Planes, Limos, Taxis and Automobiles

Anika posing as Shrek with her ear plugs in and of course binky in tow.

Getting ready for take off, even Lola, Zander's puppy, had a seat, at no extra cost.

Inside the empty cargo plane.

Lola!

Our luggage at the very end and the navigator.

Our C-17, isn't she a beauty!




John and Zander riding in luxery

Don't get used to it kids!

The Waskiewicz Family has returned to the Blogging world. It has been exactly 6 months since I updated our Blog. Sad, but we have been very busy.

We started off the summer with a bang. We decided to try one of the Space Available planes to the states and it is, just that, if the space is available. Out of 316 seats going to Seattle, our family had the last 5 available. We were so lucky, especially since it was the first flight since school ended. From there we flew to Alaska to refuel, since it is a military flight they must refuel at a military installation. The plane we flew on was a 747 with a flight crew and meals, free flight, can't beat that, but you are flying by the seat of your pants! It was 80 degrees in Alaska at 6:00 in the morning, I never knew.

Once we arrived in Seattle the rest of the trip was up in the air. Our goal was to get to the East Coast, if we landed in Dover we would drive down to Baltimore and surprise the Waskiewicz Clan. If we landed in the South we would go to my parents home in SC. You only know the flight plans 48-72 hours before they are scheduled to leave. We could leave from McChord AFB, which was about a 40 minute drive from Seattle or the other option was Travis AFB in California, it was just a matter of getting there. Before we left Japan I had been calling Air Force Bases all over to see what their flight patterns were and if anything ever went to the East Coast. There were a few flights to Dover before we left, but nothing once we arrived in Seattle. Once we got to the USO at Seatac I called McChord and low and behold there was a flight 10 hours later in the evening, scheduled for Charleston.

As most of you know I am not a fly by the seat of your pants type of person, especially when John and I are responsible for 3 children. Traveling like this was very nerve racking, but I prayed a lot and the power of prayer definitely worked. Now we had the problem of getting to McChord, logistics, logistics, logistics. I stayed with the luggage while John checked things (there were 10 bags of luggage, 6 carry-ons and 2 1/2 able bodied people to move it from point A to point B. John found a shuttle that was leaving in about 2 hours that would take us to McChord for $200. I told him to look at taxi options since we wanted to get to the base ASAP so we could check into billeting (base hotel) and get a few hours of sleep, since it had been over 24 hours since any of us had slept (Lexi had and she was the crankiest of us all). Just as john walked up to the Taxi cue a stretch limo pulled up and the driver got out and asked John if he needed transportation. A few minutes later we were all settled in and the kids were having a blast. The driver took us to the terminal on base to check-in and then dropped us off at billeting to get some zzzzz's. We paid half the cost of what we would have paid for the shuttle, got there in half the time, in luxury and the kids were entertained.

Once we checked in we slept for about 6 wonderful hours, checked out and we had to get to the terminal which was a little less than a mile away. How in the world were we going to get our luggage and tired children there with no base taxis available. John, being the McGyver he is strapped luggage to his back, tied pieces together and managed. We looked ridiculous, but it worked, for about 200 yards that is and then we had to move things around. At that moment a young guy pulled up in a pick-up truck and asked if we needed a ride. He couldn't fit all of us in the truck so he made several trips. An angel was definitely watching over us. I told this young kid I was so thankful and he almost made me cry with his random act of kindness. It is truly amazing what a random act of kindness can do for people, an entire family.

Once we arrived at the terminal and checked everyone and everything in we learned we would be the only people, besides the flight crew on the C-17 cargo plane. We had lots of snacks for the kids, but opted to sleep rather than eat and hadn't had a meal in sometime. They asked us if we wanted sandwiches, which we didn't know they offered. We found out later it was a huge, fresh sandwich with fruit, a nutrigrain bar, 2 drinks and a candy bar (just what the kids needed). We were the only family in the terminal so we changed the channel on the TV and let the kids watch cartoons and run around without feeling that they were annoying anyone since we had the entire terminal to ourselves.

Once we got on the C-17, the flight crew was amazing. They were friendly and gave us a ton of pillows, blankets and ear plugs and showed us the best way to place the pillows and blankets on the jump seats so we would be comfortable. We were allowed to walk around, lay on the floor as long as there was no turbulence. If Zander and Anika cried, which they always do, no one could hear them, because it was so loud inside the aircraft. It was a beautiful flight. The kids cried themselves to sleep, while we cuddled with them on the hard steel floor, nothing that a few pillow and blankets under the hips couldn't remedy. I had my ipod on so I couldn't hear the crying and after about 10 minutes the kids were asleep for 3 hours, which is the longest they have ever been asleep on any flight, considering we have been on several 12-16 hour flights, this was amazing.

Once we got to Charleston AFB we took a taxi to the airport rented a car and drove to my parents house which was about 3 1/2 hours away. We arrived at my parents home around 1:00 in the afternoon and managed to stay up until 9:00 that evening, probably because we were so excited to be there without a glitch. Everything just fell into place. We definitely had an angel looking out for us. Space A NEVER works out this way, ask my many friends that have done it.

Flying on a C-17 was the best flight ever. Plenty of room, you couldn't hear the kids complain, no nasty flight attendants, no crying babies and the kids slept!

The way back was another story!

Alexis is one of the busiest in the family