Marine Mom Visits Son in Okinawa on Trip Arranged by My Journey Begins Travel

It was our pleasure at My Journey Begins Travel to work with Chettele Houle, a Marine mom and resident of the Grand Strand, as she visited her son on a trip to Okinawa, Japan in late August-early September 2025.

Chettele’s son, Dylan, has been serving in the Marines for nearly 5 years, helping keep our country and the world safe.

Chettele is grateful that the Marines have given Dylan structure and direction; It started with an aptitude test, where he earned high marks in electronics and aviation.  With that assessment, Dylan now works on helicopter maintenance – but also appreciates how this opportunity puts him in a position to develop both life skills and marketable career skills.

Dylan was stationed in Florida, where his mom did have the opportunity to visit him. He’s now stationed in San Diego and was deployed to Okinawa this summer.

In terms of the trip, which was Chettele’s first time outside the United States, it started with a great experience on Japan Air Lines. “The food was great ” Chettele adds, sounding mildly surprised, “even in coach.”

Despite the apparent culture shock, Chettele says “I didn’t feel like an outsider” when visiting Okinawa. My Journey Begins Travel located a waterfront hotel near the American Village. “The waterfront walk was beautiful” Chettele reports; she also raved about the sunsets over the East China Sea and shared a photo with us.

Chettele enjoyed spending time with Dylan, which was the purpose of the visit. They walked through the American Village a lot – and took taxis to visit other locations on the island. There were some Americans visiting – though it’s not very typical that military families make the trek to visit their service members. Chettele also got to meet Dylan’s marine buddies.

In an unexpected twist, the hotel housekeeper spoke English very well and helped direct them to interesting activities. The housekeeper doubled as an unofficial concierge.

Among the activities they participated in, Chettele and Dylan went snorkeling. They managed to stay safe from jellyfish, as the swimming areas are protected with nets.

They also went out in the countryside and saw farms and forests. Chettele reports that the pricing/foreign exchange was favorable on Okinawa and the food is very fresh. The custom is not to offer gratuities, but the service was great, as the Japanese take great pride in their hospitality. Chettele noted that the older people were a bit more stand-offish; whether that’s attributed to cultural factors or whether 150,000 civilians having perished in the Battle of Okinawa in World War II has affected the attitudes of the older locals toward Americans wasn’t clear.

Another unexpected discovery is that Okinawa is well known for beautiful glass jewelry, most often fashioned in shades of blue. In terms of lower-cost souvenirs – those were hard to come by other than at the airport.

Tokyo Narita airport was a bigger challenge for Chettele, as it is more Japanese language-oriented, overwhelming with the crowds.

Two things Chettele returned home with: 1) she and Dylan got peanut butter and jelly tattoos.

2) she become enamored with “Shisa” – lion-dog character figurines which are displayed facing outward for welcoming and protection…Chettele now displays a pair at her home.

Chettele concluded our interview with a testimonial: “I appreciate everything you did for me.  It was amazing!”

Contact My Journey Begins Travel when you would like help planning and booking a trip to visit friends or relatives, near or far.