On Turning 66

Yesterday I had the opportunity to do something that you only get to do once in a lifetime (if you are lucky)...I turned 66. Once you get to a "certain" age, and for all of us it is different, you become very contemplative about each birthday that rolls by. When you turn 60, there is not much doubt that you have now become a "Senior Citizen", because you are now eligible for so many things you weren't before.....be that good or bad. And then, Heaven Forbid, along comes 65, removing any doubt as to your ancient status, since you are now on Medicare...yikes! Although some financial burdens have been lifted with now having some governmental medical assistance, it is a daunting thing to carry a Medicare card. When asked for my insurance card at the doctor's office, I would whisper "Medicare" for the first few months, it took some getting used to. I had hoped that receptionists would look at me in shock saying that it could not be so, but that didn't happen. I had arrived. I am officially old.
However, in the wee hours of the morning of my birthday Monday morning (about 2:30 AM), I guess I don't have to tell you why I was up, I thought "well, I am now 66, (for real) and I was instantly filled with happiness. "You have made it to 66, how many wonderful people that you know did not?". I really thought about that. There are a lot of people that would have given anything, to be where I am. I have made it. Cancer could have taken me twice, and it didn't. Only my guardian angels know how close I may have come to death, and life won out. I have a great attitude about my age and I am thrilled that I have been given more time to experience life, and my children and my grandchildren...and all that life has to offer for however many more years God gives me. Yes, I am very happy to be here and I plan to make it the best year ever.

LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO LILLYANNA!

Of all of the memories that I have of our trip, the people that I have met along the way have left the most lasting impression. When we landed in Moron, Spain, and had no idea what to do or where to go, or even how to communicate with the Spanish, we had the amazingly good fortune to meet Lillyanna ( I am not sure of the spelling of her name).....as I told you in a previous blog, we divided into three groups when we landed in Spain, and our small group of nine was heading in the general direction of Italy. We had no idea how to even get out of the Spanish Air Force base where we had landed....we had no idea even where we were. Enter Lillyanna. Born in Peru and raised in Bolivia, she spoke fluent Spanish. She walked with a limp and used a cane, unusual for someone her age (in her middle 40s)......she led us to the dining hall where it was cool (it was 97 outside) and walked several blocks to a gas station to call to find us a cab into the town of Moron. Before long, a very small car arrived to take 9 of us and about 18 suitcases into town. Well, Lillyanna took over from there and within 10 minutes along came a van that could carry all of us into town. We were told that we HAD to go to the police station within 48 hours to have them stamp our passports, which was a problem since the police station closes at 1:00 and by now it is about 2:00 and NOTHING interferes with siesta time. Well, using her Spanish charm she somehow coerced the police station to stay open until we got there. She handled all of our paperwork for entry into the country and schmoozed the police to stay and help us. She then led us through the city streets where we dragged our luggage for about a mile, huffing and puffing to keep up with her to get to the bus station...we had to really hurry or miss the bus, and we had a really hard time keeping up with her...and SHE was the one with the handicap. After talking to her later, we learned that she had been involved in an explosion in Iraq while serving there with the US Army. She had been in the military for 23 years when she was injured. She spent a year at Walter Reed Medical Center and was told that she would never walk again. After seeing people around her give up and give in, she said that she was going to walk again. She was in a wheelchair for two years, during which time her husband left her, he did not want to be married to someone in a wheelchair. She got herself out of the wheelchair and started working out every day. She is now stronger than any of us that were with her. She managed to get us on a bus and into Sevilla, onto a trolley and then found us a great little place to eat. She acted as our tourguide for the two days we were in Seville, helping us find great places to eat, interpreting for us and our waiters, helped us to find a place to stay, negotiated cheap rates for us on a tour bus, and was incredibly helpful to us, we could not have gotten around in Spain without her. Her attitude was incredible and her service to our country remarkable. Her positive attitude and desire to help people was an incredible inspiration to us all. She was a little Spanish angel sent to help us out of a tough situation and made it amazingly enjoyable for all of us, and she didn't have to do it. She now travels Space A often, staying in hostels and enjoying her life in spite of her disability. I am so blessed to have met her and the memory of her and her story will always rise to the top of all of my many memories of this journey. Thank you, Lillyanna.

Looking Back-the Military-and a new take on war

As I look back over my trip, I try to recollect the things that have stood out to me the most..the things I will remember, the things that will change the way I look at life and the world. A trip like this should change you if you were paying attention along the way. One lasting impression for me is my take on the military. I have always been aware of the men and women of the military, mostly from afar, other than having gotten to know many wonderful veterans that I have met here at Del Webb. Also, living in a military city like Charleston has allowed me to meet many service men and women, but I never really got to see them do what they do so well as on this trip. The personnel that helped us along the way with our journey could not have been more professional or courteous. I do not know which challenge would be more difficult...commanding the Pacific Fleet during wartime, or having to deal with gray-haired retirees that have been sitting in a plane terminal for three days to a week trying to get a free flight to parts unknown....I think that the Pacific Fleet would be less of a challenge. But all complaints were handled with poise and restraint. And on board the plane they treated us so well, not like we were a nuisance. After all, we were really just hitchikers! The big thing for me was that the trip really made the war real for me. While we were sitting at McGuire AFB in New Jersey waiting for a plane to Germany a large group of men and women came in the door, about 20 of them, looking oh, so young. They had on their clean fresh desert khakis and their guns over their arms. The noise in the terminal came to a hush as they walked in. They were not joking and carrying on as you would expect young people to do, they were serious and somber. They sat down as a group and talked quietly among themselves, waiting for the call. When their flight was called they rose and filed up the stairs, and disappeared into their gates......we all watched them go. It was obvious that they were being deployed. I could not help but think of their mothers...and of how young they were, and how brave. They were not compelled to go, they volunteered. Their country comes first, not all of the other distractions that life has to offer others their age. I wondered how many of them may not come back, and knowing that, they go. The war became really real to me right then, and I thought of how many had gone before them. One of our flights back had a box in the cargo section marked "Personal Effects-Please Expedite"...the war is real, and I am ever so grateful for the men and women who are ready to sacrifice all to protect us....at the ultimate price. God Bless and protect each and every one of them....

We're Home!!!! (But it wasn't easy!)........

OK.....when I left off last time we were in Ramstein, Germany, having arrived there on Saturday night after a long journey. The hotel was awesome, I have included pics. It was a $39 luxury hotel in a huge building with incredible shopping and restaurants....oh, how I wanted to shop, but could not buy anything due to having only one piece of very tightly packed luggage.....and very little money to spare. I wanted to stay here so badly for a few days because there was SO much to see here in the beautiful Rhine Valley, but we had been told always to be sure to take the first flight out that we could, so we checked the flight schedule. Sure enough there was a trip directly to Charleston on Sunday, the next day. So we checked out of our hotel and walked across the street to the passenger terminal. There was a fight out to Charleston that morning....wow, were we lucky or what? So we signed up for the flight and nervously awaited for roll call as more and more people came in, many of them military dependendents, which had priority over us. There were 32 seats available and about 80 persons wanting to go, so needless to say, we did not make the cut. SO what now? No flights to Charleston for at least the next 2 days, and I knew I had to be back to work on Saturday. But there was a flight to McGuire the same afternoon, and a flight from McGuire to Charleston the next morning at 7:30....no brainer...we are going. So we flew out of Ramstein on a C-17 cargo plane (see pics attached) filled with lots of cargo including a 10,000 piece of communications equipment....tight squeeze but they took 31 passengers, including us. It was a 9 hour flight with 100 mph headwinds over storms, but the awesome US Air Force got us there safely. We touched down in McGuire and got another $39 room there with a 5:30 wake up call so that we did not miss the early morning flight to Charleston. Bleary-eyed we got to the airport and awaited roll call. We made the cut again! Then we were called to check in where they took our luggage...check....another move closer to C-ton. Then came the word, the dreaded word...the flight to C-ton is cancelled. A European dignitary had gotten the plane to shuttle him somewhere with his entourage.....so we were bounced off. The only other option for us was to fly to Andrews and hope for a hop to C-ton from there...so on to Andrews. Once there were found that there were 2 flights to C-ton.....the next day......uh-oh....knowing how frequently flights were cancelled I was not too keen on waiting around for another day and incurring another night's lodging expenses. There was Tom and I as well as 3 other men wanting to get home to Charleston so we rented a small SUV from Hertz and headed South. Yippee!!!! We were on our way home. One of the other drivers was a full Colonel with 43 years military experience and the other was a Brigadier General! We were being driven by a Brigadier General who headed up Special Forces in Afghanistan and all over the world. What a nice guy and we had some really interesting conversations coming home. At 8:30 Monday night we pulled into C-ton Air Force Base......what a journey. I did a recap of our trip: hold onto your hat:.....3 cars, 7 planes, 10 trains, 7 busses, 4 taxis and 2 vans including 7 hotels and one timshare. And a partridge in a pear tree. What an adventure....and what amazing people we met. I will be continuing this blog to share some stories with you of my observations and tales of some amazing people....I hope that you stay with me. And thanks for following our adventures........it was truly an amazing race!!! Stay tuned and enjoy the pics.....
I have included a sculpture at the Pisa airport of someone looking just like I did after having another flight cancelled.....some of our troops being deployed..I will talk more of them later, and pics of the plane......and a shot of our $8.50 ticket from Europe to the USA...

WE ARE FINALLY AT RAMSTIEN, GERMANY BUT YOU WON'T BELIEVE HOW WE GOT HERE!

WELL, WE HAD TO LEAVE THE TIMSHARE EARLY THIS MORNING SINCE WE HAD AN EARLY TRAIN...AND...ONE THING ABOUT ME IS THAT I USUALLY CAN SLEEP 24 HOURS A DAY, BUT IF I KNOW THAT I HAVE TO CATCH A PLANE OR A TRAIN, I CANNOT SLEEP. SUCH WAS THE CASE LAST NIGHT. I WENT TO BED AT NINE AND WOKE UP EVERY 15 MINUTES WORRYING THAT THE ALARM WOULD NOT WORK. I GAVE UP AT 1:30 AM AND GOT UP AND GOT READY TO GO. TOM GOT UP ABOUT 2:30 AND WE GOT READY AND LEFT THE TIMSHARE AT 3:30...SORRY MR. ROOSTER, YOU DID NOT GET US THIS TIME, WE GOT OUT! wE GOT TO THE TRAIN STATION AT 4:30 AM AND LEFT ON THE FIRST TRAIN AT 6:30 AM. iT TOOK A CAR, 2 TRAINS, A PLANE, A BUS, THREE MORE TRAINS AND A VAN TO GET US HERE TO RAMSTEIN AFB 13 1/2 HOURS LATER. HARD TO BELIEVE AND IT WAS A MAD RUSH FROM ONE TRAIN TO ANOTHER, WE ALMOST HAD TO JUMP LIKE INDIANA JONES FROM ONE TRAIN ONTO ANOTHER. THE ICING ON THE CAKE WAS WHEN WE WERE ON OUR LAST TRAIN THAT WE MET A YOUNG MOM AND HER 2 KIDS AND SHE INSISTED THAT SHE TAKE US FROM THE TRAIN STAION TO OUR HOTEL HERE ON BASE. SHE SAID THAT IF WE TOOK A TAXI THEY COULD JUST TAKE US TO THE GATE AND THEN WE WOULD HAVE TO DRAG OUR LUGGAGE FOR ABOUT TWO MILES, SOUNDS LIKE FUN WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN UP FOREVER, SHE WAS GREAT...HER HUSBAND IS CURRENTLY DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN. THE HOTEL HERE IS OUT OF THIS WORLD, JUST TWO YEARS OLD AND A REAL LUXURY HOTEL FOR $39 A NIGHT...MILITARY RATE....IT IS JUST GORGEOUS......AND IT IS RIGHT ACROSS FROM THE AIRFIELD WHERE THE PLANES ARE WAITING TO FLY TO THE
U.S.! hOPEFULLY WE WILL BE ON ONE MONDAY OR TUESDAY..WE ARE READY TO COME HOME. AT LEAST HERE EVERYONE ON THE BASE SPEAKS ENGLISH, SO THINGS ARE MUCH EASIER...RIGHT NOW I AM TOO TIRED TO WRITE ANYMORE SO........I AM SIGNING OFF...WILL POST TOMORROW.

CORTONA AND WE ARE MAKING OUR WAY HOME...WE HOPE!

Several years ago Frances Mayes wrote a book called "Under the Tuscan Sun" that was made in to a movie with Diane Lane that turned out to be a huge hit and made the whole world want to come to Tuscany. Well, that is what got me interested as well as lots and lots of other people. The book was based in Cortona, so that was one of the place I wanted to see. And it was worth it. It is on an extremely high hill and has one level street, the rest are at least built at 45 degree angles...there is a lot of huffing and puffing getting up and down thoses streets, but they are gorgous...the Italians have to be in really good shape to navigate these hilltowns.......I am attaching some pictures taken in Cortona and the inside shots of the coffee and the fireplace are taken here at the timshare. It has been a nice stay in spite of the rooster crowing in the am....but we are going to beat him tomorrow as we will be leaving here around 4:30 am to head for the train station.
The plan is to take a train from here to Pisa leaving at 6:30. Then we catch a plane from Pisa to Frankfurt Germany that will get us there at 2:30. From there we go to Ramstein Air Force Base...I am not sure how yet.......but we will get there. We have a room booked on the base for two nights. There should be a number of flights over the next few days taking us to the East Coast and hopefully Charleston. We hope to be home no later than Wednesday....but you are at the mercy of the planes when you travel Space A. It will be a cargo plane, so we will be sitting along the sides of the plane, but who cares...it is free....they say its pretty cold so I need to find a "Snugge"....(probably never find one here!)......we expect the trip back to be easier than the onet getting here unless it dumps us off in the middle of Alaska somewhere. We will get back to you once we are in Germany....I guess that the 10 or so words I learned here in Italy won't help me there!!! The locals here are really friendly and helpful, even if they speak little English. They are so pleasant.....
Caio for now....
Tom and Jackie

Montepulciano-what a wonderful place!

Since I have been thinking about going to Tuscany, I have been reading many books on the subject...about five or six, and two of them were written by an American who loved the area so much that he bought a place here. The town he lives in is Montepulciano so I wanted to see it after reading so much about it. The name of the book is "The Hills of Tuscany" and the author's name is Ferenc Mate...it was wonderful. Well, the town was all I thought it would be and more.....it was just about an hour from our timeshare and an incredible scenic drive......it, like the others is VERY old and rustic and set on a very steep hill....all of these Italians must have been trying at one time or another to escape from their enemies......we have really gotten some exercise climbing hills...but that is good! Our lunch was so good...I am showing you some pics of the cafe where we ate.....teeny-tiny to say the least, seated about 30 people and the kitchen was SO small, you will see the picture. If you ordered proscuitto, the owner carved it fresh while you were sitting there.....when it was time to get your check he came to your table and added each thing you ordered up on the paper tablecloth and told you the total.....amazing! It was a real Tuscan meal, to say the least. We had something resembling spaghetti called pici with meat and tomato sauce along with crostini with tomatoes....their tomatoes here are like nowhere else.....Tom ordered an expresso and I had to laugh at his holding such a teeny-tiny cup! But it was good......at least he said so, looks a little like mud to me, but it seems tht everyone here loves it.
It is time to start figuring out how to get back, we are exploring our options now....we have to probably get to Germany and then from Germany to home, we are looking for the least expensive way to travel....trains are cheap if you are traveling in one country, but if you are traveling through 3, it gets pricey...and it is Octoberfest for the next month in Germany....oh boy.
We will be seeing you soon, we hope! Love to all, Tom and Jackie

Day #4 in Italy

Today was a good day....we decided to return to Siena since it is such an incredible place. It is like going back into medieval times.....the hotel that we stayed at while we were there dated back before the 1200's...and we think that things in America are old! it is very crowded here this week due to the grape harvest......I am glad that we are not trying to get in this week, but will be trying to get out. We met some folks today from Boston.....we drove from here to Siena in our rental and the road was unbelievably scenic....I am including some pics......we got a little lost in Siena and ended up driving on roads that we weren's supposed to.....not good. We found a little grocery store and finally got some essentials. The food here seems more intense.....the tomatoes taste more like tomatoes, the coffee is excellent and strong, the eggs are eggier.....you know what I mean! I just wish the dollar was not so weak....it takes $1.40 per Euro so you have to add 40% to everything you buy so we are really watching it. Since our timeshare is on a farm we do not need an alarm clock...we have a friendly rooster that wears a watch and starts crowing at exactly 6:00 am and we just lay in bed and laugh....he crows for about an hour each morning.
Hope everyone there is well......we miss you and will start our journey back on Saturday....I hope it is not too hard to get back, we miss you all!
Love, Tom and Jackie

It's Lucky Monday!

Well, it is Monday and we finally got a car! Yay! And had some interesting adventures along the way......we got up early this AM to walk about 1/2 mile to the bus station dragging along our suitcase full of dirty clothes (no laundry facilities here at the timeshare)...we had to catch a bus into Chiusi where there was a car rental and a laundromat. On the bus was a large and very fun group of Austrailians whose mother had flown them all to Italy for her 70th birthday.....she comes here from Austrailia every year, she loves it so much and rented a villa for 19 of her children, spouses and grandchildren....wow....they were having a blast and were a lot of fun on the bus. When we got to the car rental there was a couple in there that were having a meltdown. They rented a car in in the States quite some time ago and paid $1300 for it and it wasn't there....I would have a meltdown, too! The were REALLY mad and yelling at the poor guy at the front desk and it really wasn't his fault....well, it turns out that they were not just from the US, they were from South Carolina, Pawley's Island,about 1 1/2 hours from us! Small world, huh? They ended up leaving and trying to find another car after threatening to sue the world. Then we ended up getting a free upgrade on our car, (the cheapest they had) to a Mercedes....small model but really nice and it is automatic, which is really hard to get here. What luck! Then we tried to find someone who spoke English to tell us how to get to a laundromat and no one understood us. We finally found a young gal in her car that said "follow me" and took us there....she actually had laundry there in the dryer!!! The only thing we came home without was groceries, we have been here 2 1/2 days with no grocery stores near or open. The one we found in Chiusi was closed all afternoon for siesta...so we had an ice cream for lunch and will go out next door for dinner. We have been on a really tight budget for meals and have not even been spending that much...just one meal out a day and we bring 1/2 of that meal home for later on........we could write a book on how to get by on a very frugal food budget....the food here is great!
Patricia, God BLess you for taking such great care of Barklee, he probably won't want to come home, and Jason, please tell Gabby that he was so right about Siena, we are going back tomorrow!
Catch you later with more pictures from today.
Caio, Tom and Jackie

AT LAST=PICTURES

As promised, here are some pics from Italy. Some are mine and some are Tom's...I am getting jealous as he is getting some really good shots!!!! The trouble is everytime you turn around there is something to take a picture of. So far here are some observations:
Italian men talk really loud, especially when you are trying to sleep
Italian food is out of the world, and quite cheap here
Spanish and Italian women are beautiful and very well-dressed
From noon to 3-4 don't expect much....it is down time
Italians take their time
Coffee???? No such thing......expresso
Transportation here MUCH better than in the states

Here are some of the better pictures....enjoy! They are of Siena and here near the timeshare.

ITALY

I am so sorry that there has been so little contact but the good news is that we now have Internet.....you will be hearing from us much more ....Bella ......... We are finally at our time share and......I have seen many beautiful places but never anything like Tuscany......it is really a piece of Heaven .......the timeshare is on the top of a mountain on a farm and you can see forever.....I have taken so many pictures that I will probably bore you to tears for years! The pictures are on my laptop so I will go through them and get them to you later today......the story of how we got here is unbelievable.....yesterday almost everything that could go wrong did......... We went to get our rental car to get here and Avis was closed for the weekend.....we waited on a park bench for three hours for a local car rental to open and when they did, there were no cars.... None for two days.....so we took a cab to the train station to get the train and got on the train....what a relief until they told us we had to get off the train because that one was cancelled..... We called the timeshare and told them that we were having difficult getting here....they told us to get on the next train and they would send a cab to meet us there and bring us to the timeshare.....trouble is it is way out in the mountains so it was a 42 Euro cab ride....about 60 US dollars.......but it got us here....thank God..... It was worse than the AMazing Race.... No money at the end.....but one we got here it was worth it all..... You will know when you see the pics later..... For now....Caio!

A few pictures and at last, Tony...but no pic of him...yet

At last we have some pics from Spain....like it said, it is beautiful
But in the meantime let me tell you about Tony. We met Tony in the parking lot in Charleston when we first arrived at the airport. His name is Tony Ramos and he is from Puerto Rico and spent 34 years in the US Army. He owns a home in Puerto Rico, Florida and lives on the base at Ramstein, Germany with his wife who is a teacher there. We buddied up with him while we waited for planes in Charleston and Dover.....he has been flying Space Available since the late 90s and has never paid for a commercial flight...he really is an expert. When none of our flights gelled, we decided to rent a car together to drive to New Jersey to try to get out there. Tony rented the car in his name in case we got out and he didn't...he HAD to be in Ramstein on Thursday.....when we got to NJ and his flight was cancelled he waited with us for five hours to see if we were going to get out. He didn't have to do that, he could have left and let us rent our own car.....but he stayed. When he found we were going out, he went ahead back to Dover to try to catch a flight out that night. About half an hour after he left he called to tell us that if our flight did not go out for any reason, he would come back and get us. He reluctantly took our half of the rental money before he left. He was educating us the whole time and told us many stories of his life.....he is going to meet us if and when we get to Germany to show us around. The Bible tells us to be on the watch because we may be entertaining angels unaware....I believe that Tony was an angel..not a real angel, but a human one. God puts these people in our path to show us the way when we don't know the way. Thank you Tony, hope to see you again soon!!!!!!!

A PLANE, SPAIN, and A GUY NAMED TONY

Sorry it has been so long since the last posting ..... It has been just like "The Amazing Race" here .... After driving to McGuire AFB in New Jersey to catch a flight to Germany we got there only to find that the flight had been cancelled......bummer.....however there was a flight to Moron AFB in Spain......which none of us had ever heard of .....well, at least it got us to Europe so we signed up to go.....about 34 of us.....we waited anxiously for roll call at 5:00 to see if we were getting on and we made it!......so after a few "technical" difficulties with the plane..... We were on our way to Spain..... The good thing was that this was a KC-10 refueling plane with regular airplane seating so we didn't have to sit on the sides of a cargo plane ....very nice , seven hour flight.......great crew of young men......no windows on the plane so we really couldn't see where we were landing... when we got off the plane we found that we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere....it is aTeeny-weeny Spanish AFB that allows USAF planes to land.....we were taken into the terminal which was about as large as our living room and were told that transportation out is difficult....they don't fly from there to anywhere......very fortunately we had a wonderful gal with us that speaks Spanish .....more about her later.......she managed to get the group of us that were going to Italy into a cab into the town of Moron where after running with all of our luggage and backpacks for about a mile, we got on a bus to Sevilla, a larger city with more transportation opportunities ......the ride was one hour and cost us each about seven dollars........ We arrived in Seville Spain last night and it is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen......food here is unbelievable and very cheap ....and we have a darling and ultra-clean hotel to stay in.....but now the difficulty is getting to Italy.... More later and we will introduce you to Tony....very sleepy now, haven't slept much..... I will post more tonite.....can't do pics yet.... Can' find an electrical adapter for my laptop.... But I will!

Love......Tom and Jackie

Space UNavailable

Still in Dover, in for the night, last flight of the day....no room for passengers, all cargo. Luckily there is a beautiful Air Force Inn on base, just gorgeous for $39 a night, so we are comfy. Going to try again tomorrow....her are 2 pics of the flight up.........

Tom and Jackie

OH NO....SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!!!!!!

Well, the trip really started out well. We got to the Charleston AFB , checked in, had plenty of time and sat dreaming of our time in Europe. We got through roll call and onto the plane, which is about the size of a football field, at least it seemed! Then came the news...a bad navigational light...about and hour to repair. Which means that we would get into Dover too late for either flight to Germany. And that is what happened. We got into Dover around 1:00 AM and found that there was nothing else going out....by 4:00 AM we were checking into a hotel in Dover.....not what I had planned, but with Space A it is all about FLEXIBILITY! Fatigue had set in and we both collapsed in our bed. Up in the AM after 4.5 hours sleep and back to the airport. There is a plane going out this afternoon, but if everyone shows up, it is full Another plane is going but carrying hazardous material, which right now doesn't seem like a problem to me... So our best bet is late tonight......so here we sit in the Dover airport....not quite Europe, but maybe we can pretend! However, we're meeting some wonderful people who have done this before and promise us that eventually we will have our feet on European soil, and it will all be worth it once we get to Italy,,,,,
Ciao for now....
Jackie

IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE A GO FOR TONIGHT!!!

We may have really lucked out! There is a flight leaving Charleston tonight with 54 seats, so we should be able to get on that one. It leaves here at 8:10 (and I work until 5!).....it goes to Dover and then there are TWO planes leaving at midnight for Ramstein, Germany. There are 40+ seats on one of those and they don't know yet how many on the other, so there is a GOOD chance that we will get out from Dover tonight.....that will get us into Germany about 1:00 in the afternoon (8 hour flight + 5 hour time difference) which is just a few hours ahead of us being able to check into the Ramstein Inn at a savory $30 per night...we will stay there three nights and check out the area.
So expect a lot of pics coming your way. No pics today since I am hard at work :-)
More coming soon. Please pray for our safe travels......and that Barklee doesn't miss us too much, but he is in VERY loving hands, in fact, he may not miss us at all!
Love,
Tom and Jackie

Tomorrow or Not Tomorrow...that is the Question!

Well, here we are...after making many phone calls to various bases, we find that Charleston has nothing at all leaving on Monday....Labor Day, no labor here. So now we are down to Tuesday or Wednesday. Unless we take the 8:10 flight out of here to Dover on Sunday night and then from Dover to Europe....however we do not know if anything is going from Dover abroad until midnight tonight...so we MAY know, or we may fall asleep before then. It is 11:08 now, so something tells me that Tom may be making a call.....I would always opt for a sure thing over a maybe thing, so we may just leave tomorrow night. My sons Jeff and Jason live about 70 minutes from the Dover AFB and said that if it involved an overnight at the airport they would come and get us, take us to Ocean City for the night and return us to Dover on Monday, depending on the time of the flight....so stay tuned, we should know something in the morning!!!

In the meantime my Rick Steeves Guide to Italy (given to me by a dear friend) awaits....along with eaplugs for the plane (VERY noisy plane)..but again, dear friends, the price is right!

Love ya,

Tom and Jackie

The Wild and Wacky Adventures of Tom and Jackie

Or better known as: We Are Leaving When?.. To Go to Where?.........Our First Adventure with Space A Travel!!!

There are many benefits bestowed upon military veterans with more than 20 years of service one of them being the ability to fly anywhere in the world, Space Available.....which to me is second only to medical care. Since I have the privilege of being married to a veteran, I get to fly with him. It was not until recently that I became aware of the endless possibilities of this privilege. Really? Anywhere in the world? Well, yes, as long as you leave from and fly into a military base....and most countries have one! With my love of travel, this makes travel to destinations only dreamed of before a reality. After having done a lot of research and asking millions of questions to those who have gone before me, I am ready to give it a try! Why wouldn't I?

There are a few quirks. First of all, you don't know exactly when you are leaving. Due to security restrictions, flight information is only given out 3 days in advance, so you need to call each day starting 3 days before you leave to see what is going out. And you hope and pray that there is a plane going to where you want to be, or going to a base where you can hop on another plane that takes you where you want to be, thus the term "military hop".....there are many retirees that do this a LOT, I mean they fly around the world and back......so nice when you don't have a work schedule to worry about. So here is the tricky part:

We want to go to Tuscany, Italy, where there is a gorgeous timeshare awaiting our arrival on the top of a beautiful hill in a beautiful part of Italy. There are no bases in Tuscany (too bad)...so we need to fly into Germany or Spain. We won't know which until a day or two before. So we have to have our bags packed. And we can't really make reservations for a car or a hotel since we don't know where will will be landing until the last minute. So you really are flying by the seat of your pants and have to be VERRRRRRy flexible, but remember, you are flying for FREE!

We should know tomorrow (Saturday) if or not we will be leaving on Monday. If not we hope to be leaving Tuesday, no later than Wednesday, so you will need to stay tuned to the blog.

Oh, another thing. The C-17 that carries us there is not built for passengers. It carries military equipment from Charleston to the rest of the world, mainly the Middle East. So we will be sitting in jump seats on the sides of the plane accompanied by anything from Hummers, to ammunition to God knows what. But remember, it is free!

What I DO know is that we will be on one of the safest planes in the world, flown by members of the best military in the world, landing on USA bases where we could not be safer. What a privilege....and an adventure. To me the journey IS the adventure, and I would love for all of you to join us! Please follow our journey day by day. The only days I won't be able to get my blog out is if there is no internet access...but I will get it to you eventually.

Please follow our journey, dear friends and family...you may find it very funny!!!!!

We love you,

Tom and Jackie