My first military move - The journey from Germany to England!

So I have really been slacking on this blog!!! But now that we are all settled down in our new house & base in England, I thought I would share the experience of my first military move!

We had decided early in the year that we wanted to drive to England on May 5th, because it was the earliest time we could leave Mannheim! I like to plan ahead and get everything organized as far ahead of time as possible - unfortunately, the military doesn't work that way!!

After a lot of panicking from me & no sign of orders a month before we were due to leave, I was worried we would have to change our move day. But suddenly, it came together & we had my EFMP interview at Ramstein AFB on April 13. After literally sitting down for 2 mins, the panel stamped my paperwork – Dependent Travel Recommended – I was officially command sponsored!!!

Chris submitted the new paperwork & 2 days later, we finally had our orders in hand! Now came the fun part. We had to rush to get our Household Goods pick up scheduled & our military furniture picked up. Needless to say, the TMO office wasn’t too impressed that we had only given them a weeks notice to arrange a pick up & pack! Luckily they found a spot for us.

Once this was arranged, we had less than week until we had to move out of our beloved apartment. The last week was bittersweet – so sad to leave our sweet little town, Heddesheim, but happy to be heading on our next adventure!

The packers came and packed up our stuff on April 27^th. Me & Toby hid in the bedroom while the packers were here. They spent the whole day packing up our small apartment. Once they were gone, all we had was our inflatable bed & the stuff we would be taking in the car with us. It was so weird seeing our apartment empty!

Suddenly, it was April 29^th – time to move out of our apartment and into base lodging. We had our inspection, signed all the paperwork – we were officially homeless!!! Thankfully, we managed to get one of the only pet rooms at base lodging so Toby could stay with us. We spent almost a week in lodging – very boring!! Chris had to outprocess most of the time, so me & Toby passed the time watching TV & sitting at the window watching the birds!

Before we knew it, it was May 4^th – Day before the big drive!!! We had to take Toby to the vets to get his flea & worming treatments done for his pet passport. We were so lucky to find a wonderful german vet when we were there. After putting up a fight, we got his treatments done.

We drove home through Heddesheim to say goodbye – very sad, I was in tears, especially as we drove past our apartment.

Finally May 5^th – moving day was here! We woke up at 4.45am to be on the road by 5.30am. We knew it was going to be a really long, tiring day, but we were ready! We were worried how Toby would be on the trip – he HATES the car, but after an hour, he resigned himself to his fate & fell asleep on my lap for a majority of the 11 hour journey!

We travelled through Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium & France to get to the Eurotunnel to take our train to England. The journey was relatively smooth, although we got stuck on the Brussels ringroad in Belgium for 2 hours!!!!

After a very smooth ride on Eurotunnel, we had arrived back in England!! It only took us 3 hours to get up to our new base – RAF Alconbury! We were so exhausted but happy to finally arrive. Even better, we had managed to get one of the only pet rooms again!

After a relaxing weekend meeting new people, we went to the housing office to find somewhere to live!! We were restricted because hardly any of the houses allowed pets, but we stayed for over half an hour looking at houses. We were about to give up, when one of the housing office ladies walked in & handed us a new listing. It was perfect!! We called the landlady & arranged to view the house that evening. As soon as we walked in, we knew we had to have it!!! We couldn’t believe our luck – only 4 days after we arrived, we already had a house!!

We had less than a week to wait until we could move in. After killing time for that week, we moved into our house! Even better, we received our household goods the day after that – it had only taken 2 weeks for our stuff to get here! We unpacked really quickly and got settled in straight away. We love our big village, it is perfect for us!

Even though everythin was left to the last minute, we had the simplest, stress free PCS ever!!

2010 - what a year!

2010 has been one of the craziest & most amazing years of my life so far. Thought I would take a minute on New Years Eve to reflect and look back at all the great memories & photos.

The most memorable & life changing event happened on March 5th when I married the love of my life, after 3 years together (2 of which were long distance). It was a perfect day – even the weather cooperated! Here is my favourite photo of us from the day (also the photo that my parents & grandparents have in their houses).

Once the excitement being married wore off, it was time to face reality again. Chris flew back to Germany 3 days after the wedding & I had to go back to college to finish my classes. I made some great friends in ATL & I miss them all very much, especially Nitty & Felicia <3

Now it was time for another life changing event – moving out! I flew out of ATL airport on April 5^th on a night flight bound for Frankfurt. Saying goodbye to my parents was very very hard. After a smooth flight, I touched down in a very sunny Germany! I don’t think I have ever been so happy to see Chris! We came back to the apartment (the view still amazes me to this day) and met Toby!! He was cautious around me for a few weeks before he started to get used to me being around.

We have had lots of adventures this last 9 months in Germany. We have spent time in Bengel (a tiny town where Chris’s grandparents live), which is surrounded by beautiful scenery & the very picturesque River Moselle.

We live in Heddesheim, a small town in between Mannheim & Heidelberg – both cities have lots to see and do. Mannheim has a large water tower that is the symbol of the city. Heidelberg is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Germany due to the castle & the old town.

Me at Mannheim Water Tower

Heidelberg Castle from the Strasse

For my birthday, we drove down deep into the Black Forest to the town of Triburg to see the waterfall. It is the tallest waterfall in Germany – it is a hell of a climb, but worth it once you get to the top.

A couple of days after my birthday, I was talking to one of my friends Katie who lives at another base – Baumholder. There was a free show going on that night with Five Finger Death Punch (one of my favourite bands). We went to see them & OMG it was one of the best nights of my life!!!! Not only were we in the front row, but we got to meet them afterwards. I told them that it was my birthday & they all signed my shirt with happy birthday, as well as having a pic taken with the lead singer.

Chris was away for much of July & August so didn’t really get to see/do much in that time. We got some great news at the end of August though – we are moving back to England in May!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!At the end of October, we finally got to go our honeymoon! We went to Edelweiss, a military resort down on the German-Austrian border, with a great view of the Alps. We were only there for a weekend, but we tried to cram as much stuff in as possible. Neuschwanstein Castle is a place I have wanted to see for a very long time, so it was exciting to finally see it.

After having issues with our truck (resulting in us not being able to go to Berlin), we decided to buy a brand new car. We wanted a family car that would last us for a long time & we ended up with Christina, the Toyota Corolla!

December turned out to be an awesome month as well. We started getting snow every few days & then my bestest friend ever Ann flew over for a few days- hadn’t seen her in over 2 years. I don’t think I have laughed so hard in so long, those few days went too quickly & I missed her as soon as she left.

And so to our first Christmas as a married couple. For the first time in my life, we had a white Christmas – and it wasn’t just a dusting of snow, we were snowed in. On certain parts of our balcony, we had 20 inches of snow. We had a lot of fun (Toby too) playing in the snow. My first Turkey dinner went off without a hitch & we got some cool presents.

After such a fun filled & life changing year, I am excited to see what 2011 will bring us……..

Friendship is a funny thing......

So this last couple of weeks, I received good news & bad news regarding friendship. My best friend of 6 years surprised me & is coming to visit me here in Germany ( I haven't seen her in over 2 years!!). Then I found out a few days ago, one of my only good friends here in Germany is moving away in the new year.

It got me thinking about friendships & this military life. It seems ever since I got here, I have made friends only for them to either leave or ditch me. This used to get me down, but now I realise that I should just embrace the friendships while they last & make the most of them.

Now I feel I have a new outlook on the nature of friendships. I'm no longer going to get upset when I have to say goodbye to a friend (or lose a friend), I'm just going to savour the memories & look forward to the new friends I will make in the future!

Our honeymoon

So this last weekend, we finally got to go on our honeymoon after being married for 8 months lol.

We went to Edelweiss Lodge & Resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (http://www.edelweisslodgeandresort.com/home.html) - it is a military resort right by the Germany/Austria border. We arrived sunday afternoon after taking a little detour through Munich. The view from the resort is amazing!! I have never seen mountains up close before, so the Alps were stunning. We were exhausted from the long drive, so we just relaxed by the pool & hit the sports bar before getting dinner.

The next day, we decided to fit as much stuff as we could into the day. In the morning, we set out to Neuschwanstein Castle. I have always wanted to go there because not only is it beautiful, but also part of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was filmed there. It didn't disappoint! It was a long walk up the hill, but it was worth it for the view -

After a morning there, we had a few hours to kill before our couple’s massage. We decided to visit the Partnachklamm gorge, which is just round the corner from the resort. It was a long walk to get to the gorge (over 1km & half), but it was worth it when we got there. It was very damp & wet, but it was awesome to see.

We headed back to get our couples massage, which was so relaxing. I almost fell asleep! It really helped with my back and felt really good. We spent the rest of the night at the pool and at the sports bar.

We left early Tuesday morning to go back home. Its around a 4 hour drive – I was just so happy to be back with our toby!

Next weekend, we are going to Berlin which is going to be great!!

Things are starting to look up!

Well I haven’t written in a while, no reason for it, just didn’t have much to say!!! But on August 30th, we got 3 pieces of amazing news that have made all the stresses worth it!

Firstly, Chris kicked his PT test’s arse! The AF recently introduced new standards that made the PT tests harder. They increased the number of push ups & sit ups that they have to do in a minute, made the run time shorter & made the waist measurement smaller. Also, now if you fail one section, you automatically fail the whole test. As my husband is a bigger guy, we were a little worried before the test. However, he scored 88, the highest in his whole career…..can you say proud?!!

Second, we found out that we will be getting a ton of backpay and extra pay every paycheck. We can now pay off some of our debt, I am so happy! This will really help us start saving money for our PCS.

Thirdly (and most importantly), we got our assignment!!!!!!!! We are going to RAF Molesworth, England in May 2011. I burst into tears when Chris told me – I’m going home! More than anything, it was a huge relief. We now don’t have to worry about getting my immigration stuff sorted for the US for a while, and its a fairly simple process to bring Toby with us We will be there for 3 or 4 years, not quite sure yet.

Chris is away next week touring around France, Belgium & Germany to see WW2 sites – so jealous! Hopefully, this will be the last time for a little while that Chris will be away! We miss him so much when he is gone!

Introducing myself

Well, I've never done a blog before so I thought I would start by introducing myself, telling you a little about my life and how I became a military wife.

I was born and raised in England, and I am very proud of my English roots. I moved to Atlanta, GA when I was 19 when my dad got a job there. My latest move was to Mannheim, Germany where my husband is stationed with the USAF.

My family and friends mean the world to me, I would do anything for them. I'm a tidy freak, and will organize everything I can. I love scrapbooking, photography (even if it doesn't turn out too great) and travelling.

My husband Chris is my everything, I fall in love with him more everyday! We met when he was stationed at RAF Lakenheath in 2007 and we have been through a lot these last 3 years. We began dating 2 weeks after my 18th birthday - everything was perfect until we found he got orders to Germany for a few months time. We made the most of our time together in England before he moved and we begun our long distance relationship adventure. Not long after he left for Germany, my family found out my dad had got a job in Atlanta. We packed up our bags and left in October 2008 - increasing the distance between me and Chris by thousands of miles & a 6 hour time difference. Things were very tough, as I was trying to adapt to living in a new country whilst constantly missing Chris.

2009 was a very trying year for us, as Chris deployed to Iraq for 6 months and when we thought things couldn't get worse, they always did.. We only spent 6 weeks together the whole of 2009. However I did get to start planning for our wedding and discovered how strong our relationship was. Finally 2010 was here and things started to look up straight away. We had our dream wedding at a country club in GA on March 5th and I flew out to Germany a month later. I still pinch myself that we are finally together! We have a year left at this base, and we can't wait to find out where the Air Force is sending us next.

Hope my blog gives you an insight into the life of a young Air Force wife :)