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Bob Dart
Senior Member
Username: Bobdart
Post Number: 241
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 24.13.55.121
| | Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 04:00 pm: | |
I really have to think that many of the EU countries are rethinking the euro. They no longer can unilaterally adjust their currency to fit their economic needs so many have to either bite the bullet or pass the economic problem on which certainly impacts us tourists as well as others. It's less complicated today to use a single currency than before the euro but there is a price to be paid. |
Mike Bird
Senior Member
Username: Old_goat
Post Number: 1184
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 64.12.116.67
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 09:10 pm: | |
To do England I found it is best to eat by purchasing sanwiches in Grocery stores. They have inexpensive sandwiches made daily, and your drinks. I purchase on good meal a day for supper. Sometimes in a pub. If you do not stay on base B&B's and chain hotels are rather good for the price. I found the most pricey hotels in Europe is Ireland. They are eating up tourist Euro's.
Scotland is the best for the Pound. I found Scotland is even much friendlier. |
Margie Weathers
Senior Member
Username: Margie
Post Number: 294
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 65.210.97.129
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 05:57 pm: | |
Mike - You're right, it was expensive, but it was the only one close to the airport that had vacancies, from what I could see on the internet. To me, food and lodging were exorbitant all through England. Too bad for us; it's such a beautiful, historically interesting part of the world. |
John D.
Senior Member
Username: John_d
Post Number: 3542
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 72.254.37.147
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 02:21 am: | |
Vicki,
Per Chuck's suggestion got to http://www.spacea.net/locations.htm#Ramstein and select the link titled "Ramstein Base Map (Lodging version)". Zoom in and look at the upper left corner and the "Cannon" is almost directly under the "Inns" in the "Air Force Inns" logo.
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Mike Bird
Senior Member
Username: Old_goat
Post Number: 1183
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 64.12.116.67
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 02:07 am: | |
With the British Pound exchange that's one expensive hotel near the airport. |
D.B.M Uk
Senior Member
Username: Overlandrover
Post Number: 1113
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 81.179.157.186
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - 08:01 pm: | |
On base today it was $1.92 to the pound. |
John D.
Senior Member
Username: John_d
Post Number: 3536
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 72.254.37.147
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - 07:32 pm: | |
Mike,
Check www.xe.com for all your foreign currency conversion needs. |
Mike Bird
Senior Member
Username: Old_goat
Post Number: 1177
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 205.188.116.7
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - 02:52 pm: | |
I always enjoy reading your postings.
It makes one feel they are right there with you.
Hope you make a longer more enjoyable trip the next time. What is the rate of the British pound to the dollar now? |
Vikki Barnette
Intermediate Member
Username: Vikki
Post Number: 12
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 70.161.219.78
| | Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 11:06 pm: | |
Thanks Chuck and Margie. I checked the site Chuck suggested but didn't see a listing for the "General Cannon Hotel." No matter, if they only take 0-6 and above that leaves us out. Vikki |
Margie Weathers
Senior Member
Username: Margie
Post Number: 291
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 65.210.99.205
| | Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 10:57 pm: | |
Vikki - The Cannon Hotel hosts O-6 and up, and E-9's. I'm not sure about equivalent DoD civilian ranks. Protocol arranges the reservations. |
Chuck D
Senior Member
Username: Chuck_d_in_co
Post Number: 549
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 4.228.159.218
| | Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 07:29 pm: | |
Vicki,
The General Cannon Hotel shows up on the Ramstein lodging map. Click on John D's link at the top of the page and select military space-a locations. You can find Ramstein and once there you can find out all the nuts and bolts. |
Vikki Barnette
Member
Username: Vikki
Post Number: 11
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 70.161.219.78
| | Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 03:06 pm: | |
Margie....enjoyed reading your trip report. My hubby and I are planning a trip to Germany next month and I'm interested in the "Cannon Hotel" you mention. I've looked at the Ramstein AB site and done a search here for info on the Cannon with no success. Is the Cannon a hotel located on the base? Appreciate your help....Vikki |
Margie Weathers
Senior Member
Username: Margie
Post Number: 289
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 65.210.97.120
| | Posted on Sunday, September 17, 2006 - 06:26 pm: | |
1-Star, thank you!
William - Being a witness to many examples of Murphy's law, we always tend to allow a lot of time. We took the early afternoon shuttle from Ramstein to Hahn, alllowing two hours at Hahn before the flight to go through security. In the beautiful weather we had, it was nice to sit at the outdoor cafe until show time. There weren't many passengers for the flight, so it went quickly. Coming back from Stansted, it was a different story, where security took my lipliner pencil away, and went through every little thing in my backpack. People say it's best to allow three hours before the flight in Stansted, just to be sure.
I Googled "hotels near Stansted" and found Best Western as having a vacancy; I made a reservation online. There's also a Holiday Inn Express right at the airport, but they had no rooms for that night.
On the lowest level of the airport, there's a train station with ticket machines that accept credit cards. That was a real convenience. A Brit in the station told us that trains don't hang around--when you spot yours, hop on right away. I envy your being in England in autumn, it's so lovely. Good luck!
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"1-STAR"
Senior Member
Username: Usmc1
Post Number: 386
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 70.118.57.130
| | Posted on Sunday, September 17, 2006 - 05:43 pm: | |
Great trip report Margie, thanks for sharing! |
William Byman
Intermediate Member
Username: Bill_b
Post Number: 22
Registered: 09-2005
Posted From: 70.104.182.156
| | Posted on Sunday, September 17, 2006 - 01:48 am: | |
Margie, A great adventure!
My wife and I plan to visit England the end of this month, via Ramstein unless a Mildenhall direct flight shows up, so I'm interested in your Ryan Air connection. When did you depart Ramstein in order to make the flight from Hanh to Stanstead, and what was your show time for the flight? Were there any security delays at Hahn?
Also, did you need advance reservations at the Best Western?
Thanks for an interesting narrative.
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Margie Weathers
Senior Member
Username: Margie
Post Number: 288
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 65.210.97.120
| | Posted on Saturday, September 16, 2006 - 05:42 pm: | |
CHARLESTON TO RAMSTEIN
On Sunday, 10 Sept 06, with a sign-up date of 19 July, my husband and I flew out in the early evening from Charleston AFB to Ramstein, Germany, on a C17. There were about 20 people in the terminal, and it seems that everybody went. That plane makes the C5 look like a first-class ride. It was cold, noisy, long—and free!
The box lunch consisted of a white bread meat and cheese sandwich, soda, chips, cookies, redeemed by a really good apple and some grape juice.
Arriving just after noon on Monday, we were disappointed to learn there were no seats released to Mildenhall for the next 72 hours. Up in the USO, there’s a wonderful pair of ladies, Jackie and Lorraine, who gave us a schedule for the shuttle to Hahn where we could get a flight to Stansted on Ryanair. The hour and a half trip costs 11 euros per person each way, and runs about six times a day, three there and three back.
Heading for the east Midlands, the Peterborough area where our son lives, we bought tickets on line. Leaving in the evening and arriving about 23:30 at a cost of around 20 euros each. Leaving earlier would’ve been more like 60 euros each. We got a good night’s sleep, after enjoying breakfast at the Italian restaurant co-located with the Officers Club, lunch at the club, (both open to all ranks)and dinner at the Deutches Haus, run by the German army.
After a pleasant ride through the German countryside--I didn't remember how beautiful it is--we had a couple of hours in Hahn, then off to Stansted, which I had pictured as a little country airport. What a surprise: it’s huge, grubby, congested, and overrun with budget travelers (like us). We stood in line to enter from midnight to 01:30. There must’ve been 1,000 people there. A 10-pound taxi ride to the Stansted Manor Hotel, a Best Western three miles away, nice but nothing special, at a cost of 94 pounds! The next morning we taxied back to the airport, where we got a train to Peterborough. Nice ride through a lush and green countryside, dotted with little villages. We paid 28 pounds per person for the two-hour ride, utilizing the ticket machine in the station, with the help of a friendly Yorkshireman.
After a too-brief visit with our grandchildren, we retraced our steps to Stansted, where the fun began. The 16:00 flight was delayed. The pilot announced that three passengers had checked luggage but had not boarded; the luggage was being located and removed. We joked to each other: “Hope they don’t remove ours.” Arriving in Hahn, everybody’s bag came through except my husband’s. Ryanair employees didn’t seem too concerned about it, suggesting that if they ever found it and if it reached the US, we should drive down to Atlanta—a good three hours’ trip—and pick it up. I shared with them some of my thoughts on their airline.
The weather in both Germany and England was spectacular, warm, sunny, delightful. However, my husband left his jacket in his bag, and now had no way to keep warm on the cold plane ride home. And he was pretty grungy by now.
Roadrunner is one of the cab companies who can come onto the base, and when the shuttle dropped us off on Highway A6 at 21:45 some three miles from the base, we called them. A friendly and pleasant woman, who spoke no English, arrived soon. She seemed not to be familiar with the base, and the German gate guard gave her the wrong building number. After an hour of driving around, we finally found the Cannon Hotel, and she said, “Gott sie dank!” I said, “Jawohl!”
If you qualify for the Cannon, try to stay there when you visit Ramstein. It’s one of the nicest places we ever stayed. In the morning, they’ll fix your breakfast and bring it to the room! In bed by 02:00, up at 05:00 hoping for the flight to Charleston, learning that it was moved to 17:00, back to bed.
Sitting most of the day at the terminal, one could see that the only way to get an accurate picture of what was happening was to stay there and listen to the announcements. Things seemed to change a great deal, with a flight to Dover and on to Kelly suddenly dropping the Dover stop and proceeding directly to Texas. That’s just one example.
Mid-afternoon there was a phone call for my husband. Ryanair had found the bag, sent it by taxi to Ramstein, the hotel manager at the Cannon went to the gate and retrieved it, and pretty soon here she came to the terminal. I only wished we could’ve sent her some flowers, what a sweetheart! Her boss is going to hear about her kindness.
Luck was with us—we were called for the 17:00 flight, which slipped to 19:00. One more seat was available, but no one showed up. Because some crew members were sleeping on one side of the plane, only eight seats were released. Seven of us were loaded on the bus and driven to the plane, where we learned that departure was now 21:30. Back to the terminal, then on the bus again at 21:00, and on our way home. Same C17 experience, but the crew members were lovely to us, even bringing over a big ole warm green Army blanket instead of that little scrap of a blue one. The box lunch from Ramstein was good and included yogurt, raisins, bottle of water.
Charleston AFB was great. Since we were so tired, we decided to stay over an extra day and go down to Charleston. Rain was coming down in sheets the next morning, so we had cheese crackers and coffee for breakfast, and hit the dining facility for an early lunch. Retirees can’t have lunch, we learned, only breakfast and dinner. The Charleston Club has a really good buffet lunch, about $18 for the two of us. After some BX shopping where I saw the 15th edition of Skip’s book for $18.95, we went back to the inn to catch up on some of the sleep we’d missed. Still jet lagged, we were awake at 03:30, a good chance to have an 05:30 breakfast for less than $4 for both of us, and then drive home.
On this short trip, I figure we got a good night’s sleep three of the 10 nights, spent at least three days waiting for buses, planes, trains and taxis. As always, the best part of the trip was the chance to meet so many charming and interesting people. Somehow I seem to keep snapshots in my mind of their smiles, and while details of travels fade, the warmth and brightness of these encounters never do.
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