As I am sure many of you can guess, traveling with the military can be an adventure.
Well. That is an understatement.
The kids left Bangor the last week of May.
I left on June 1.
We spent about 6 weeks in Albuquerque NM with my in-laws. It was fun.
On July 8 we flew out of ABQ and went back to SeaTac. The plan was to spend Tuesday night at a hotel just off the airport and then leave on Wednesday morning. But, when we first went to the USO there at the airport. Thank heavens we did!
Come to find out that the chartered AMC (military) flight (on a civilian airplane) was delayed 24 hours
GRRRRRR.
I was, thankfully able to change my reservation at the Clarion for 2 nights, so our beds for the delay was set. BUT, that still left us with all of the plans and arrangements. So, after finally getting in touch with my sponsor (wonderful wonderful lady) my household goods delivery was rescheduled.
We are now set to receive HHG on July 15 and 18. Though we don't know which is coming first, Express Baggage or the bulk of the HHG's.
The kids and I hung out for the rest of Tuesday. Wednesday was a "fun" day. It started early, I was up at 4 and had the kids up at 4:45 am. We lugged all of our luggage to the airport. Three large suitcases, two small bags, 3 carry-on's, my purse, both kids, and myself.
When the kids and I got to the airport we quickly found the airmen and our line. The airmen insisted that we need not head straight to the line, but go and hang out at the USO until 7:30 am. Uhhh, ya. The line was already about 25 family groups deep. It was NOT going to get any shorter. So, we headed to the line at 5:15 am.
At 7:30 am they started the check-in process. We reached the counter at 8 and were out of the airport 15 minutes later. On a good note, we left with only the 3 carry-on's and one of the small bags. We were able to check the other 4 bags.
We headed back to the Clarion and got breakfast. After breakfast we all napped. After nap I took the kids swimming at the hotel pool and we had dinner.
Thursday morning was rather like Wednesday morning. We were out of the hotel by 4:30 and arrived at the and our line at 4:45 am. Thankfully, the airmen didn't wait until 7:30 to start checking people in. By 8 am we had our boarding passes, cleared TSA security, and arrived at our gate.
The plane took its time getting everyone and everything on board. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:50 am, but we didn't leave the ground until 12:30 pm.
The flight took 9 hours and 45 minutes and was LONG.
Kris, who will be back later today or tomorrow for the next step