Washington DC to Hawaii and Back?

Author Message   Cherry C. Senior Member Username: Cherry Post Number: 6279 Registered: 06-2003 Posted From: 71.163.18.160 Posted on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - 12:26 pm:    To confirm the advice you're getting about the need to allow adequate time for travel between Hawaii and the east coast, consider our recent return: -Checked in at Hickam at 0600 on Sunday for a listed flight later that day to Travis (we had actually hoped to stay another day or two, but no flights were listed to CONUS for 4 more days so it was that or nothing for a while). -Got to Travis too late to eat in dining facility (went to Bowling Alley); no ongoing flights so we spent Sunday night in Travis lodging (had called ahead for reservation) -Monday, after meals in dining facility, checked in at 1300 for the ONLY flight that day from Travis to the east coast (several possibles had dropped off the screen), to Dover AFB -Arrived Dover 0030 on Tuesday; no more flights until morning and rental car places all closed; lodging was full; so got group cab to off base motel for the balance of the night -0900 Tuesday picked up 1-way rental car (reserved via USO computer at Travis); drove to DC area including a stop at Andrews to drop off a couple of fellow SPATs; delivered car to Dulles Airport early afternoon (rental car co.'s usually want vehicle left off at an airport; could have arranged to take it to Reagan or BWI instead but Dulles suited us better) So as you will see, it took from very early Sunday morning until mid-day on Tuesday to reach our home, and we were VERY LUCKY to make such good connections that the trip was completed in ONLY 2 1/2 days!   Sandor Ketzis Intermediate Member Username: Siamk Post Number: 141 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 74.107.103.237 Posted on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - 02:00 am:    William, What others have said is true. This is not to discourage you from using space-a, just to help you plan a trip that will actually work for you. Are your dates written in stone? It would work best if you have leave of two weeks and give yourself two or three days at each end of the trip for travel. We always allow two weeks, and usually use two to four days for travel with about a week of actual vacation time. You need the extra time to accommodate flights schedules. My suggestion to you is to read and track flight schedules for the bases you hope to depart and return. That will give you an idea of the frequency of flights to/from your desired destination. Look at Dover. If they usually have flights to Travis three days a week, then you hope that will hold for your time frame. The next question, what days of the week do they usually fly? You have chosen July 5, a Monday after a holiday. Even if they usually fly on Mondays, with the July 4th weekend, will there even be a flight that Monday? If one flies July 5th, and you do not get seats, will there be any more that week? Perhaps not. Then what is your game plan? If there is a flight from Andrews the next day, you could always try for that, but now you are into your second day. It will work the same way at Travis, etc. DC to Hawaii in four/five days space-a is unlikely, if not impossible. There are some great space-a opportunities in the DC/Baltimore area. Read some of the trip reports. Read every thread, even if it doesn't look as if it pertains to you. Nearly all of them have valuable information and also give you more insight into how space-a can work for you. I would even suggest that you basically do a walk through trip. Plan a practice trip on paper for sometime in the next few weeks. Then, using the dates you pick for your practice trip, call Andrews or BWI (since they are closer to you) and see when some flights are departing. Then go there a little before showtime, and watch the process. Track the flights you had planned on. See when they actually left, etc. I believe if more people did this prior to their first space-a flights, they would be much better prepared and have great first experiences.   Carole G Intermediate Member Username: Greengal Post Number: 73 Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 68.205.151.181 Posted on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - 12:23 am:    Just so you know, May 15 to Sept 15 is a very busy time for space a. You will be Cat III but you need 4 seats so that can be a disadvantage. Why would you go from Dover to Andrews? You could face a wait once you get to Travis for a flight to Hickam. There are no regular scheduled flights to Hickam they are mission scheduled. Like was stated earlier, you could take more than 4 days just to get there. I wouldn't attempt a trip of that distance without having at least 2 weeks or longer. You might want to have a vacation closer to home with only 4 days. Happy Travels carole   William James jackson New member Username: Jackson3460 Post Number: 3 Registered: 02-2009 Posted From: 68.102.152.8 Posted on Monday, April 26, 2010 - 11:50 pm:    I am Active Duty Army. Thanks for your help, I did some homework; I think my best chances are from Dover and then maybe Andrews. Getting to Travis seems to be the goal that will get me to Hawaii. Thank you for all the advice and suport, what else would you all suggest?   John R Garrison Senior Member Username: Majorg Post Number: 2547 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 208.81.157.86 Posted on Monday, April 26, 2010 - 11:44 pm:    William: Welcome to the Board! If you have not yet done so, please familiarize yourself with JohnD's SpaceA Pages (link top left), the general layout of this site and the Search Function (magnifying glass at top center) of this site. Nearly all questions can be answered from those three sources. Having read thru the FAQs is a great start and I would suggest reading thru the other sections on JohnD's site as well. In relation to your proposed trip, traveling SpaceA to/from the Washington< DC (or anywhere on the East Coast) toHawaii in the summer will be challenging. We try to avoid the Summer (15 May to 15 Sep) as this is typically one of the busiest times (Christmas (15 Dec-10 Jan) being the other) with a lot of competition for spacea. Please ensure that you are prepared to spend more time in terminals than you can imagine. Also be prepared for additional food, lodging and expensive, last minute commercial tickets should you be time restrained upon your attempted return. As stated often on this site, experienced SPATS avoid Christmas and Summer travel whenever possible. To accomplish this trip within a four day window is highly unlikely and very improbable...if your window is less than two weeks, I would strongly recommend traveling via commercial means. In sum, can it be done??..Possibly, but very unlikely! Just be mentally prepared for things to not go as smoothly as you might be expecting...and be pleasantly surprised when they work out. Happy travels, John   Leland Senior Member Username: Leland Post Number: 6151 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 98.218.147.237 Posted on Monday, April 26, 2010 - 11:31 pm:    To follow on, I would suggest a little homework in the form of reading the trip reports to see how Space-A works in practice.   Leland Senior Member Username: Leland Post Number: 6150 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 98.218.147.237 Posted on Monday, April 26, 2010 - 11:22 pm:    He says his occupation is "soldier" on his profile so I guess he is AD. William: It's a long shot. It's not like an airline. It could take you all four days just to get there.   dinotars Senior Member Username: Dinotars Post Number: 6608 Registered: 06-2003 Posted From: 173.169.151.24 Posted on Monday, April 26, 2010 - 11:21 pm:    Carole, The poster's profile indicates soldier,category not indicated.   Carole G Intermediate Member Username: Greengal Post Number: 72 Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 68.205.151.181 Posted on Monday, April 26, 2010 - 11:13 pm:    What is your category? Are you retired? Or AD?   William James jackson New member Username: Jackson3460 Post Number: 2 Registered: 02-2009 Posted From: 68.102.152.8 Posted on Monday, April 26, 2010 - 11:10 pm:    I am trying to fly out of the Washington DC area to Hawaii (5 July) and back (9 July), any advice? I have a family of 4. Thank you I am new at this.