Departure

With the approval of our visas two weeks before departure we got full swing into packing and final preparations. We sold our pickup truck, built a shed to store the all-terrain snowmobile and the scooter while we’re gone, and packed the necessities into 2 suitcases, 12 rubbermaid bins, and 12 carry-ons.

Each bin was weighed and adjusted to the 50lb limit, balancing heavy homeschool books with fluffy stuffies. There were a lot of clothes and footwear, mostly for me since my sizes are not available in the country.

We had our last sunday at our sending church, Clearwater Community Baptist, with a prayer time to send us off. We love our church family and we’ll miss them while we’re gone.

We began the 60 hour journey from our home with Dawn’s parents in Clearwater to our new home in Sala3 with a 6 hour drive to Surrey. There we spent the night with my sister to give us a good start to the Vancouver airport the next day.

We lined up early at the baggage check and were the first in line. Using two ticket counters were still the last ones done an hour later when everything was labelled, tagged and checked. After lunch and goodbyes we passed through security, without any problems and boarded the first plane – to Tokyo!

From Japan we flew next to Singapore through the night, arriving at sunrise. Sleep was illusive. It seems that someone has thoroughly designed airplane seats to make any sleep position impossible.

Our third flight featured Asia breakfast cuisine of rice, noodles, fish, and a few other unknowns. Somehow Levi scored french toast, but we all ate happily. The jet liner was clearly past its prime but the clouds of cool air billowing from above compensated for other technological deficiencies. We landed shortly at our destination and stepped from the vapor wafting AC cabin into the hot humid tropical air. We had arrived!