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