Back to CA

So the flight we decided to try for had a 6:00 AM showtime, so we had to be there around 5:00.  We got up really early and attempted to tiptoe around so we wouldn't wake the entire household with our noise, although that was a challenge!  The reason we decided to try was because this flight was a contracted commercial flight, so it was more like a typical airliner, instead of a military plane.  There were only 41 seats, though, so we weren't at all sure that we would get out on it.  But our names were indeed called, so we texted the C's with the sad news.  We had all decided that we most likely wouldn't make it out, and we had plans for how we were going to spend the rest of the day!  But one of the cardinal rules of space-a is to always try for a flight going your direction as soon as you are ready to start heading back.  In retrospect, it probably was a good decision.  We continued watching Hickam's facebook page, and there was not another big flight to Travis for the next several days--only ones with 5 or 7 seats.  I'm sure we would have been panicking!

The aircraft was a 757, but only the back half had seats (7 rows of 6).  There was a big wall at the front of the cabin dividing it from the rest of the airplane, which had cargo in it.  Since it was a commercial plane, we had to pay a "head tax" for it--$8.70 a person.  Quite a bargain to fly across the Pacific!

The airplane was very comfortable!  Nice seats, lots of leg room--and I wasn't fighting to keep earplugs in Micah and Drew's ears!  I had given some thought to the seating arrangements, and we ended up with Nathan sitting in one row between Grace and Faith on the other side of the aisle.  In the row in front of me was Jonathan, Caleb, and Anna.  I sat with Luke and Micah, and Bob sat behind us with Drew and some other gentleman.  This was a MUCH better arrangement!

Drew fell asleep pretty much as soon as we took off, and he happily slept almost the entire flight, which was lovely.  Micah didn't sleep much at all, but that was because he was having such a good time!  The flight attendant passed out bags with coloring books, crayons, and stickers for the kids, so he had a good time with that.  And he loved looking out the window!

They served us this amazing breakfast, with chicken sausage, roasted red potatoes, scrambled eggs, a croissant with butter and jam, and a big container of fresh fruit.  It was delicious!  I told the kids to never expect this kind of meal from a regular airline, LOL.

After breakfast, the flight attendants passed out these personal electronic devices that were loaded with games, movies, TV shows, and music to anyone who wanted them, along with ear buds.  This kept the kids happily occupied for the rest of the time!

There was a nice tail wind, so the flight only took 4 1/2 hours, as opposed to the 6 it took to get from Travis to Hickam!  All too soon we were back at Travis, collecting our bags, and looking at the displays in the terminal to see what flights were heading east.  Unfortunately, there weren't many . . .  We trudged off to lodging, where we were able to get another lovely TLF with 2 bedrooms.