Bye Bye Paradise

1 May 2011 -

Our wait in Hawaii was not as long as I thought it would be. Turns out, we pulled up at Hickam Air Field and were out of there within two hours. Realizing that I would not be able to talk Julia every day was more painful than I thought it would be. I figured because she wasn't physically there, goodbye wouldn't be too tough. Sure enough, it still broke me up a little bit. I love that girl. I simply can't explain how much more I love her than I ever thought possible to love anything in this world.

Our first stop, Alaska. A quick 5 hour and 15 minute flight brought us to Anchorage and the first thing I see when I walk into the airport is a statue of a white grizzly bear. Awesome. They said it would be an hour wait to refuel and resupply the plane. Again they delivered. We were back in the air in no time. Good thing too because no one was at the airport, every shop was closed, and there was nothing to do.

The flight to Ireland was a little longer. What was scheduled to be an eight hour flight over the north pole turned into about nine hours. Good thing I really don't mind long flights anymore. Flying to Hawaii and back a couple times helped me prepare for times like this. I just see it as more time to sleep and watch movies. Arriving at the airport again they promise a short stop… approximately one and a half hours. We held a short promotion ceremony for 6 Marines right there inside the airport and shortly after discovered we may have to wait as much as three hours while they attempt to fix a bent door. I always wonder how they find such significant problems AFTER we get off the plane. It was obviously not that big of a deal, and if it was, they should have caught it before we trusted this beast all the way back in Oahu.

The airport was nice. A bar and grille was open where I enjoyed a latte and later on a delicious cupcake and Fanta. It was humbling to see how much value the American dollar had actually lost outside the US. I paid 6 bucks for a cup of coffee that was a little over 2 Euros. My bother was quickly distracted by the accent of the bar tenders and all the Irish attire around. I almost couldn't resist getting a t-shirt. I'm sure I will on my way back home. I also got to talk to Julia! I was SO happy she answered the phone. I've never wanted someone to answer the phone more than that call right there. I'm still not sure how much the payphone cost me because I paid via credit card, but those 10-15 minutes talking with her were priceless. I was telling her you would think it would be sad to hear her voice and just make me miss her more, but it was kind of the opposite. I was just happy. No sad thoughts at all. I felt so lucky to have the chance to talk to my baby just one more time before it becomes much more rare.

Oh yes, the flight, right, well… we waited and waited and after about 6 hours we realize they aren't fixing the plane and will need to send us a new one. So what do they do? Put us up in a hotel for free. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? A Boeing 747 on my pre deployment flight to 29 Palms first class, and a hotel stay on my deployment to Afghanistan. See, they do take care of us. At the hotel I found an advertisement for Dungarie Castle. I don't know what it is but I love the name. Makes me think of how great it would be to come back to a place like this just to visit. It is nice at least to get to see more than just the airport though. It's dark right now, but I look forward to the scenery in the morning.