The last few days I had for my R&R were sadly spent without Jody due to the way leave days are charged and when my flight back to the Middle East was scheduled for so I ended up hanging around Germany for 2 extra days. Both of which I wish Jody would have been there for. As it were, we headed to the Frankfurt Airport early Thursday morning, walked to the security check point and said our goodbyes. From there, Jody started her long trip back to the States and I had to make a decision for how I would spend the next 48 hours without her. I had two options, one was to head an hour north to see family whom I have not seen since I was very young, or head an hour south to see a few friends stationed in Germany. I had tried to have my family reach our relatives in Germany to let them know I would be in town but was unsuccessful and since I would imagine it would be not only rude but slightly inappropriate to show up at their door and say “entertain me”…I reluctantly chose to head south. I spent the remaining time in Ramstein Airbase in Landstuhl, Germany. There wasn’t much we did except hang out and play catch up which is exactly why I really wish I had known I’d be staying in Germany longer so Jody and might have been able to change her ticket to stay with me…the knowledge wasn’t available to me so the original plans stuck. Bummer.
Saturday I got up early (5am) and by noon I was on my way back up to Frankfurt. Let me tell you two things the Germans got right, first is recycling….it was weird going from countries that didn’t care about trash to Germany which is very particular about what is trash, what is organic, glass, plastic etc….the second thing Germany got right is the Autobahn….granted there are sections that have speed limits but im pretty sure most of the car ride I hit 100+mph and was still getting passed. Got to the airport, settled down at the gate with a sandwich and water….turned on my computer and bought an hour of internet…shame it was too early for anyone back in the States to be awake so I spent the day uploading photos to facebook (see links to all my albums on facebook in my previous post). The flight to Kuwait was just about 5 hours (nothing compared to Jody’s flight times) during which I watched “Austrilia” and “Bolt”…both should be nominated for Oscars…ahah…once I landed in Kuwait International, the DoD representative for military passengers heading back into theatre said that the next bus to Ali Al Salem, where everyone has to go to sign back in, was not for another 3 hours! Found a nice little Italian joint that made a really good pasta, ate and then headed into the Starbucks to get online. Yes, Kuwait has Starbucks, in fact they have a ton of them. Of course, for whatever reason, I was unable to get online so I spent my time writing…and that’s when I noticed it…behind a sea of turbans and man dresses…a sight for sore eyes…a Caribou Coffee! Unbelieveable! I’m pretty sure that Caribou is not as worldwide as Starbucks, keeping mostly to the midwest with a few shops in D.C. that I know about…but in Kuwait??? I need to write them! If they can get a store opened in the Kuwait International, they most definitely can get one opened closer to me in Virginia!! Headed inside, got their largest Carmel Cooler and spent a moment in heaven as I drank it…Mmm-mmm good!
Bus FINALLY left at 245am…got to Ali Al Salem around 4am…made my way to the MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) tent where I was finally able to plug in and get online and chat it up with friends but was cut short after what I was told was a 24 hour MWR closed at 5am…my bus to Arifjan didn’t leave until 6am…what is there to do at 6am? I headed to the food court and bought chicken nuggets and an oreo mcflurry…nothing like a balanced diet eh? 6am rolls around, the bus leaves and I am finally able to catch some shuteye, for about 20min until the bus hit another speedbump. Oh how I can’t wait to be back Stateside and not have to worry about speedbumps EVERYWHERE! Arrived on Arifjan around 0730 but where the bus is suppose to go to drop us off is blocked by MPs and cones that were in place for the duathalon taking place. Had I been able to get back to Arifjan last night instead of having to sit and wait and wait I would have totally done another duathalon! The one I did in November for Veterans Day was a lot of fun and I would have done another one in a heartbeat! Too bad. So back to these cones…the MPs wont let us pass (I totally understand that its for the safety of the participants) so the security team on the bus and our escort team just start driving all over God’s creation trying to find a way to get close to the drop off point…but it wasn’t going to happen and I told them what they should do since I knew the route the duathalon was taking…the one guy on the bus with us listened but the guy in the escort vehicle in front of us didn’t pay attention to the radio instead of arriving at Arifjan at 0730 and being able to head back to my room and get settled, we drove around for another hour…in reality, I could have gotten off the bus and walked the 2 miles back to my room faster than it took them to make a decision….ok, I don’t really complain that much so I hope you don’t take all that the wrong way…it was just a frustrating end to an already long LONG day….and now it’s 8pm my time and so far since yesterday when I got up I’ve gotten maybe 3 catnaps of 20min each in thus far…time to get serious again, no more goofing around…game face is back on. R&R is over. Next count down is for heading home to the States for the first time in a year.
The last few days I had for my R&R were sadly spent without Jody due to the way leave days are charged and when my flight back to the Middle East was scheduled for so I ended up hanging around Germany for 2 extra days. Both of which I wish Jody would have been there for. As it were, we headed to the Frankfurt Airport early Thursday morning, walked to the security check point and said our goodbyes. From there, Jody started her long trip back to the States and I had to make a decision for how I would spend the next 48 hours without her. I had two options, one was to head an hour north to see family whom I have not seen since I was very young, or head an hour south to see a few friends stationed in Germany. I had tried to have my family reach our relatives in Germany to let them know I would be in town but was unsuccessful and since I would imagine it would be not only rude but slightly inappropriate to show up at their door and say “entertain me”…I reluctantly chose to head south. I spent the remaining time in Ramstein Airbase in Landstuhl, Germany. There wasn’t much we did except hang out and play catch up which is exactly why I really wish I had known I’d be staying in Germany longer so Jody and might have been able to change her ticket to stay with me…the knowledge wasn’t available to me so the original plans stuck. Bummer.
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