Thursday April 18
Flying out this morning to meet up with Wayne Wonder for our trip to Okinawa, Japan. He is performing at the Okuma Beach Fest on Sunday.
Wayne and his group are flying out of Ft Lauderdale and I am meeting up with them in Dallas where we will fly to Tokyo and then on to Okinawa together. It is going to be a long travel day.
Flight out of Nashville was uneventful (thankfully) and I had checked Waynes flights and it left on time as well. I landed Dallas and took the tram over to the D concourse. Wayne, Chris, Debra and Roy were already and the gate and I introduced myself. A very nice group of people.
If you aren’t familiar with Wayne Wonder, he is a very popular Reggae Artist. I didn’t realize some of the songs I knew were his songs. He has also done many collaborations with other popular artist.
We were suppose to beginning boarding around 11;00 am but the gate agent came on the speaker and said we didn’t have a plane yet, bc it was in the hangar being fixed. What?
We eventually did board and took off about 45 mins late. 13 hour flight over. Slept a little and watched some movies.
Friday, April 19,
We landed a little after 4:00 pm Tokyo time. Thankfully we have a long layover in Tokyo since we have to go through customs and then recheck for the JAL flight and take a shuttle over to the other terminal.
We made it through passport control but when we started to go through Customs, I was the only one who had a QR code for embarkation – the others did not have one but the agent let them come through on mine as “family” LOL.
We then went to the JAL recheck counter for our connecting flight to Okinawa. All of us except Chris were given boarding passes for this flight when we checked in at our home city. Unfortunately the JAL agent wasn’t able to issue a boarding pass for Chris – even though he has a reservation – but gave him a slip of paper to get him through security and said the gate agent would have to issue it.
Went downstairs and caught the tram over to Terminal 1. Seriously, the guys are all so sweet. Chris and Roy helped a lady load her luggage on the shuttle bus and talked to her the whole way. I think Chris makes friends where he goes! Terminal 1 is a bit of a drive and at one point Wayne asked me if we were shuttling to Narita airport. LOL
Our flight out isn’t until 8pm so the gate was not listed on the board yet. Wayne and I went on through security and the other 3 decided to go find food. I am not super hungry but I did grab a rice, tuna, seaweed sandwich. The one that took out Zoe loose tooth when we were in Japan in 2019!
Wayne and I went down to the gate once it was posted and about 30 mins later, the rest joined us. Chris and I went up to the gate agent to get his boarding pass but for some reason that I still don’t understand, they can’t print one until everyone else has boarded. meaning he would be the last to board. Once boarding started I hung back with him as the other went on and as expected. He was the last one to be able to board. This flight is about 2 hours.
Slept the entire flight, landed Naha a little after 10pm, grabbed the one piece of checked luggage and MSgt Avila was there to meet us outside baggage claim to take us to the hotel. We have a super nice bus for the 2 hour drive to the hotel.
I texted Kevin, the gentleman at the base that I have been working with for this tour. He is super excited to have Wayne here as he is a big fan. He met us at the hotel and had all our room keys ready for us. The hotel is a “resort” on the beach, right next to where they are having the Beach fest. They walked us to our “Villa’s”.
It is a little after 1:00 AM on Sat April 20th here in Okinawa which is 14 hours ahead of Nashville. So for those of you keeping track – I have been traveling for a little over 27 hours. Thankfully Saturday is a day off for us and we can rest and relax before the show tomorrow – then travel home on Monday.
Saturday, April 20
Slept about 6 hours before I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. Made some coffee in my room – it is a keurig type machine but instead of a water tank, you use a bottle of water!
This resort has several restaurants on site so I went to the one with the breakfast buffet. OMG! So much food. Western and Japanese foods. I ate my weight in Matcha bread and sweet potato croissants! And a mound of sweet potato butter.
Walked around the resort and bought some water at the little store here. Came back to the room to shower. The shower is one big room with a bathtub inside it. It was heaven.
Talked to my son to check in on him. Zoe has started her lifeguard training this weekend and her first lesson is tonight till 9:30,
I did see Wayne and Roy G around the front lobby at noon. They had booked some sort of activity on the island and were getting picked up in a few minutes.
The weather looks amazing this whole weekend so I am going to take advantage of the pools and beach!
The resort has several restaurants so I opted for the buffet tonight. Ate several things that I did not know what they were but very tasty.
Talked to Zoe for a few after her 1st day of training, she said it went well.
10pm here and I am going to crash – full day tomorrow.
Sunday April 21,
Wide awake at 7:00 am. So had my coffee and then dressed and walked down to the restaurant for breakfast. No matcha bread this morning, but I did have french toast with syrup and sweet potato butter 🙂
Walked out to the beach for a few minutes. Its another beautiful day. I had a text from Kevin at the base to confirm pick up time for soundcheck, he said they had a great turn out last night and expect more tonight. Everyone is excited for Wayne Wonder show!
We left the hotel about 12:25 and drove the short distance over to the base. They have a ton of activities for the kids and food vendors set up. The headling band was finishing up soundcheck and went a little longer than expected so we did not start ours till closer to 1 pm. Wayne and the backup singers were through quickly but we had some issues getting the keyboard to sync with the DJ’s computer.
I have met several people that I see on emails from prior tours and it is so nice to finally put a face with a name. Several came up to me saying “Judy?”
DJ was able to get his issue fixed and we were back at hotel a little after 2. We had planned to go back at 4pm to do a small meet and greet but Kevin pushed it back to after Waynes performance which gives us a little more time at the hotel before going back at 6pm.
Loaded up and drove back over to the venue at 6. Had a few minutes in the Green room where Kevin had some food for everyone.
They took the stage at 6:50 and did a 60 minute show. I walked out front for a bit to listen and take some photo’s. This is my first time working with a Reggae Artist and I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the show!
We did a small meet and greet backstage after his performance where he was “coined” by the base. On our way out we stopped at the Green room to grab some to go food and Wayne stood outside taking more pictures with everyone. Again.. this group is just so nice and kind ,accommodating and talented.
Back in the hotel room to pack up. We have a 9:30 am lobby call for the airport to start the journey home.