May 29/30, 2011
Sunday was a quiet lazy day. The big event was going back to the base with Scott so that he could check his military mail to find out where his next duty station would be. They had sent a notice to his AOL mail that he had a new duty station – but didn’t tell him where, just to log on at work and find out. To make a long story short, he will PCS (permanent change of station) to Kunsan, Korea next February. This will be a year’s tour. And it sounds like he will get to take leave en route and come home for a short visit on the way from Germany to Korea. That’d be nice! After he did everything he needed to, I got to go online and check in for our flights tomorrow, and print boarding passes. Scott’s internet still wasn’t up, so no other way to print the passes other than at the airport.
Steve spent the afternoon detailing the rental car; Scott spent the afternoon studying his ALS material (ok, mostly by sleeping on the floor with it in front of him) and I read a book on my Kindle program on the computer. Later, Scott ordered pizza and we had a quiet dinner; then we got suitcases packed. We came to the conclusion we would have to check one. Luckily Steve had brought the backpack the boys had given him for his birthday – so he made that his “carryon” and checked his Rick Steves bag, filled with mostly clothes. We started to get ready for bed about 10 p.m. Then Scott remembered he hadn’t shown Dad his Aviano pictures so it was actually around 10:30 by the time we went to bed. Of course, pre-flight insomnia set in – so it was after midnight before I got any sleep.
Alarms – 3 of them – were set for 4:30 a.m. (my travel clock, Scott’s IPhone, and my Ipod touch) We were pulling out from Scott’s by 5:10 a.m. Scott told us to take 3 different autobahn routes to get to Frankfurt. Well, Nuvi decided that the fastest route was slightly different than that. Rather than taking the autobahn north then south, it cut us over going straight east to Frankfurt. Naturally Steve thought that was a mistake but we still got to Frankfurt in about two hours anyway.
Once in the airport area we had to fill up the car’s gas tank and then return the car. That was easier than we thought! Once we got to the car drop off, they scanned a code, then checked the car over and all was well! We took an elevator upstairs and we were at the departures terminal. Checked Steve’s bag, then had some time to kill. Bought some duty-free chocolate for Eric, used the restrooms, went through security, and still had over an hour before boarding….
The flight was long but ok. 10.5 hours is no picnic, and with it daylight all the way I didn’t sleep (and didn’t expect to.) So as I write this in the Dallas airport, I’ve been up close to 24 hours. Steve is thankfully sleeping in the chair next to me. He has to work first thing tomorrow morning, and I don’t have to work until 12:30. Thankfully.
Disappointed that we didn’t get the 777 we were scheduled to be on – so no backseat entertainment system, or power port at my seat. Did get to watch two movies though – Gulliver’s Travels and Karate Kid. Plus they fed us rather well – drink and snack service shortly after take off, then chicken or pasta lunch, then another snack later, then a deep dish pizza about an hour before we landed. We saw Michigan from the air as we went by. Couldn’t persuade anyone to stop the plane and let us get off, though.
This will probably be the last trip entry, as I don’t anticipate the flight to Grand Rapids to be eventful. Will try for a recap sometime this week if I can.
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