The kids and I few Space A flights all the way to Utah this weekend. For those not familiar, it means Space Available, and you fly on the military planes used to transport cargo and soldiers. I had planned on attempting to fly sometime this week, however, I had a strong feeling that we should try to go earlier. Here is the whole story:
Friday morning I woke up and started making phone calls; finding out what time the flights were this weekend, if I could get a hotel room things like that. After about 5 calls with a million questions, I had come to the conclusions that we would get up around 2 a.m. and start driving the 4 hours to Spangdahlem, where we would attempt to fly out. With Space A flights, you are at the mercy of the planes. If the flight is cancelled, oh well. If you get stuck, sleep in the terminal.
At about 1 p.m. on Friday I thought I should try calling the hotel one more time and see if there was a room available for us, even though there hadn't been 4 hours earlier. They gave me a room, so we left on a whim 2 hours later. The 4 hour drive turned into a 5 1/2 hour drive due to construction and a nasty storm. We arrived sometime after 9 p.m., and walked into this:
This hotel was bigger than our first apartment, and only cost me $40. Two bedrooms, two beds, plus a pull-out bed, washer and dryer... everything. Too bad we were only there a few hours.
We then drove to the terminal and got our names on the list to fly. We waited for a few hours to get on a flight, and luckily, we did.
Here are the kids getting ready to fly on a C-17.
This is the inside of the plane. Strapped down are the luggage and some cargo.
The flight from Germany to New Jersey was 9 hours. One of the benefits of flying this way was that we got to sleep on the floor. We had to bundle up and use blankets, but we all got a little bit of rest.
The second flight was from New Jersey to Charleston, and it only took about 45 minutes. But it was just long enough for the kids to fall asleep and be really groggy.
Bobble-Head Noah
Our layover in Charleston was about 4 hours, so the kids slept in the terminal.
The last flight we had planned to be on was from Charleston to Washington State. No cargo on this plane, just luggage.
We arrived in Washington at around midnight. I had made plans earlier in the month to stay with Pete's aunt and uncle for a few days in Washington and then drive to Utah, instead of buying a bunch of plane tickets. When I found out how late the plane was coming in, I called Pete's aunt and told her we would just get a hotel room that night becuase we were just so tired. As we were waiting for cabs, someone found the flight schedule for the next day, and noticed a flight from Washington to Hill Air Force Base, which is 5 minutes from my parents house! I quickly found someone to answer my questions, and it looked like I would get on the flight, so we stayed in the hotel, and made arrangements to fly the next day.
Sunday we camped out all day in the McChord AFB terminal. We hadn't had any "real" food since Friday, so I ordered a pizza and had it delivered.
There was family room in the terminal that made the stay a little easier.
We got on the flight and it took about 2 hours. The passengers consisted of us, 2 other couples and a bunch of soldiers. That worked in my benefit, because they all carried something for me. This was the only luggage on the plane, and the only thing that isn't mine is the black suitcase.
We left our home at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Drove 5 1/2 hours to the hotel, and slept for 5 hours.
We waited in the terminal in Spangdahlem for 5 hours, then took off at 10 a.m. or so.
Flew 9 hours to New Jersey, had a 1 hour layover.
Then flew to Charleston for 45 minutes, and had a 4 hour layover.
We then flew to McChord AFB in Washington on a 5 1/2 hour flight.
Stayed in a hotel all night (with little sleep) and then camped out in the terminal for 6 hours.
The last flight was 2 hours to HAFB, UT.
We arrived at around 9 p.m. on Sunday night.
The worst parts about this type of flying:
*kids falling asleep and trying to wake them up over and over
*the lack of food (no restaurants in the terminals, we ate snacks for 36 hours)
*carrying everything off the plane, loading a bus, and then repeating it to get back on the plane.
*not knowing if we would get on a flight.
*the length.
The best parts about this type of flying:
*we paid nearly nothing to get here; after hotel rooms and some food, we paid about $120.
*allowing the kids to spread out and run around on the plane.
I think I would absolutely do this again. Now that I know how to plan for it, I think we could easily do it. Now, we got lucky on all the flights. Some people who chose to fly out of the bigger terminal in Ramstein, Germany were stuck there for days. I can't say that I planned well; I feel like I did, but I also feel like we were blessed on this insane journey.
