FRIDAY, MARCH 24TH, 2023 – TRAVEL FROM TOKYO TO OKINAWA:
Not a lot to report today because it mostly travel all day. Lobby call was at 9 am and Randy had men to help carry the bags down from upstairs. We were counting on the drive taking 1 ½ hours with no traffic. Turned out to be just the opposite – lots of traffic – and it took us 2 hours to arrive at the airport. The terminal was unbelievably crowded and we stook in line for a very long time. I was really happy when the ticket agent said there were seats available to purchase for an upgrade. I immediately paid the $115.00 for the upgrade. It was a 3 hour flight and definitely worth the price!
We didn’t have a lot of time once we cleared security had walked to the gate. The upgrade to business made a world of difference, especially with my “slightly displaced kneecap”! They served a Japanese meal and I didn’t recognize anything on the tray. But it was all good!
We landed on time and all our bags arrived as well. We have a new “point of contact” for our visit named “Tee”. She is from Australian and her husband is a retired Marine. She had folders for everyone with all the information we would need for our visit.
We arrived at the WestPac Inn on Camp Foster, dropped our bags and headed to Hama Zushi for dinner. It’s the “sushi train” that I love so much. Everyone really enjoyed it and ate sooooo much! I sat at the table with the 3 girls and our total bill was only $76.00! And that included alcohol.
We walked to the American Village after eating and went in search of Sweet Potato Ice Cream. We found an amazing shop that sold several flavors of ice cream — including sweet potato – and the ice cream was served between two cookies. It was delicious.
We were back at lodging by around 10 pm. I decided to wash clothes tonight when I knew the washers and dryers wouldn’t be busy. It’s 1 am now and my clothes are finished and I’m going to bed very soon.
Jude
SATURDAY, MARCH 25TH – PERFORMANCE AT CAMP SCHWAB:
Woke up to find it had rained most of the night but by the time we boarded the bus to go to sound check, the sun was out. However, the forecast wasn’t very encouraging. Plus Nashville is under a tornado warning!
We arrived at the festival site at Camp Schwab. Mika was there “running the show” and it was great to see her again. She is awesome! There was light rain off and on the entire 2 hours that we were there. Mika had a “plan B” that she could implement which would mean moving the show indoors in the Club across the street. We walked over to look at it and it would definitely work for an acoustic show. The Base Commander is the only person who can “call” the show and he was waiting to see what was going to happen with the weather. If it’s just rain, then it will still be held but if there’s thunder and lightning, then he calls it. We drove back to lodging at Camp Foster and Mika was going to call and let us know if the venue had to be changed.
I walked over to the base exchange and found the Pokeman cards that Zac wanted, thank goodness! It started raining so I had to take a taxi back to Westpac lodge. Dureil came by and it was so great to see him again, too. He had met the girls last October at the IEBA Conference in Nashville.
We left for the show at 5 pm and by the time we arrived, it was raining pretty steady but there were a lot of people at the festival. Marines are TOUGH and a little rain doesn’t bother them. We met Colonel Clark – the base commander — and he’s a huge country music fan. He actually met the girls at a performance in the USA many years ago. His wife was shooting tee-shirts off the stage so the girls asked her to come up and shoot some more when they sang, “I Got my T-Shirt”.
It was the rowdiest crowd we have had on the tour – 4500 – and it was great. It did rain a lot during the show but no one left. The girls took photos with people in the autograph line. Some of the marines had drank quite a bit. But they were all extremely polite and not rowdy at all in the line. There was a man in uniform who had come up and had his photo taken with the girls before the M&G started. Then he sat on a table near them the entire time. I kept asking who he was and someone finally told me he is the CSM of the base and he was sitting there to make sure none of his men got out of order. That explained the exemplary behavior of the young marines!
As we were hearing back to the bus, a group of Marines wanted the girls to sign their arms and said they were going to get it tattooed on themselves tomorrow. Maybe when they sober up, they will change their minds!
We arrived back at lodging at around 9 pm after the one hour drive. I think several of the group went bowling but I had to work!
We think call time is at 3 pm tomorrow but again it depends on the weather. If we have to move indoors, we’ll need to do a sound check but will also need to move the show time until later. X Ambassadors are supposed to perform tomorrow night as well.
Jude
SUNDAY, MARCH 26TH – FINAL SHOW AT CAMP SCHWAB, JAPAN:
It was wonderful to be able to sleep for 6 hour and get in a decent workout in the fitness center. After showering, I walked over to the restaurant and had a really good omelet. Only had about 45 minutes before it was time to depart to the venue. The great news is, while it is still very cloudy, rain is no longer in the forecast!!!
We departed at 3 pm and arrived at 4 pm. Don and I walked over to the Beach Head club located in front of the stage to check out the situation for the M&G. There are only 25 people who will be taking photos with the girls and they each received an autographed cap as well. There was a local band on stage performing when we arrived. After they finished, one more band performed.
The M&G went quickly and there was just enough time to take a quick photo with X Ambassadors before they went on stage. Hard to believe this is the last show on the tour. After waiting for 3 years to get this tour launched, I would say it was well worth the wait. It’s easy to see how beautiful the girls are on the outside but they are just as beautiful on the inside. And their shows is spectacular beyond description. All the guys in the band and crew have been delightful to work with and all very experiences professionals. The whole group fell in love with Don – the tour manager I insisted management hire for the tour. A very good call all around!
We quickly packed up after the show and drove back to lodging at Camp Foster. The restaurant next to the hotel closes at 9 pm and we needed to get there to have dinner since there’s no where else open on the bus to have dinner.
We had a really nice dinner with lots of fun memories discussed. We have a 7:30 am departure for the airport tomorrow and I’m trying to get in bed before 1 am!
Jude
MONDAY, MARCH 27TH – OKINAWA TO NASHVILLE
What a challenging end to our World Tour!
Got a text message late last night telling me that the bus could not be there by 7:30 am. Our original departure time was 8 am. It was too late to notify everyone so just waited till the next morning. Then, of course, the bus arrived at 7:35 am. Tee was with the bus and escorted and helped us out at the airport. She was great to work with!
We were able to leave a few minutes before 8 am and as I suspected, we hit morning traffic! We were all able to check in individually but they refused to check our bags through to the USA. I asked for a supervisor and even she wouldn’t accommodate us. They also refused to give us our luggage allowance for our international flights. We didn’t have any excess charges which was strange because we had exactly the same bags and weight with that same airline and we were charged for 3 pieces.
We had a few minutes before we had to board and I went in search of Kit Kat bars in dozens of flavors. NONE! Evidently Okinawa does not share Japan’s affinity for these. Hoping I can get them at Haneda airport! Now I wish I had bought them on our day off in Tokyo. I just didn’t want to have to take them from base to base with me for another week.
The flight was three hours long. I tried to purchase an upgrade but there were no seats available. I did but an egg salad sandwich from the mini mart before boarding which turned out to be a smart idea. I had not eaten all day and ANA does not have any food on the flight for coach passengers.
Our flight left 20 minutes late and that was not a good thing. I knew we had to pick up bags, try to get everything onto one shuttle bus, get to another terminal, go to the ticket counter to check in, clear security, clear passport control and get to the gate — all within 2 hours’ time.
Bags seemed to take forever to come out. Then trying to load everything onto a shuttle with dozens of Japanese trying to get in the same bus was a nightmare. We made it to the ticket counter only to find very long check-in lines!!! The girls and I stood in the line for 1st class passengers for about 10 minutes and it never moved. The coach line seemed to be moving faster so we switched to the coach line. It moved faster but not by much. When we finally got our bags checked, the agent refused to give anyone the boarding pass for Minneapolis to Nashville.
Finally got everyone checked in and I noticed that Jen — who was the first person in line— was still at the check in counter! She said they were having to reissue her ticket. No idea why!!!
I waited with her while the others got in line for security. One security lane was closed and the other had hundreds of people in line. I looked for a priority lane and there wasn’t one. As I was looking, I saw our group and they told me to come through to them. I had to go find Jen first and I walked and walked and walked to find her at the end of those hundreds of people. Even getting in line with our group, it took us about 30 minutes to get through security and to passport control. Once there, we found we did not have the forms completed that we needed. Delta should have given us those with our boarding pass.
By the time we finally got through, the flight had already boarded. Our gate was #145 and we started at gate #1!!! As I was running to the gate, I spotted Kit Kat in a store. Oh well….
We were the very last passengers to board the flight and right away, I noticed that the flight attendants were not “friendly”. The aircraft was the one with the sliding doors in the “suites” and once again one of the smallest 1st class sections I have ever flown in — other than the Lufthansa flight a couple of weeks ago.
I needed to go to the restroom prior to take off and it was right in front of my row but the flight attendant said it was in use and I had to go all the way to the back of the section even though it was showing as open.
I had pre-ordered the Japanese meal because everything else sounded terrible. It was edible. I watched a movie with a terrible ending and wished I hadn’t! Tried to sleep but the flight attendants were talking so loudly, it was impossible. Plus the seat was so narrow, it was impossible to get comfortable. The space where your calves and feet went was so narrow that once you got them in there, it was impossible to move them!
I finally got up and worked for the remainder of the flight. I got a text message right before we took off that Lindsey was taking Zac for a COVID test. A few hours into the flight, she said it was positive. As she was driving home with him, the school called her to say they think Zoe has an ear infection. So she had to go back to the doctor with Zoe and turns out she does.
I once again tried to use the restroom in the front and was told it was in use when it was clearly empty.
As I was working, I asked the flight attendant for a cup of hot milk. She said she has no way of heating milk. Strange because they were able to heat it on my flight from Munich to Seoul. I told her to just bring me a cup of hot water. Thirty minutes later, still no hot water so I had to chase her down.
This time when I went to the restroom, I waited until the flight attendants were nowhere around and walked right in!
We landed on time and the girls and Don decided to try to get on a nonstop Southwest Airlines flight that would avoid the 6 hour layover we had in Minneapolis. At their own expense, of course. They made it on the flight. I went into the Lounge and worked the entire time.
Flight to Nashville departed and landed on time. So good to be home even though I can’t see Zac and Zoe for a few days. All the others in the group made it as well on the various flights.
Can’t say enough wonderful things about Frank Tagatac and AFE, all the members of Runaway June, Don Muzquiz, Lindsey Chance, all the POC’s at Ramstein, Grafenwoehr, Garmisch, Vicenza, Kunsan (Go Wolf Pack!), Osan, Humphreys, Yokota, Yokosuka, Zama, and Schwab and the production companies PALAST, Sound Zaurus, MusicMakers Asia and ASL Audio and of course, Michael Tietzee and John Howe. The thousands of emails, phones calls, text messages, Facebook Messages, and What’s App messages over a 3 year time period resulted in a fantastic World Tour! Runaway June was a dream to work with and put smiles on so many faces – on and off stage.
Jude