Going Home, and the Ups and Downs of Space A Travel

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Well, things don’t always go the way you want them to. My brother-in-law Raphael gave us a ride to the base around 9am to check in for the possible direct flight to Charleston. When we left, it was showing online as tentatively 0 seats, but we knew things changed, often at the last minute. Besides, there were at least two other flights to the U.S. that day. We camped out in the USO lounge, until 11am when they announced that there would be no Space A passengers allowed on the flight to Charleston, due to the nature of the cargo, whatever that meant. We’d asked the guy at the check-in counter when we arrived and he’d said if they weren’t taking passengers on that one, he’d sign us up for the Patriot Express flight to Norfolk later in the day, which was showing tentatively 21 seats. A Patriot Express flight is actually a commercial airplane intended primarily for active duty and their families (and pets) on orders. We’d never tried for one of those flights, as they usually were pretty well full long before getting down to our Category 6 level.

Around 4 o-clock, our names were called for the Patriot Express flight! We went to check in our luggage, and just as we thought all was well, the lady at the baggage counter told us my wife’s Military Dependent ID card had expired. I guess I’d always thought her ID was Indefinite, like mine, but apparently was only good for something like 4 years. I’m not sure if retired military get divorced a lot, or there is some other unknown reason for that. Anyways, my wife was just as surprised as I was, because she knew she had to renew it periodically, but had apparently read the expiration date incorrectly. Being Spanish, she tended to read dates as day/month/year, whereas us Americans use Month/Day/Year but know it is different sometimes. In her case, the expiration date was 2019 Mar 22, which she read as March 1922. The lady at the baggage counter was nice enough to tell us where we needed to go to get a new ID, and put our luggage… sort of checked in, so we wouldn’t have to take it with us. We got lucky again when we left the terminal, needing to walk a number of long blocks, carrying our heavy carry -on bags, and a young lady getting into her car asked if we needed a ride. She took us to PSD (Personnel Support Detachment) where they make IDs and we got lucky again, because they were supposed to close at 4pm and it was 4:10 when we got there. Normally, the IDs are made by a civil service person, but since they were gone for the day, the duty Chief showed a regular Navy guy how to do it and we were off again, back to the terminal.

Back at the terminal, new ID in hand, we finished the check-in process and went back to the USO to wait for the boarding call, which with Space A is usually at least a couple of hours later. Finally, a bit after 7pm, they announced that all passengers for the Patriot Express should proceed to the security counter to check in. I’d noticed a whole lot of people hanging around the terminal, inside and out, so it didn’t surprise me when I saw how many people were already lined up at the check point. Knowing we had plenty of time, we sat in the USO for another 30 minutes or so, until the line got down a ways, then proceeded through Security. With no problems at the check point, we sat in the waiting area, waiting for the boarding call. While we were waiting, I leaned over my backpack I had leaning against a pillar to get something out, then went to stand back up, without realizing or remembering that there was a monitor directly above me. I banged my head on the corner of the monitor, and just felt the pain at first, then noticed blood running down my face. I put a hand under my chin and tried to calmly find someone who could help me. To the terminal staff’s credit, I was quickly surrounded by people wanting to help. After putting a paper towel on my head and pressing down on it, and then having to agree to all the ministrations of a medical person trying to give me bandages, gauze, disinfectant, etc., along with assuring her I felt fine and the bleeding had stopped, I returned to my seat.

Out Patriot Express flight was a Boeing 767, with plenty of room, 7 seats wide and at least 32 rows long. We were assigned 28F and 28G, and ended up having nobody next to us and nobody behind me. I was also surprised that my backpack fit in the overhead storage compartment, and that I didn’t have to fight anyone over my compartment. You’d think having seats next to and behind me I’d have been able to sleep well, but I guess I’m getting old, cause I only nodded off occasionally during the 8-hour flight to Norfolk. They did have inflight movies, but the screens were quite a ways away, and I’d already seen the first movie about Paddington. Not long after takeoff, they offered us food. I told you it was basically a commercial flight. My wife got the chicken with rice and I had the pasta. Both were pretty good, and our boxes contained a number of other things such as dessert, a small salad, etc. We landed at Norfolk Naval Base around 10:30pm local. I’d made reservations for a rental car, with Enterprise because Hertz was almost twice as much, even with my employee discount. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to get a car until the next morning, when they opened at 9am. Since we needed to have someplace to stay from 10:30pm until 9am, we decided to try the Navy Lodge, Navy Gateway Inns & Suites. They told us they had one room left, but it would be a bit more expensive, at something like 80 bucks for the night. Oh well, we were tired and ready to chill. We caught a taxi from the terminal, since the lodge was several miles away from the terminal. Yes, the base is that big. After a $15 taxi ride, we got to the Inn and were initially told they were full, but when she looked it up, they apparently did have a room.

We spent the next 10 hours in our room, napping, watching TV, showering, etc. Finally 9am arrived and my wife called the Enterprise office to see if we could get picked up at the lodge rather than spend 15 or 20 bucks for a taxi. The agent at Enterprise answered and told us she had no cars for us and had tried to call us yesterday to let us know. She may have called, but my phone was in Airplane Mode and didn't show any such call. When we asked if she had anything, she paused a few seconds, then told us she could rent us a minivan (versus the midsize car we'd asked for) at the same price of about $51 for the one-day, one-way, trip. We promptly agreed and asked if we could be picked up. Enterprise advertises that service, and sure enough, she said someone would be there shortly. We toted our bags back downstairs, checked out, and waited out front. Sure enough, a Toypota Sienna minivan pulled up. An older gentleman, probably late 70s or early 80s. with a cane (!) picked us up and took us to the rental car office just off base. It turned out the minivan he picked us up in was the one they were going to rent us, so we didn't even have to unload it.

Soon after, we were all set and on our way to Joint Base Charleston to pick up our car and turn in the rental car. After about a seven hour drive stopping a couple of times for food and breaks, we arrived at the base in Charleston. I transferred our baggage over to our car and followed my wife in it to the Charleston International Airport to drop off the rental van. After finding the right lane to leave the van, we headed home to Simpsonville, again stopping a couple of times for food and breaks, arriving at our home around 9:30pm. Unfortunately, my youngest daugther who lives with us already had plans and was on her night out, and her son, my youngest grandson Kai, was already for bed at my other daughter's house, so no big welcome home.

After all the trials, tribulations, and frequent boredom and/or frustration, I couldn't but think I wasn't so sure I wanted to do something like this again. I'm sure once I get settled in at home, and start reliving all the good things that happened, I'll want to at least do a vacation next year. Maybe another tour of the U.S., with one or more of our grandchildren, so they can experience things like Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, etc.

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