Embrace the misery. That’s my best words of advice for taking on such an endeavor. These wise words were also passed along to me by those that had made this trek before us. Only a psychopath would take on this kind of journey for fun. About 10 months ago my husband got orders to Okinawa, Japan, and sent our lives into a whirlwind of tasks to prepare us for the move across continents. The most dreaded task that lay in our path was the flight. A lot of prep work and research went into making it as smooth as possible, and a lot of that work was in vain. From leaving our hotel in Seattle to arriving at our contingency housing in Okinawa, the journey was anything but smooth. Contingency housing? That’s military for, a temporary house to stay in while you’re quarantined. Yeah, we took on this adventure during a global pandemic which just added to the fun. If you’re reading this because a move to Japan is in your near future, I hope you can take comfort in knowing what we did that worked and become wiser by hearing what we did that didn’t work.

Go ahead and familiarize yourself with The AMC website and their Facebook page. When we started this whole process it was probably a good 3 months into it before I even knew that this was how we would be getting to Japan.

Pack Less. I REPEAT PACK LESS.

I don’t know how you have to do it but just take my word for it. YOU DON’T NEED THAT MUCH STUFF. You’re allowed to pack A LOT. My infant was allowed the same baggage amount that we were. Of course, I took full advantage of being allowed two checked bags, a carry-on, and a “personal item” for every family member. On top of that, we had the two dog crates, plus a double stroller, two car seats, a breast pump bag, and a boppy. Y’all… I’m telling you, it’s not worth it. We had above and beyond everything we needed and then some. In my defense, we were completely living out of these bags for two months but even so, don’t do it. My advice, cut back on the clothes and shoes.

I’m not kidding when I say that it took us an hour to get from where the shuttle dropped us off to right here (outside of baggage check). We were basically like that riddle about getting across a river with a chicken, a fox, and feed (if you don’t know what I’m talking about please click here and feel free to laugh at us). We had help from way too many kind strangers throughout this trip. I can only imagine (and cringe at) how helpless we must have looked. A lot of our misery (and a lot of my advice on what not to do) stems from us having too much baggage.

The Pets

Start Dealing with the Pet Paperwork NOW!

If you have orders, go ahead and take your pets to an on-base vet. This was one piece of advice we got from everyone and we listened. As far as paperwork goes, getting our pets out to Okinawa was pretty painless. We started the process soon enough that we didn’t have to quarantine them when we got here. They also weren’t as expensive as everyone else warned us, but our dogs were already microchipped and up to date on all their vaccines.

Get Crates with Wheels.

Jamo’s crate had wheels, Molly’s crate did not. We put Molly’s crate on a baggage carrier to make moving her around easier and she toppled over. I’m talking in the airport, in line to check in, in front of everyone. She shifted her weight, toppled to her side, and let out a huge pathetic yelp. Luckily she was fine and an airport employee assured us that it happens all the time (which didn’t make me feel better) but from then on out we had to keep our hands on her when moving her on the cart from place to place, as well as take her off when stationary. Needless to say, it was a bunch of unnecessary added stress (for us and for poor Molly girl). So buy the crate with the (removable) wheels!

You Have to Stay With Your Pets Until About an Hour Before Boarding.

This was something that we didn’t know until after checking our baggage. We got to the airport SO early (left the hotel at 10:30 pm for an 8:00 am flight) for a lot of reasons, the biggest one was to make sure we were first in line for our COVID tests (which started at 1:00 am). You technically are supposed to get them before you arrive at the airport but for a lot of reasons, (primarily that most places wouldn’t test our children) we had to get them at the airport. Secondly, because we had so much stuff and so many creatures, we decided we would rather be settled and waiting at the airport than rushing when the line got longer. Anywho after checking in they told us we had to wait outside of baggage claim (which means not going through security yet) until 6:00 am when they would pick up all the dogs. I didn’t mind waiting so much as I wished we had brought a full meal and lots of coffee. There were food options outside of security, but none of it was open except the vending machines.

You Can Take Your Pets Out at Every Stop.

A fun AMC flight thing is that at every stop you make, you have to get off the plane. Well, one of the nice things about that is you also get to let the pups out too. We had a designated carry-on for the pups that had their paperwork, leashes, food, treats, wipes, and poop bags in it. The vets recommended that they traveled on an empty stomach to avoid a bunch of mess and comparatively to others pets ours weren’t too bad mess wise. We made sure to bring the pup bag when we got off at stops (because the first time we didn’t and my husband had to walk the dogs holding onto their collars in Alaska *brr*).

Be Sure to Love on Them When You Get Where You’re Going!

We had two different vets tell us not to give our dogs anything for nausea nor anxiety. We listened and our pets were fine. However, that doesn’t mean we didn’t feel bad about putting them through the flight. We were sure to give them lots of loving, food, water, and walks when we got to our temporary home in Okinawa.

Doggy Flight Must-Haves.

1. Chew Proof Dog Bowl– So, our puppy chews everything. He went through about three different types of travel bowls before we got him this one. It’s all metal and attaches to his crate!

2. Crate with Wheels– I wish I had gotten this one for both of our dogs (but the smaller size was out of stock at the time). Definitely the better of the two and is within the airline regulations. Our dog did chew the bowls that came with this crate though, so just something to think about.

3. Pup Bag– I’ve mentioned this bag before but it was so perfect for traveling with our dogs! It came with a bunch of good accessories and it had plenty of space! I loved being able to keep all the dog stuff in one place especially since it can sometimes get grimy.

4. Dog Crate Food and Water Bowls– I liked these bowls a lot for our older pup. She doesn’t chew stuff up so the fact that these were plastic wasn’t a problem for her. They attach super easy to the crates and they were cheap so that’s a plus!

All of the Amazon links are affiliate links.

The Kids

Only Carry-On What You NEED.

I know I already said it, but PACK. LESS. Especially for the actual flight. I was trying to be overly prepared and have everything we may need and then some for the flight. We didn’t use half the things I packed and yet had to carry it all (which we could hardly do between the two of us. We had flown plenty of times with Waylon at various stages of babyhood, pre-COVID, so I figured I had it down. Having two under two definitely changes the game and we found out the hard way. Everything is a little more chaotic with kids and having more than we could reasonably carry made getting on and off the flight a nightmare.

They Don’t Give You The Stroller At Every Stop.

We gate-checked our double stroller, something we did with our single stroller that made getting around airports a breeze because you had a way to cart all your stuff around (and not carry it). Well unfortunately this time we weren’t aware that we wouldn’t be seeing our stroller until baggage claim in Okinawa. We were stuck carrying everything everywhere. If I had known this ahead of time I would have; 1. brought less stuff aboard (I know, I know but it’s huge) and 2. packed one of the baby carriers in my diaper bag to help free up my hands.

This was also the first time I brought an infant car seat on board. The stewardess made me put the car seat rear-facing and buckle it in. It didn’t really fit well that way, so I wasn’t a fan. I did like having the car seat when we got off the plane though, at our stops. It was somewhere I could set baby boy since I didn’t have a carrier or stroller.

Pack Snacks!

This was probably the only thing that calmed my toddler. He was specifically pacified by fruit snacks. We went through a whole big box of them before the last leg of the trip. If you think you’re packing too many snacks, probably pack more. He also wasn’t a huge fan of the airplane food, so I might even suggest packing an Uncrustable or two. At most of the stops there weren’t food options, I’m not sure if that was because of COVID or not. Only the last stop, in Osaka, had a food truck outside of where they were holding us.

Sit with the Infant.

Okay, so there wasn’t much of an option here. I’m breastfeeding, so it only made sense for me to sit with the breastfeeder and my for husband to sit with our toddler. Unfortunately for my husband I lucked out on this one. The little ones are easy on planes. They eat, poop, and sleep (which means you get to sleep when they do). Toddlers on the other hand; well my husband tells everyone that he was about ready to chuck Waylon out of the emergency exit (jokes, of course, we weren’t in an emergency exit row). Bless his [my husband’s] heart though because he really took one for the team. Our toddler mostly cried or screamed and made messes the whole flight. I packed two extra outfits for him and we went through them all. If you have a toddler I don’t know what to tell you other than God speed!

Babies on Board Must-Haves.

1. Wet Bag– I have this in my diaper bag at all times but it definitely came in handy and got completely filled up on our flight. It’s just a simple bag to keep wet clothes or dirty diapers in, but it’s cute and doesn’t leak!

2. Double Stroller– I really like this kind of double stroller better than the side-by-side kind but that’s just personal preference. It clips in our baby’s car seat and has a bunch of storage space underneath. It’s bulky but what double stroller isn’t (actually I’m sure some aren’t but I’m not really asking)? I like that I’m able to open and close it pretty easily.

3. Car Seat Flight Bag– This came in super handy! We were able to fit my toddler’s big huge car seat, the infant’s car seat base, and then the car seat mirrors, a hanging car toy, and back-of-car-seat organizers all in this bag. We just tied a good knot in the drawstring and everything made it through baggage. Or you could just use it how it’s supposed to be used, whatever floats your boat.

4. Kid’s Suitcase– My son loves this thing! We got him to carry it on the airplane once but that was about it. It was a super cute way to separate out his airplane must-haves. Although if I could go back and repack it I would have just filled it with fruit snacks and extra clothes.

All the Amazon links are affiliate links.

As Always, Enjoy the Little Things!

The flight was easily the most stressful part of getting to Okinawa, Japan. It was a rough two days (or however long it is with the time change, I honestly have no clue). Breath through what you have no control over and savor the enjoyable moments. For us, it was the stop in Osaka, Japan, where my husband procured us some Japanese Hard-Seltzers called Chūhai (I think). We couldn’t drink on the flight (pretty sure because of COVID), so this was a fun find for us. Plus it was exciting getting to try our first Japanese product!