PCSing to Germany AMC Flight & Shuttle to Spangdahlem

I continue with the story of our PSCing to Germany journey, our last leg of the trip, from BWI to Spangdahlem via Ramstein AB. If you’ve been following my previous posts about the trip over then you know that the first leg of the journey was a rough trip for Mac, thankfully the 2nd leg was much easier on him, a bit harder on us though, but really it wasn’t too bad.

Just to recap from the BWI post we stayed the night in BWI at a hotel and reserved it for a 2nd night until it was time to head to the airport for our red eye flight. We also decided to fly the Military Rotator (AMC flight) so that Mac could fly with us. Some of this is in the above post link, some such as the stuff about Mac, in the Tale of Two Tails post as well.

The AMC terminal opens in the early evening to start the check in process, it’s open for several hours to allow people to do so. We decided to go as soon as it opened to check in, that way we could make sure we all got seats together and not have to haul our luggage around anymore. This was a great plan except that Mr. B left my camera in our friend’s car so we had to wait for them to drive all the way back to bring it to us. We went to check in about an hour later than we had planned but it worked well because there were only 2 other families there checking in a the time. We had to take ALL the luggage, carry ons, dog in the crate, and everyone in the family. They had to take our weights and weigh all the luggage, including the carry ons and Mac in the crate. After that we were issued tickets and we checked in our luggage, this was so freeing, 10 less bags to haul around! This took about 30-45 mins to get it all done. I guess that’s what happens when you travel with such a large party & so much luggage 😉

I mean who could leave this face in the crate for a long time?

We took the shuttle back to the hotel with our carry ons and Mac & his crate. It was kinda a hassle since the shuttle didn’t show up like it was supposed to, we had to wait 45-50 mins instead of the quoted 25 mins! We had used the shuttle several times and this was the first time we’d had an issue. We got back to the hotel in time to order room service for dinner and relax for a little bit before we had to go back to the Airport. This was so great because Mac was able to be out of the kennel, because at the airport they have to stay inside the kennel unless you are at the dog area taking them potty. I would’ve hated to keep him in there for a few hours before the flight PLUS the flight and shuttle ride. So if you are traveling with pets & kids I highly recommend doing this!

We arrived back at the airport just shortly before it was time to drop Mac off, about 30 mins before boarding time. The lines for check in were now HUGE, almost all the way back to the bathrooms, I was so glad we had gone earlier! After we dropped him off we went through security and only had to wait a short while before it was time to board, it was great not having to spend hours in the airport!

The flight was long, around 7 hours, but really when when compared to flying to Japan & Iceland it wasn’t bad. The worst part was that I could NOT get comfortable to sleep! When they booked us tickets they told us they put us together in a row, we assumed it was the middle row with 5 seats, because there are 5 of us, nope that would’ve been too easy. So it was 3 of us on one side, and 2 in the middle row next to other people. Luckily the flight wasn’t full and the boys were able to move and spread out. In our row Bea had the window seat, me the middle, and Mr. B the aisle seat. As soon as you got on the plane and took off they served dinner, we are talking about after midnight, so many people (like me) were trying to get comfy and sleep, not wanting to eat. Had I known I wouldn’t get comfortable and not sleep anyways I would’ve ate, especially after we found out what breakfast was. An hour and a half before landing they serve what they call a snack, to us on the plane it was breakfast, despite being afternoon time in Germany. They rolled out the carts and started handing out cheeseburgers! Even the flight attendants were wondering why we were having cheeseburgers, LOL! I didn’t eat mine, because I have issues and only eat burgers Mr. B cooks most of the time. I ate the chips and few other things but it wasn’t filling that’s for sure. I really wished I had remembered to pack some snacks in our backpacks!

Hello Afternoon! Nothing like trying to sleep for 7 hours and then having it be 1 pm when you ‘get up!’

After landing at Ramstein AB we had to deplane and go through the customs line. It was a slow process since there were only 2 agents and as we were creeping closer the flight crew came out and took up a whole line, limiting us to only 1 line. It took about 25-30 minutes which was long for the few of us that needed to use the potty! As we get to the customs officer he wanted to know where our SOFA stamp was. Turns out that Maxwell should’ve put SOFA stamps in our No-Fee Passports before we left, no surprise there that they failed to do the right thing. We had to spend time on this end getting it sorted out and now have SOFA cards to carry in the passports instead of stamps in the passport. So if your headed this way make sure your previous base stamps your No-Fee passports with SOFA stamps! Thankfully Mac was already waiting in the baggage area (with all the other pets from the airplane) and our luggage was waiting as well. We loaded it up and headed outside.

Our shuttle driver was waiting right outside the terminal for us. If you are flying into Ramstein or Frankfurt and need to get to Spangdahlem there is a shuttle service. It needs to be reserved at least 24 hours prior but can be reserved up to 60 days prior, which is when I reserved ours. You can pay with a credit card or have it charged to your TLF reservation. The only issue was that we had to wait on someone to show up, around 40 minutes, and then found out he had canceled. It was a small bus so it easily fit all our luggage, Mac, and another person & his luggage. The driver was great and was super knowledgeable about the area, giving us information as we passed important places. If I wasn’t so sleep deprived I would’ve took a pic of the bus, oops! The shuttle ride was about an hour and ten minutes, during the time we fought to try to stay awake to help with the jet lag, the kids crashed. I would absolutely use this service again in the future!

We arrived to TLF super tired and jet lagged, Mac was so happy to be out of the kennel! As you can tell from the picture above (I put him in for the pic) he wasn’t to thrilled about the idea of another ‘trip’ 😉 Lots of people often say ‘you don’t want to fly the Rotator’ and such BUT from my experience in the past, as well as this trip there is no reason not to fly it! It was a United contracted flight, and our fur babies got taken care of by the AMC staff at BWI & by military at the Ramstein terminal when we arrived, Mac was MUCH happier after this flight and it was much longer. The flight wasn’t full so we were able to spread out, and we were traveling with other military families who were going through the same thing thing we were. So if your avoiding a Rotator flight because of hearsay I challenge you to give it a try and you might be pleasantly surprised.

We are thankful we are done with the traveling part and are now hoping we can get settled soon and start enjoying all the amazing things that Germany has to offer!