It's kind of anti-climatic. I still remember when I wrote my last post, thinking August was far, far away...not that far away, cause here it is! We arrived in Germany just about a month ago, and pretty much intact and not insane after traveling with pet crates, our worldly possessions reduced to a few suitcases and our two curious sons, who ended up being more interested in Gameboy than anything else. What can I say? Actually, I do have a few things to say...while they are fresh in my mind....of course about moving and some last minute ideas that helped us or could've helped us had I been smart enough to think it through in the first place.If you are about to move or are thinking about it any time soon, be sure to read my other moving/PCSing articles, and if you are off to Germany, read our Germany articles. I've also come to realize I should've paid more attention to the thoughts below:
- It's more cost effective to be living like a nomad in the States than overseas. The dollar is worth nothing more than dirt over here in Germany! We should've shipped our household goods early AND our vehicle early, to time their arrivals with our arrival. We rented a little shoebox of a car in Germany, for a month over here, to the tune of $1000 (and that was at a discount). We could've gotten something nicer and cheaper while back in the States.
- Research hotels in depth. We stayed at the Marriot, which was at the upper end of our limit, and in hindsight, we should've taken their PCS package. We didn't want to do that because it required a one month stay (and we thought we'd be out before then...wishful thinking...and thought they would charge us the full rate). Turns out, we could've still gotten the package but just paid 40 Euro a day extra to their government rate if we didn't comply. See, we didn't ask just assumed...always ask!
- Be creative with your eating and meals. Even though our Temporary Lodging Allowance (TLA) ended up being something like $700....A DAY...we still tried to save money. In fact, whenever we travel and my husband goes TDY or we get TLA/TLE in conjunction with a move, we try to make money on it. That means cereal or oatmeal for breakfast (we did have a mini-fridge and access to hot water, coffee and tea in the morning)....sandwiches for lunch and sometimes sandwiches or a hot meal for dinner. Marriot has three levels of members and top level membership means access to the top floor, which meant free finger food, pasta, drinks and whatever else they had up there. We requested to go up there, but my husband was about 100 nights stay short of the top tier membership. We found out later, that some folks who got the PCS package had access up there as well as a few others who just tried their roomkey in the elevator to get to that floor...and success. We obviously would've saved even more money than we did, eating lunch and dinner up there. Our first night at a modest restaurant cost us $80 worth of Euro. That takes some getting used to! Another thought, is to find a hotelroom with a microwave or kitchenette. All the military lodging was taken....many months ago, and they all have access to kitchens down the hall...at least they do in Stuttgart. That would've been ideal.
- Make sure your dog is the correct size for its kennel. Someone had to leave their dog behind and make arrangements for it later...kenneling costs=$$$$$. Check the airline's website and check what that airline's requirements are. Some are more stringent than others. Can your pet sit up comfortably and turn around and lie down? Check it out first.
- Check which airlines are the most pet friendly and take some thought into planning your route. We flew United. Lufthansa was also recommended. We paid $205 for a cat and a 100 lb dog. I talked to someone who flew Continental who paid a few THOUSAND dollars for two dogs. They must've been charged some kind of air freight. It would've paid for them to shop around (you DO NOT get reimbursed by the military for shipping pets). You can pick your travel route, and if you have pets, stick with United and Lufthansa and try to fly out the shortest route. We drove up to Baltimore and shipped our car from there, as well as flew out of Washington Dulles, making it a shorter distance for the pets than from Tampa, where we were stationed.
- Double check all your pet paperwork. We made sure to go to a military vet (and it was free) to get our pets' check ups and paperwork done. If you go to a civilian vet, you run the risk of something being screwed up. A friend ended up having to leave her two big dogs at Frankfurt Airport for eight hours because she was missing ONE SIGNATURE on her pet documents! An employee finally chose to look the other way and released the pets, but by then, the dogs had messed in their crates, they were upset, not to mention my friend had to make another three hour trip back to the airport to get them.
- Buy those absorbent piddle pads. Newspaper is just not going to cut it if your pet has an accident. Ask my other friend whose dog had a bout of Montezuma's revenge. A piddle pad would've helped, plus have wet wipes and know where you can get water access at your arriving airport in case you have to clean up a pet...or a child.
- Bring your unlocked mobile phone. You can bring your phone to Europe and use it as long as it is a quad band phone. Just make sure you call your cell provider and get it unlocked BEFORE you move. Then you can just buy a SIM card at any newsstand (or PX), pop it in the phone and use it. Just be sure to give everyone your new number. Incoming cell phone calls in Europe are free.
- Know what kind of car your rental car will be. If you think you are ordering a van, you're going to get a small SUV...at least in Europe. Someone found that out when they tried to put an extra large dog crate in their "van", which was really an SUV...had to pay extra to get a cargo van. Make sure all your luggage will fit! Our luggage would not have fit in our shoebox car, so thankfully we had a sponsor with a van pick us up at the airport...speaking of sponsors...
- Get a sponsor. If you know what unit you are going to, they should assign you a sponsor. A sponsor should send you a packet from the area (they can get that stuff from the ACS or the USO), know the area, make the hotel reservations for you, meet you at the airport and generally help you get your bearings the first few days you are here. Also pump them for information on housing. Housing is really tight in some places and a wait of one to three months is not unusual. Typically, you'll get moved out of a hotel after 30 days and then given temporary lodging, which are apartments with kitchens, until you either find a house on the economy (through the help of your housing office) or your name moves up on the onpost housing list.
- If you are moving to Germany, attend the newcomer's orientation. It is totally worth it, and you can find out more about it when your spouse inprocesses. They'll teach you how to get around on the economy, how to navigate the transportation system, teach you some German phrases, plus it's an opportunity to meet other new folks.
- Go to your new location's website. Every post has a website. Ours in Stuttgart even has links to the community newspapers and newsletters, calendars and even a newcomer section. Read what's going on and try to be informed before you get there. Each post has its own nuances and quirks and why not have a leg up on that kind of stuff?
- Find out the housing situation before you PCS overseas. Get the phone # for housing from the community or post's website. Give them a call. Many also have basic info on their website. If it's going to be a long wait for housing, you may want to consider deferred travel, where your military spouse goes over first, while you stay comfortable at home. Then, when he gets housing one to three months later, you can move right in. It's okay that your stuff isn't there yet. We are in our apartment now on post and have furniture provided by the military (which you can keep for your entire stay if you want; plus it's not as shabby as it used to be...imagine IKEA-like furniture). Plus, you can bring a copy of your spouse's orders over to the ACS lending closet and get a bin of cooking and household items to tide you over until your stuff gets here.
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