Carol
writes: Our train ride from Amsterdam to Kaiserslautern turned
out to be quite a trial by fire. Instead
of 4 changes of trains, we had 6…plus a bus ride! Just as we were congratulating ourselves that
we were handling the train changes with no problems, we were stunned by an
announcement that we would have to get off the train at the next town, which
was not a stop on our itinerary,
because the tracks ahead near
Dusseldorf had been closed due to discovery of a WW II bomb nearby! With little instruction what to do, the train
stopped and we were quickly ushered off onto the streets of a small German town
about 10 miles from Dusseldorf. After about
an hour of aimlessly milling around town trying to find a way to
get to our next train in Dusseldorf, all the while pulling our luggage, we were surprised to
see a large bus pull up out of nowhere.
Along with about 50 other stranded passengers, we raced toward the bus,
which then proceeded to transport us to the train station in downtown
Dusseldorf. Maintaining its first-rate reputation,
the efficient German train system had somehow managed to find a bus to rescue
its stranded travelers... Incredibly, we
were just in time to make our Dusseldorf connection! After that, the speedy ride to Kaiserslautern
on the German ICE train went off without a hitch.
Our wild day
on the German trains held one more surprise for us at the end of the day when
we discovered that the room we had reserved for the night at Ramstein Air Base was
not in the deluxe multistory hotel just a few hundred feet from the passenger
terminal. Instead, we had been assigned a
room at a remote location that was a $35-taxi ride away! At this point we were too tired to be upset;
at least we had a room for the night where we could relax and put the day’s challenges
behind us.
The next day
we changed rooms to the wonderful Ramstein Inn, where we had wanted to stay in
the first place. We were a stone’s throw
from the passenger terminal, and we had a modern and comfortable room.
We were in
perfect position to monitor the space-available seat count on all departing
flights, hoping soon there would be two spare seats on a flight—any flight to
the East coast—for a pair of weary travelers.
Strangely enough, for the next four days, we stayed glued to the Ramstein
Passenger Terminal’s Facebook page, the most up-to-date and reliable source for flight
information. I must admit that flying ‘Space-A’
is not for those who cannot roll with the emotional ups and downs of waiting for
a ‘space-available’ seat on a transatlantic flight. Seats are assigned on a priority basis and in
order of date of signup, with active duty service members having the highest
priority and retirees like us at the bottom of the list. Due to unfortunate circumstances, three of
the flights with the most seats to Baltimore had been continually delayed over
the previous 3-4 days. Thus, there was a
huge backlog of passengers of every priority in the terminal, many of them
families with small children, all wanting to travel on space-available seats to
the States for Christmas. At the close
of each day, when all the available seats had been assigned, we could always
spot tears on a few faces, usually the young mothers with very young children who
did not get a seat, poignantly the ones whose husbands were deployed who were
trying to make it back to the States to be with family for Christmas. Our hearts went out to these young families, along
with many large groups of active duty service members that we saw waiting
patiently in the terminal for their flight home. They are the real heroes, and they make many silent
sacrifices in support of our country…
We met several
interesting retirees who waited along with us for four days as the huge passenger
backlog gradually cleared out with each departing flight. We spent many hours in the terminal trading fascinating
travel stories, and we even received a few pats on the back for having the courage
to undertake our unique RV adventure; however, some of our new “Ramstein
friends” had tales to tell that were so much more remarkable than ours. There was the colorful retired former A-4
pilot/ER nurse who had traveled extensively throughout the Middle East for the
past 10 years, the retired senior couple who had biked many hundreds of miles
throughout Europe, and the retired American couple who were living their dream
in Ireland on a country farm in County Mayo.
The sense of adventure of these extraordinary fellow travelers certainly
inspired us to keep dreaming big.
After
waiting patiently for four days, we felt quite a sense of excitement when we suddenly
heard our names called for a departing flight.
We were most impressed when we saw the modern and well-equipped 777
Patriot Express. We had choices of
inflight entertainment with TV and games
and movies, and we were fed great airline food like I remember from 40 years
ago. In addition, we had an awesome cabin
crew who took very good care of us. The
best part of the experience was the sense of pride we felt to be flying home
with so many military service members, all dressed in camouflage uniforms. It really came as no surprise when there was an
enthusiastic round of applause as the pilot announced that we had just entered
US airspace.
At the
Baltimore airport, there was a small gathering of civilians who greeted the
troops with continuous rounds of applause as they exited the jet way. The frequent shout-out of “welcome home” directed
to the returning troops was very touching…
Knowing our
biggest challenge over the next several days would be jet lag, we decided to
spend two nights at a Baltimore Best Western near the airport. Simple things--like Best Western’s
complimentary breakfast of scrambled eggs and hash browns--seemed most
luxurious.
Two days
later we hopped a commercial flight to Jacksonville, where we plan to stay and
relax for the next month as we wait for our RV to complete its transatlantic
voyage. Presently, we are experiencing some
unaccustomed luxury in a room with a kitchenette at Naval Station Mayport—right
on the beach.
This week temperatures
are expected to get into the 80s, record-breaking even for Jacksonville at this
time of year. As we continue the battle
to overcome jetlag, I think soaking up Jacksonville’s warm sunny days might be just
what the doctor ordered.
“Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.” Margaret Thatcher
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