go back to misawa in 2 weeks. the hop to go back to misawa is at 0900on Tuesdays.

Hop to Osan AB - Military space A travel (1)

  I arrived in Korea (Osan AB) this Monday. I am here to take GMAT test (Graduate school entrance exam) in Seoul. the reason why I came here is it's much cheaper to come to Korea than go to Tokyo. I heard sinkansen trip to tokyo cost $300 but coming to Korea cost none (set aside a cost of going to Seoul). I have a family in Korea, so I don't have to pay for hotel either. I decided to come to Korea. Finally I finished testing today.

  

  As a spouses of active duty in military, a person needs a document to be selected to get on the hop to osan. It's called 'unaccompanied space a travel, CAT 5 document'. IIt needs a sign by commander so you have to go to wherever your husband's commander is at. the secretary wrote down my information including social security number at the office and send it to first sergeant and then went up to commander to get the signature. They also need passport number so it's good to have a passport with you when you go to get the signature. I happen to take a picture of passport number on my phone so I saved time to go to home then come back to the office. 

  After obtained the completed document, I went to the passenger terminal to register my name before the trip. registering can be done on the day of traveling. To raise the possibility of getting on the hop, I needed to go there few days before the travel day. On a travel day, which was on Monday 11:15am, I showed up at the passenger terminal and checked in. the list of the name who checked in was posted little later on the green board above the trash can. Then the worker started to call names as a order of categorized on the list. since I am at category 5 (none active duty but a family of active duty, travel alone), my name was called almost the very end of calling process. when they called my name I brought my passport and stamped by customs. I was seated and wait till they call the category of people. I came up to the gate and send my baggage, then pass the entrance of the gate. 

  when I entered, there were lots of military people and their families who was waiting for PCS to Korea. Majority of people there were army military or their families. I waited again and finally I could get of the airplane. After landing, flight attendant shortly served lunch which was ham sandwich or turkey sandwich. I chose ham one. oreo and small bag of ruffle were in the lunch box with ham sandwich. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes to come to osan. Roll call in Misawa was 1115 but landing was 13 something. I arrived in Osan around 1520.