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

It's time!