Space A to Bahrain... in 2 parts

Aug 19th 2008Oh my gosh! What an adventure...so here I am sitting in a BOQ room in Rota Spain. SPAIN! I have never been to Spain before. So I will quickly recap how I arrived here.My plan was to go to Bahrain flying military Space A(vailable) out of Norfolk on the weekly 'rotator' to Bahrain. So I started my attempt last week on Monday and drove to Norfolk and checked in at the air terminal at the base there. Being the end of summer break for school, and the fact that I am a low priority travel category, I was realistic about my chances of getting out on the flight. So I show up Tuesday night at 'showtime' of 1900 (the time you have to be checked into the flight to be marked present for ticketing if they have a seat for you). The terminal is full of families heading back to Naples, but the flight was delayed 24 hours. So rewind to Monday,when I arrived at Norfolk Naval Station, I was given only a 1-day pass for my car (no base stickers on the one I am borrowing from my bro'-in-law) so I had called my friend Heidi to see when they would be moving into their new house on the Norfolk base. They weren't moving in until Friday, but so happens her husband Mike (who was a JO in VAW117 when JC was Skipper) was in town for a class and he would help me anyway he could. So being a gorgeous day, I went over to Little Creek where he was staying and we just went to the driving range to hit a bucket of balls. Then to Chesapeake Beach to grab a beer and some food. I dropped Mike off and went onto the beach where my friend Gerrie on 75th Street was giving me a bed for the night, or as long as I needed one. So on Tuesday night, I show up, flight is delayed 24 hours. I go back to the beach to Gerrie's.OK, so same drill next day. Show up on Wednesday and it is crowded but I wait it out. In the meantime, one of the guys on leave trying to get to Naples, ultimately Malta, puts his stuff down next to me which includes a rather oversized box with a kids basketball goal. I say "you carrying your toys around with you"? He ended up helping me figure this whole Space A game and showed me some websites to find military rates on commercial flights, and phone numbers for other terminals to check on flights. Mostly he was the humor needed for the situation and was very helpful. One of those people that talked through a smile. Well, he didn't get on a flight and he was higher priority than me and after being so nice and helpful I offered to give him a ride to the airport which is not that far away. Well, that is another story in itself, but he talked more in the car and he is a former combat medic that served with a marine unit in Fallujah. Let me just say thatthe PTSD cases are going to mushroom like crazy among the war veterans. This is a ticking b#mb. The long term affect still TBD.OK, so Jonette had called me when she got off of work from the night shift and said I could stay with her if I didn't get on the flight that night. That was great. I went there after dropping of the sailor at the airport, ate ice cream and watched the Olympics. It was great to just hangout. Got up the next morning and left to go back home by 10am and was at my door by 1pm. That drive on I-95 is straining, I got home and didnt get anything done the rest of the day. Our weather turned to atypically mild. August in DC should be hot and sticky and miserable, but we were able to turn off the AC the prior week and it was continuing. It peaked on Saturday and we had an UNbelievable day which I spent on the front porch with my neighbors enjoying wine, cheese and fruit. OK, another non-productive day, but it was incredible. So, the weekly rotator is scheduled for Tuesday night again. I drove back down that morning, had breakfast with Jonette and then went to the beach at 75th St. I didnt see Gerrie because she didnt get home from work before I headed back to Norfolk to get ready for another 1700 showtime. Arrived at the terminal and it was even more crowded than the week before. A LOT more families with kids. So it wasnt long before I was able to verify that I was not getting on that flight. But a very helpful young woman (pregnant) salior told me about the C5 leaving the next night, same time. OK, you probably don't know that I have been wanting to fly on a C5 forEVER! They are HUGE and amazing cargo transports. When they land they look like they are coming in so slow you wonder how they don't fall out of the sky. So Michael asked if they are bigger than a C130. Oh yeah they are.INSERT PICTURE HEREOK cut to the chase, I get on the C5 flight on Wednesday night. Now that I am a ticketed passenger though, JC's rank as an O6 (Captain) starts kicking in. I was able to wait in the DV (Distinguished Visitor) lounge where I meet Todd and Jill (he is a retired Navy Captain - a commanding officer of a unit in Rota Spain back in the 70's). Well, my husband is no slouch and so people treat me with alot of respect. I keep telling JC he is going to have to send me to charm school so that I learn proper etiquette and dont embarrass him or his rank. Then, when they call the flight for boarding, they let the DV's (Todd, Jill and me) up to the front of the line and we get our own shuttle van over to the plane. Nice! It will be fun when JC and I are able to travel together. OK so this plane is soooo big. Passengers walk up a flight of stairs up to the door of the plane about 30 feet up at the top. The passenger area is on the top floor (yes I said floor) of the plane with the cargo hatch on the first floor. They can transports armored vehicles on these babies. I always thought of them as the pachyderms of the airways. heheThe seating is bare bones, but let me tell you, I would take these seats over any commercial seats (except first class of course). It was comfortable. So it was time pull chocks and get outta there. I have never heard such an engine noise before in my life. The plane has 4 big turbo engines. Given the amount of weigh it can carry, it needs a big push to even get moving down the runway. The engine sound was powerful. We took off around 10pm or so, was told it would be an 8 hour flight but arrived in Rota on a gorgeous day (east coast time around 5am) a little before 11am local time. Now the gaming began again - we are spending the nite here and I need a place to sleep. So Todd and Jill totally adopted me. FIrst we checked on rooms, but told to come back at 4pm. So off to find some then lunch, and sangria! We ate at the golf course and bought our 'bottle' of sangria. Not bad for bottled and I got a buzz. :)Then we drove around the base (pretty big actually and the base is cohabited by the Spanish navy as well). Saw some boats and the housing areas (a lot of housing for both American and Spanish families - different electrical for each side of housing, so the American side has 110 electric). Then we did a quick trip into the town of Rota and took a look at the beach on the bay. Then off to another area outside of Rota so that Todd and Jill could say hello to their friends and check in. They are staying a week or so for vacation. Their friend is Juan and he is a former Spanish Marine that was in charge of security when Todd was stationed here. Lovely people. So we drove to the beach town Puerta Santa Maria and had a quick visit in their condo - really nice place, marble floors and big. A block from the public beach. They have growns kids and grandchildren and this was a big enough place for all to visit. (Like I want). Their daughter is visiting with herhusband who is American (former Navy helo pilot from Seattle). They chatted and caught up and I learned a bit of culture (Spanish food is not spicy hot, and the Spaniards will eat ANYTHING, the language diversity from region to region is more extreme than the difference between Boston and Alabama in the US, and there is a pepper called a pimiento say 'pimmy-ento' that is very tasty as I experienced later).Then back to base. Across from the base is a large farm of some kind that had windmills! I think they are beautiful and I was very impressed. I had heard about and wanted to see sunflowers - apparently the region is FAMOUS for growing acres and acres (like corn in Kansas) but that didnt happen.So back to the Q for rooms. We got them but they were in the enlisted quarters - single beds. So Todd went back and was able to get a VIP suite. I was fine where I was and EXHAUSTED so I stayed put for the nite. I did walk back to the same restaurant and got a salad and small pizza to take back to the room. I inhaled it! And I had a bag of m&ms for dessert.Well, as things go with Space A, the plane had mechanical problems and would be delayed. Well at least I didn't have to get up at 5am! I slept HARD until 9:30 and finally got up and went over to the terminal. I asked to offload my suitcase so I could change my clothes. And took advantage of the DV suite which had a funny smell at first, but a nice, big couch long enough for me to lay flat on... which I did for about 4 hours apparently (I have no concept of time and earplugs do wonders!). Time to get out of here for dinner, but since I didnt want to carry my 3 heavy bags, I left my suitcases and only carried the valuables in my back pack but I was concerned and advised against it. I called a taxi and headed back to the same restaurant for the 3rd time. The taxi driver spoke no English, and he had a TV on his dashboard - like where a GPS would go - in full view of the driver. Yikes! I went inside the restaurant and everyone was standing around the TV forthe Spanish basketball team in the Olympics. They won (not sure who they were playing. So unfortunately, I didnt get off of the base today to try that restaurant on the beach I was told about. It would have been problematic with all of my bags unless I rented a car. I didnt see any of the families here hanging out at the terminal to go out with... sometimes traveling alone isn't as much fun. I told JC it would be much more fun if he was here. I called JC who is now back in Bahrain from UAE. He is hoping I get there tomorrow, but nothing to bet on. Right now the flight is scheduled to depart here late late tonite. uh-huh right. We will see about that.Dinner with Todd and Jill at Venta Vaca - an outdoor restaurant with excellent Sangria, tapas and flan. ANd we ordered the pimiento peppers - they are green and look like chile peppers in shape, very mild and tasty!Saturday, really? already? Still in Rota. several false reports on the plane. Was hoping for a morning showtime but not going to happen. Stuck with decision to keep the room just to store my luggage vice be stuck hanging at the terminal. $71 for 6 hours as a locker for my stuff (an insurance policy for JC's MAC laptop and my camera) or possibly to have a bed to sleep in again tonite. UGH! My tab is running up. The worst part is there are no other flights out of here. I may end up having to find a commercial flight out of Madrid. And just how would I get there? Drive?And if I do get to Bahrain, will it be just as difficult to get back home? I hope for the return I will get on the rotator. That would be much simpler (unless that breaks too).Oh well, I guess I should go do something. Would like to find someplace different to eat today.