encore Travel Troubles I
An already trying day seems to keep getting worse for an Army colonel traveling to Japan for a few days with his wife and three young children.
In 1961, I was returning from an over- seas tour of duty in Asia when my wife and I decided to deviate from our route and fl y space-available (space-A) to Japan for a few days. I made reservations for us and our three sons, ages 5, 3, and 1, at a military rest hotel in Tokyo. Anyone who has traveled space-A on military airlift knows it can be a trying and unpredictable experience. We were bumped along the way and arrived in Tokyo just after midnight, a day late. The hotel was on the opposite side of the city from the airport, and the ride in an over- loaded taxi was a hair-raising experience. The three boys had slept through the en- tire fl ight and were raring to go. The taxi driver helped us unload our huge pile of luggage into the empty hotel lobby — a very plush aff air with thick carpet and overstuff ed chairs. After pay- ing the taxi driver, I went up to the front desk to check in. The night clerk con- sulted his register and said, “I’m sorry, captain, but I do not have you listed.” I admitted I was a day late, but I had been unable to notify him of the delay. The clerk found my reservation a page back in his ledger and said with a sad expres- sion, “I’m sorry, but because you were not here, we had to give your room to someone else. I’m afraid we’re now all booked up.” “Well,” I said, “there is nothing we can do until the morning, so we will just have to spend the night here in the lobby.”
80 MILITARY OFFICER JULY 2012
Suddenly the clerk’s expression of sad- ness turned into one of sheer horror as he looked beyond me. My wife, who had been awake since 5 a.m. the previous day, already was sound asleep in a chair. Our 5-year-old had discovered his fi rst rotary magazine rack and was spinning it wildly, sending magazines fl ying in all directions. Our 3-year-old had wet his pants and was jumping up and down in front of his mother. And even our 1-year-old was in on the act. On the fl ight that day, he had learned he could spit repeatedly without run- ning out of saliva. He was leaning over the front of his stroller spitting on
the carpet — again, and again, and again. “Wait,” said the night clerk, “let me look
again.” He went back to his ledger and, lo and behold, found an empty room.
MO
—Judson J. Conner is a retired Army colonel. He lives in Virginia. For submission informa- tion, see page 6.
Tell Your Story Submit your service- related adventures (or mishaps) of 450 to 500 words by email to
encore@moaa.org or by mail to Encore Editor, 201 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314. All submissions will be con- sidered for publication.
ILLUSTRATION: VIVIANA GAROFOLI
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