    
Jasmin Shinn
New member
Username: Jasi70
Post Number: 5
Registered: 03-2010
Posted From: 87.167.90.172
| | Posted on Monday, April 05, 2010 - 12:55 pm: | |
Started off at McChord Thursday April 01 with butterflies in my stomach as it was my first Space A trip. Called McChord at 11 am and confirmed the 14:41 showtime for Dover. The guy told me to be there at 14:00 and I was. Just for them to tell me that showtime had been moved back to 16:41. Ok. Met two ladies in the waiting hall both with children, too, and eventually discovered the "family room", which was nice. At 16:41 showtime was moved back to 18:41. Not good. At that time we decided to order some pizza as the USO next doors had closed at 18:00. At 18:41 showtime was moved back to 19:41. Boy was I glad that my 6 year old made friends with a 10 year old and they kept each other busy. AT 19:41 showtime was called for the flight to Dover and it took all who wanted to go. I think we were about 20, with my son and I being Cat IV. By the time the plane took off it was actually 22:30. Also need to mention that I signed up by Email Feb 22 but they never got me on their list. Luckily though I had a print out of my Email and they honored it.
Arrived at Dover at 06:00 local time the next morning. Found out here, too, I wasn't on the list but had my Email to proof my February sign-up. They had four flights scheduled to Germany that evening, but all with 0T seats. Hm. I called Charleston who had a flight to Ramstein that evening with 40T seats, but the guy told me that people were actually trying to get over to Dover for a better chance of getting out.
Showtime for Charleston was 09:55 but I decided to wait in Dover. At about noon, a couple and their two children started rushing to gather their stuff and when I asked them what they were doing, because I thought they were trying to go to Ramstein, too, he said they were taking the flight to Charleston to catch a flight to Ramstein from there. Wow, just what I had planned. So I looked at my new friend with her 1 1/2 year old and also at a Retiree we met and I told them this is what we should do, too. I went to the counter and asked if we could still get on that flight and she told me I would have to speak to her supervisor, so she got him for me. He agreed right away to take all 5 of us, but told us to hurry as everyone else was already on the bus out to the airplane.I think we were in the air within half an hour.
Arrived in Charleston at 14:00 with lots of people waiting for a flight to Germany as we found out. They had a 18:55 showtime for Ramstein with 40T seats. They started the roll call about two hours early at about 17:00. My son and I were numbers 39 and 40 for that flight. When I asked him why there were so many retirees and why my new friend Katie, also a Cat IV hadn't been called, he looked at the computer to find that we had both mistakenly been put in the system as Cat VI. The guy told us they had a flight to Spangdahlem with 40T right after the Ramstein flight and another Ramstein with 28F right after that so Katie decided she was fine with that.
Checked in my bag and sat in the waiting area. The immediately started calling people for the Spangdahlem flight after us and then the next Ramstein flight, too. A little while later, turns out that the Spangdahlem plane was cancelled and they said they would try and get everyone on the two Ramstein flights. Next thing I remember, they delayed the next Ramstein flight to 03:40 the next morning. Then they only took 25 of the first 40 people for the first Ramstein flight, but luckily that included my son and me. Then, he came and said he had one too many people on that plane and needed to bump that person. Unfortunately it was a mother with two children. So they got them off and therefore one other could go. It was quite the waiting game. Katie ended up on the same flight with me after all and at 21:30 we were finally in the air.
Had a 3 1/2 hour flight to Ghander for a fuel stop. Were there for 2 hours and then finally, the long awaited final 6 hour flight to Ramstein. I had ordered a meal for my son and me and the crew had Pepsi for us, also handed out blankets and pillows, which was nice.
They were always very concerned about our well being, apologized for the wait, even when we had to wait in the bus for only a few minutes.
Once in Ramstein, the only had one customs person working for all 54 of us, which I think they should have had two, but oh well. I think we were out of there within 15 mins. Our suitcase was already waiting for us and even though they opened and "searched" my suitcase, all went smooth and we finally headed over to the car rental place.
I was lucky to find one place out of three which rented me car without having a Usareur driver's license. The retirees were turned away, which I thought was really sad. I had read about this here in the forum before. But that particular day was bad for them, because it was a Saturday afternoon and the off-post places were already closed and I think their only option would have been to travel to the Frankfurt Airport for a car rental.
Anyways, all in all our experience was long but good. I think I went in it well informed thanks to this site and thanks to everyone sharing their experiences, which I want to say THANK YOU for! I feel that after this experience in two C17's an one C5 I have learned to appreciate my husband even more and what he does/endures when he travels.
My son and I only have a week in Germany and will be headed back to McChord next weekend and I hope that it will go smooth for us. Two things I will be shopping for before I board another C17 again is 1) a sleeping bag and 2) ear phones for my 6 year old.
Happy and safe travels to all! |
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