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Unaccompanied with a baby: Sigonella-...

Pepperd.com » Space-a Trip Reports » Unaccompanied with a baby: Sigonella-Norfolk-Sigonella « Previous Next »

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Karen Yan
Advanced Member
Username: Karenyan

Post Number: 304
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 76.180.24.113
Posted on Friday, March 05, 2010 - 01:49 am:   

Madison, absolutely outstanding trip report in every way!!! (research, planning, strategizing, advice)

Welcome to the board. You definitely made us proud.
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John D.
Moderator
Username: John_d

Post Number: 4065
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 95.208.80.143
Posted on Monday, March 01, 2010 - 06:35 pm:   

Great practical, constructive advice that demonstrates Space-A travel (warts and all) can be done with the right attitude. Thanks for sharing!
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Larry D. Mowery
New member
Username: Ldmowery

Post Number: 5
Registered: 11-2009
Posted From: 67.216.108.135
Posted on Monday, March 01, 2010 - 06:25 pm:   

Madison,
Your advice is not only good for Space A, but for any type of travel plans.
Thanks,
Larry
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John R Garrison
Senior Member
Username: Majorg

Post Number: 2394
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 208.81.157.86
Posted on Monday, March 01, 2010 - 04:13 pm:   

Madison:

Thank you for taking the time and effort to write up and share your adventures with us! You clearly have learned the secret of successful spaceaing...calm, go with the flow and have back-up plans.

Happy travels, John
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Tony Cabrera
Senior Member
Username: Tonyc

Post Number: 1483
Registered: 08-2006
Posted From: 64.237.198.25
Posted on Monday, March 01, 2010 - 04:00 pm:   

Madison,

Great trip report; well-planned trip and lots of positiveness from your part. Definitely a lesson for all.

Happy travels and God bless you!
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Leland
Senior Member
Username: Leland

Post Number: 5857
Registered: 05-2006
Posted From: 98.218.147.237
Posted on Monday, March 01, 2010 - 02:29 pm:   

Madison, what a great attitude. If all SPATs had your outlook the process would run more smoothly for all.
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Roger Johnson
Advanced Member
Username: Rwjohn6

Post Number: 274
Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 64.12.116.208
Posted on Monday, March 01, 2010 - 01:50 pm:   

Madison you are the best. I wish all space-a travelers had your great outlook and attitude. You had all bases covered and had a great trip.

Roger in Fl
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Madison May
New member
Username: Mmay

Post Number: 1
Registered: 03-2010
Posted From: 80.19.208.42
Posted on Monday, March 01, 2010 - 01:28 pm:   

In January, I decided it was time to take a trip to the States with my five month old son. My husband was unable to take leave, so I decided to use EML and planned to fly Cat IV to somewhere in the States, then fly commercial to the Midwest. I read and re-read on flying space-available, scoured this message board, talked to space-a veterans, and spoke with the local passenger terminal. I had Plans A-Z, plenty of time, and back up funds to fly commercial back to Sicily if needed.

I started off the trip by breaking one of the first rules of space a travel by not taking the first flight to the States. Instead, I decided to wait for the rotator to Norfolk because it was easy and reliable. If I didn’t get on, I’d just try the next time it came through. Like I said, I had plenty of time and Plan B was to simply wait in Sicily until the rotator could take me. On the day the rotator came through, I called the terminal to verify the show time. Good thing I did because it had been moved up. We arrived at the terminal just before show time and declared ourselves present. Roll call began promptly and while we were supposedly flying in “low season,” not everyone made the flight. Luckily, my son and I did make the flight and we were off for Norfolk. My husband and I have flown with our son many times commercially, but this was my first time flying alone with my son. He did great and slept most of the flight.

We arrived in Norfolk in the middle of the night and after a wait, cleared customs. I got online at the USO, cashed in some frequent flyer miles, and bought a commercial ticket to the Midwest. A $25.00 taxi ride got us to the Norfolk airport in time for my very early morning flight. If I had to do it over again, I would have stayed at a hotel for the night and taken a late afternoon flight. Lesson learned.

The way back to Sigonella was a bit more complicated. There were several terminals within a drive of my hometown that I could have flown out of, but none directly to Sigonella. I knew Norfolk was my easiest and safest bet. I flew into Norfolk on a Sunday evening and stayed at a local hotel near the commercial airport. There was a flight to Sigonella listed for Monday, but when I called Monday morning it had dropped off the boards. Time for Plan B, which was to try for the rotator on Tuesday. I extended my hotel reservation another night and my son and I spent the day shopping at all the stores within walking distance of our hotel. Tuesday morning, the rotator was still on the boards so we packed up and I called for a taxi to take us to the base. The driver picked us up and $25.00 later, we were at the air terminal. We arrived several hours before show time and I figured we’d kill some time at the USO before we found out whether or not we made the flight. To my surprise, I checked in and received our boarding passes right away. They had plenty of empty seats, so all who wanted to go that evening got on. My son was once again amazing on the flight and we had an uneventful flight back to Sigonella.

If I had to give advice to moms (or dads) flying unaccompanied with kids, I’d give the following:

-Do not expect everything to go as planned. You have to have a back up plan! I witnessed more than a few tears when moms didn’t make the flight, kids got cranky, etc. I was also a bit embarrassed when I witnessed a few passengers be downright rude to staff when things didn’t go as planned. Plan for worst case scenario-if you don’t think you can handle it, wait until you can go accompanied.

-Only take what you can carry, don’t expect to have help. Make sure you can handle the car seat, luggage, and stroller on your own. I flew with a car seat/stroller combo, diaper bag, and one suitcase. That was it because that was all I could manage on my own.

-Pack several changes of clothes, food, diapers, etc in your carry on. I packed double what I would normally go through, just in case.

-Take offers of help. I had so many single sailors offer to help with the stroller and the baby. Even though I could do it on my own, I took them up on their offers and was very thankful.

-Make friends with fellow passengers. There were several unaccompanied moms on both of my trips and we helped each other. We shared supplies, took turns watching babies while one went to the bathroom, etc. A Cat VI even came into the family lounge at the USO at the Norfolk terminal and read to/entertained all the kids while we were waiting. He was great!

-When the staff at the terminal in Norfolk asked me where I’d like to sit, I told them it didn’t matter as I was just thankful to have boarding passes. They ended up seating us in the back of the plane where there were many extra seats and not as many people. This worked great with a baby-I was able to access the bathrooms quickly and get up and down as needed without disturbing others as much.

-Don’t be picky. When the staff ran out of the beef meal on my outgoing leg, I simply smiled and said vegetarian was fine. Same thing happened on the way back-they were running out of one meal type and I told them to give me whatever they had more of. The staff work hard enough, I figured the more flexible I could be the easier it was for them.

-Stay calm! Go with the flow, be okay with using your back up plans. Smile and say thank you. Flying space-available is an amazing benefit!

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