MILITARY SPACE-A TRIP TO GERMANY

THE PLANNING

Early this year (2005) Ilse and I planned to go to Germany for a month as we had last year. We planned to go Military Space-A again. I have two books I ordered from http://www.militaryliving.com: Space-A Air and Temporary Military Lodging around the world. The two books have all the information you need to plan and enjoy space-a travel. My first step was to get the e-mail addresses of all the military terminals that there was even a remote possibility we would go through and e-mail them my sign-up sheet for space-a. You can get a form from http://public.travis.amc.af.mil/space_a/suusignup.htm
Copy and paste the form into your word processor and then you can fill it out and copy and paste it into your e-mail composer and send it to all the terminals at the same time. Most terminals will not reply so you do not know if they got it or not so print out a few copies of your e-mail and take them with you. If you get to a terminal that does not have you signed up, just show them the e-mail and they will sign you up as of the date you sent it. The order of priority for catagory 6 (retirees) is determined by the date you sign up. The sign-up is good for 60 days. I signed up 30 days before we planned to leave so that when we started back I would have been signed up for almost 60 days.

Most terminals have a recording with the flights scheduled for the next two days. They say for security reasons they cannot give schedules for longer than that. I guess they have not noticed that commercial airlines publish their schedules many months in advance. I had been calling the March terminal recording every couple of days to check on flights (951-655-2913) and finally one Saturday about the middle of May there was a KC-135 scheduled out the following Monday going nonstop to Geilenkirchen, Germany. It is a NATO base with AWACS airplanes north of Aachen and the AWACS are supplied air refueling support by National Air Guard refueling units from all over the US. The units rotate the duty and each unit is required to provide 10 days support about every 14 months. We were just lucky to catch one when we wanted to go. There were people from Utah and Arizona who came here to catch the flight. They were mostly Guard people who are familar with these flights. The deployment lasts 10 days so it is a nice way to go over for 10 days and then have a guranteed flight back home.

On Sunday, I called Hertz International to reserve a car. My Lodging book said here was a car rental on base at Geilenkirchen. The agent looked in her computer and I spelled the name for her and she finally said "Yes, we have an office there." I reserved a medium sized car and was given a reservation number and a quote for one month of Euro 931. I have a Hertz # One card and that makes it easy since they have all the information they need including my credit card info. I reccommend it. Then I called Spangdahlem Air Base billiting, which is about two hours from Geilenkirchen, and reserved a suite for 7 days. All set!! We packed for all kinds of weather. We also packed a lunch because there is no in flight lunches available at March. We carried coats and sweaters as hand luggage because it can get cold on military cargo aircraft.

THE GOING

On Monday morning I picked up $1,000 in cash from the Credit Union and went by the Recreation office to see about getting a long term parking permit. The right person was not there and they said there was no room. I informed them there was at least 150 spaces empty but the burocrats won. I then checked with the terminal and found that the show time had been moved up from 12:30 to 10:30. I rushed home and there was near panic as we threw the rest of our clothes in the bags and ran. We made it on time but as usual there was a long wait and 12:30 would have been fine. We made the flight but I was surprised that some people were ahead of us even though I had signed up 30 days ago. The terminal people were very nice and we finally boarded about 14:00. There were about 10 space-a passengers and about 30 duty passengers plus all the crew. There were quite a few of them as the aircraft would fly every day and extra crews were needed. There were several airline seats up front, most of them for the crew but they found two on the front row for me and my wife. The duty passengers had to sit in web seats in the back.

We got airborne about 15:00 and headed north toward the Dekotas, northen Canada, Greenland, and down over Ireland and Holland. Eleven hours later we landed at Geilenkirchen to cold, windy and dark weather. We collected our luggage and were bussed to German customs. They were not intrested in our passports but gave me and another guy, a guardsman who had been stationed there before, a ride to the car rental place. There I found out that Hertz did not have an office there. It was a local company who only rented cars that must be returned back there. The man running the place was American and was nice enough to get on the internet and find the number for Hertz Germany and called them and after much discussion found out that my reservation was for a Hertz office in Geilsenkirchen, not Geilenkirchen. Geilsenkirchen was about 100 miles north. Finally, my reservation was transferred to the nearest Hertz office which was in Aachen, about 40 miles south. The guardsman with me was nice enough to wait until I had all this straightened out and then gave me a ride back to the terminal. Also, while he was buying tax free coupons for gas, I asked th agent to sell me some. He said he could only sell them with a rental car license number on them. Then he took a license number from a car he had not rented yet and sold me 200 liters of high test coupons. On the way to the terminal we stopped at the bank on base and I got 600 Euros from their ATM using my March Credit Union Card. The customs people called us a cab and we went to the train station and caught a train to Aachen, then a cab to Hertz. All told about an hour and 30 Euro. The agent at Hertz made up my contract and it totalled 2388 Euro. I said "Whoa". Hertz had quoted me 931. The manager was called and he called Hertz with my reservation number and eventually the contract was rewritten for 931 Euro. They offered to upgrade me to a large Ford but it was diesel and I had gas coupons so I took a four door Renaoult. It was a four cylinder with 16 vaulves, a five speed stick shift and even had satellite radio. It was a great little car and got about 45 MPG. I didn't use all the coupons and after we got home I found the NATEX address on the internet and mailed the rest back and they refunded to my credit card.

OUR STAY AT SPANGDAHLEM

We drove down to Spangdahlem, about two hours. The nearest way was through Belgium for a ways but the map from Hertz did not include Belgium so naturally I missed a turn. Belgium takes the liberty to change the name of towns to their own language (they have three). We arrived in the late afternoon and checked in and were given the VIP suite. Sweet!! Two big rooms, two big TVs, golden faucets in the bathroom and a 19 inch laptop computer on the desk with high speed internet. Spang has won lots of awards for having the best quarters in Europe. After a week we had to move and they gave us a brand new suite they had just built for disabled people. Wide doors, a shower to let wheel chairs roll in, a stove, big refrigerator and dishwasher and pots and pans and dishes. We stayed there eight days.

Spangdahlem has F-16s and A-10s and there is much construction and I heard that it will act as a terminal to take the place of Rhein Main which is closed. It is located about 6 miles from Bitburg with its famous brewery. That airfield is closed but the US kept the housing, commissary, BX etc. It is located in what is called The Eifel, an area of rolling wooded hills north of the Mosel river. The Mosel is only a few minutes away and we went to some of the wine village wine fests. One of the first things we did was to go to the wine farmer we used to buy wine from when we lived in Germany and buy a couple cases of good Mosel Reisling. We also made day trips to Trier, an old town that was the Roman center for the area. The Roman city gate and colusium ruins still stand as well as baths and other ruins. It is a beautiful town to walk in and we had lunch under blooming old chestnut trees at a winery across from the Cathedral. The city of Luxembourg was a short drive away and we went there on a few days and had lunch on the market square.

WEISBADEN

Just before our time was up at Spang I called the American Arms in Weisbaden to see if we could get a room. We were lucky as a conference had just ended and they had 75 suites empty. The Arms is an Army hotel and is right downtown. We drove over in about 90 minutes and got there about noon so we detoured to one of our favorite places to eat lunch. It is a wine village about 15 minutes outside Weisbaden called Raunthal on a hill overlooking the Rhein and we are partial to it's wine and food. The wine makeing consortium has a restaurent. I got my schnitzel card punched and had as much of their excellent wine as I thought I could have and still drive. We drove around back and down to the keller and stocked up for the dry days to come. We checked in and I asked for and got five days. The Army thinks their suites are more valuable than the Air Force suites. The Air Force charges $36 for a suite and the Army charges $73 plus $6 per extra person. But I did not complain as a hotel room in downtown Weisbaden would likely cost ten times that. The Arms does not have a dining room but has a continental breakfast included and there is a bar at night. But the beauty of it is that it is only 10 minutes from downtown with all that that offers. Restaurants, sidewalk cafes, shopping, shopping, shopping. Big department stores. Exclusive boutiques. Bakeries with 100 kinds, butcher shops to make your mouth water, smoked hams, raw hams from France, Spain, Italy, Germany. Wurst beyond belief. Cheese that we have never tasted in the US. Butter that taste like real butter!! The basement of the city hall has a restaurant run by monks from a monestary in Baveria that makes the best beer you will ever drink. And food to match.

MOVING ON

When our time was up in Weisbaden we moved on to a town near Mannheim where Ilse has family. They had a small apartment for us to use and we were taken out to eat just about every night. Finally it was time to think about going home and I called Ramstein AB billiting and reserved a room. We went there on a Saturday and checked in at the terminal. There was a flight out Sunday going to Dover. We had hoped we would be as lucky as we were last year when we got a flight nonstop to Travis. I called Dover and reserved a room for three days. It was a good thing that I did because the aircraft, a C-5, was full of dependants and school teachers and retirees. At Dover, every one wanted a room and we were the lucky ones. Lots of people had to go downtown to motels. But we were not lucky with the flights. Nothing was going to California. After three days we were kicked out of billiting and went to the terminal to sit and wait. We spent one night there and it was miserable. The seats are not comfortable and there is not place to lie down. But next day there was a C-5 to Travis and I called and reserved a suite. We ate at the chow hall which is just across from the quarters and next morning checked at the terminal for flights to March. Nothing was on the horizon so we decided to drive home. I called Hertz and they said they could not deliver to the base but would reimburse me for taxi fare. The taxi was $20 and a one way car to Riverside was $61. Minus the taxi it was $41. They upgraded me to a Malibou and away we went. I came down highway 99 to avoid traffic and ran 80-95 most of the way. With a couple of stops, it took us eight hours to cover 515 miles and surprisingly, only used 15 gallons of gas.

MONEY MATTERS

Retirees are not allowed to use the BX or commissary in Germany but you can go in to cash a check. They will cash $300 pe day. You can also buy Euro there. However, I paid all my billiting bills with a credit card and got Euros from an ATM either on base or in a supermarket on the economy. We were able at times to shop in the BX annex. It depended who was on he cash register and how much you could distract so they would not look too closely at your ID.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Military cargo aircraft are not like airliners so expect some out of the ordinary conditions. For example, some times the cargo floor is exposed with all the tie down points and it is tricky to walk, especially if you do not have sturdy shoes. On most flights, sandals are not allowed. If you catch a hop on a C-5, you must be able to climb, carrying your hand luggage, up outside stairs about forty steps to get to the passenger compartment which is in the top of the aircraft. It has about 55 airline type seats. When we landed at Travis the wind was so strong that they could not erect the outside stairs so we had to climb down the internal ladders. They are very steep.