Arriving in Germany was an experience that I hope the girls will remember forever. I know for me it will be memorable to say that I have been to another country. (Now I know that I have been to another country since I was born in Europe, but it’s a whole other thing to experience it as an adult and with the girl sold enough to remember. It was a sudden realization that “oh wait I forgot to learn how to read German” in my planning. Due to the delay in D.C. we knew we had missed our connection in Germany so once we took the bus from the plane to the terminal we made our first stop the ticket counter to check which flight we were moved to. That was the easy part; the hard part was trying to navigate the airport to find our terminal. As soon as we got our new flight information and tickets, we went to stand in line for our very first stamp in our passports. The girls were very excited to get their stamp and once we got them wanted to hold their passports so they could keep pulling them out to look at their first new stamp. Since we had to take a bus to the terminal we had to go through security which took a little longer to find then I thought would be necessary, but that could just be the fact that we were wondering up and down elevators, stairs, and walkways to try to find out how to get there. Once we finally made it through security to our gate, we had a chance to just sit, relax and really take in the fact that we were in Europe. About an hour before our flight was scheduled to depart we got a gate change and had to walk the airport maze again to find the correct terminal. While at the correct terminal we were chatting with some of the others who were making the final leg of their journey as well. Once couple had been waiting in Germany for three days trying to get a connection, after their flight from the states was turned around due to plane malfunctions.
We finally got on our flight to Italy :D This flight seemed so short, but it was so beautiful. The light coming over the Alps was one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen. It was just amazing to see the Alps slowly fade as we made our decent into Venice and the view of the water ways. The look on all our faces was priceless, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I was completely caught up in the view I would probably have pictures of the beauty of Venice. (okay to be honest here, I have no pictures from the time we reached the Frankfurt terminal to the time we headed out to tour the base the following morning, thanks in large part to the fact that I was just trying to take in as much of the moment without having a camera attached to my face the whole time) I did however find this photo from the view from the plane as we made our way into the airport.
The Venice airport area was much easier to navigate then the Frankfurt airport, and it took us just a simple walk down the staircase to reach baggage claim. The airport was extremely proficient in getting luggage going on the carousels, and we were getting our luggage in no time at all. While DH was lugging our bags from the carousel to where the girls were standing, I went looking for Jax. I was starting to get worried as there were four dogs located by the carousel; unfortunately Jax was not one of them. I wondered to the back of luggage claim and they were just getting Jax into the main area. I guess because of the size of his kennel they had to bring him in a different way than the others. The fun part was trying to move his kennel (with him in it) to where the girls and DH were waiting with the luggage. I got a few looks as I pushed his kennel the whole way there, and thanks to the others dogs barking and getting Jax barking as well, they probably thought I was taking the wrong dog. I finally got Jax moved, and then began checking that we had our entire luggage, while DH waited in line to exchange dollars for Euro (and if I haven’t mentioned this before never ever ever exchange money at the airport or you may experience a 17% commission as we did). To top off the ache of the commission, we were also missing a bag. Now I think that the fact that we had as many bags as we did to only miss one was pretty good, but DH made is way down to Lost and Found anyway. After looking up the number on the bag, we found out that that bag was loaded on an earlier plane, so when it wasn’t claimed, it was taken to the back. Thankfully they were kind enough to go and get the lone bag, so that we could load the trolleys, and begin to make our way to find our sponsor. Four overly loaded trolleys later we were on our way out the front to meet our sponsor and make our drive to Aviano.
Just as planned our sponsor was waiting just outside baggage claim to take us to the vans. We got the vans loaded and were able to let Jax out of the kennel for a bit to stretch his legs, after being cooped up for almost 18 hours. Once we got him loaded again we were on our way. The drive was very nice, we were able to see some of the small vineyards and have our first drive on the autostrada. We spent the drive having all our questions answered, and given the ins and outs of our new home. The drive was very nice and informative, and it took what seemed like no time at all to reach the hotel. Check in was a breeze, and we were back in the van to meet the new unit. By this time it was dark out and so it was really hard to see much of the base itself. For as late as we got to the unit it was surprising to see that most of the unit was still at work (now that didn’t really give me a great feeling to think that there will be a lot of long nights here). Everyone was very welcoming and our sponsor’s wife had even made up a wonderful welcome basket and left it at the unit for us to take to the hotel with us. The basket was full of snacks, juices, cereals, information about the base and of course a bottle of wine. After the meet and great, we headed to the hotel room itself to unload the luggage and sleep off some of the jetlag. All that was made easier knowing that we were in an apartment style hotel, with separate bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a shower to wash off the grime from the hours of travel, and once we unpacked and clean up it took no time at all to get the girls in bed and for us all to fall fast asleep, so that we could start our first full day in Italy well rested.
Okay so I know this is just a jumble of words, and it doesn’t flow very well, but hey I never claimed to be a great writer. I just hope that you can follow along well enough to get main points of our travels, and maybe one day I will go back and fill in with more details and a smoother read.
All in all our travel to Italy was pretty nice, there were a few bumps along the road, but anyone who has ever PCS’d knows that you can’t make a military move without a few hiccups. Thanks for taking the time to read about our journey, and I hope you will continue to follow us as we find out what else is in store for us in the wonderful, beautiful Italy.
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