Throughout this process we have had many questions that we've needed answered, and I'm sure we will have MANY more along the way. However, I'm going to answer the most common ones WE get asked so that our friends and family can kinda keep up with what's going on :)
1. What will you do with your cars?
Well, unfortunately, we are unable to ship our vehicles overseas so we will be putting them in storage for the duration of our tour. When we arrive overseas (from what I understand) they have a "lemon lot" on base where you can buy a decent, used vehicle for around $3,000.
2. When do you leave?
End of August
3. Will you live on base?
Yes, for many reasons. Base housing is more "American-ized"...meaning they have dishwashers, washer and hot air dryers, etc. We will be downsizing into a 2 bedroom apartment type situation, but most of the housing has recently been re-modeled and is all made out of cement for their crazy weather.
4. How will the phone situation work?
Jon and I plan on getting local cell phones so he and I can communicate locally, and we will also be purchasing a MagicJack that we can plug into our computer and make international calls with no additional charges. The only way family will be able to initiate the phone call is if it's done via Facetime when we are home or in an area with Wi-Fi. Family stateside can also purchase the MagicJack if they want to be able to call us too...but financially it makes more sense for us to arrange a time for us to call you and make a "date" out of it :) A MagicJack can be purchased at BestBuy for $70, and that comes with a years worth of international calling. After that year you pay a monthly fee of about $25.
5. What will you do with all your furniture?
We plan on taking most of our furniture, but the items we can not take we will be putting in storage.
6. What's the time difference?
We are currently on Central time, so based off that, Japan is 14 hours ahead. For instance, it's 6:15pm on June 3rd as I type this, but it's 08:15am on June 4th in Japan.
7. What are you doing with the dogs?
My beautiful mama will be adopting our pups while we are gone. We are sad not be able to take them, but I swear these dogs love my mom more anyway so they will be just fine ;) haha
8. Will you [Jalane] work?
They do have a Naval Hospital on base that I plan on trying to get on with. Nothing full-time, just enough to keep my skills and experience up.
9. How long will you be gone?
about 3 years
10. Will you make trips home during your tour?
Sadly, airplane tickets range from $2,000-$2,500 round trip/per person...so to pay for the plane tickets alone for a trip home will be almost near $10,000 and that's not including the taxing jet leg and other expenses that accompany international traveling. (And for the record, I'm dreading the 17 hour flight with a toddler...just thought I'd throw that out there! haha.)
From what I understand, we may be able to catch the military hop flights to Hawaii and perhaps meet family there to vacation together... and that may just be cheaper for all of us. We are also looking at the situation like this...when we come back home after the 4 years, we will be able to travel the states all we want again. Chances are we wont be in Japan again so if we are going to spend the money to travel, we feel we should take advantage of the traveling opportunites we will have on that side of the world :)
11. Will you get to take time off before you leave?
YES! Jon and I will be . We will have going away parties at each location so if you want in on that info, shoot me an email :) We'd love to see everyone before we leave.
I strongly encourage you to comment or email me with any other questions for me to post about...perhaps you have thought of something that we haven't yet!!!!!! We are very open about this experience and we want all of our family and friends to know what's going on during all of it :)
