We made it

Chris, Haru and I have safely arrived in Seattle. 

Our trip from Okinawa was pretty uneventful.  We took off a little late from Okinawa, but made up the time in the air, landing on time in Tokyo.  This meant we had 1 hour and 25 minutes to claim Haru, get through immigration, recheck the dog, go through security and make our flight. 

Fortunately, the Tokyo airport, despite it's size, is one of the most organized, well oiled machines in the world.  We (and all other pet parents) were met at the gate and told exactly where to claim our pet.  At that counter we were given a pack of paperwork to complete while they located our Haru.  Once haru was brought to us, we were escorted to the United counter.  Since we had "no" layover time we were taken straight to the front of the line.  I paid the travel fee of 25,000 yen (about $300) and they took her to oversize baggage.

Chris and I were hustled through Immigration, then we were on our own to get through security and to our gate.  We were both hungry and thirsty, hoping for a chance to grab a bite to eat.  But as we reached our gate they were making the final boarding call.  We were able to get a couple bottles of water from the nearest vending machine before we got on our plane.

A short (not really) nine hours later we arrived in Seattle.  In Seatlle we had to go through immigration (again) then claim our bags and go through customs.  We were identified as pet owners right away, but no one seemed to know how we go our dog.  Finally as we were waiting in a second customs line, a TSA agent let us know we needed to drop off our bags at a transfer station, board a shuttle train to the main terminal, reclaim our bags at one end and our dog at the other.

Suprisingly Haru made it the entire time with NO accidents in her kennel.  Unfortunately I couldn't let her out yet.  We had to get out of the airport first.  Our taxi driver didn't have an issue taking a dog, but did have a problem with our destination.  As in he didn't know where it was or how to get there.  He tried to give me his GPS to locate it - like I know how to use HIS system.  then he gave me his phone to call the hotel to as them which exit he was supposed to take.  All of this was going on while he was barrelling down the freeway at 75 MPH, the limit was 60 MPH and I haven't gone faster than 60 Kilometers/hour in years. 

We made it to our hotel in one piece, took a bit to get Haru fed and watered, before Chris and I headed out to see about some lunch.

We are going to try getting to a Walmart tonight for dinner (I know, big plans right!)