Across the Pond!

Day 3

1330 Local Time May 01, 2010 – 1830 Local Time May 02, 2010

Things started off I’d say shaky at best. We had a decision to make: wait at Dover and take the tentative flight to Spangleburg or take a flight to Charleston AFB and try to take a flight to Rota. I made the executive decision: let’s try to go to go directly to Rota. After all, this would solve our problem with trying to remember the real name of Spanglefurt. So we crossed our fingers and did manage to get on the flight to Charleston.

This was good because then we got to see the second room in the Dover Terminal. We felt like now at least we were making some progress. Our plane was a C-5. We got in a little bus that shuttled us over to the plane, and then back to the terminal because the mission was delayed 30 minutes, and then back again to the plane when it was time to board.

On this C-5, we actually flew backwards. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. We didn’t *fly* backwards, but we did ride backwards, which is a little strange to get accustomed to when thinking about the movement of the plane but otherwise, if I hadn’t known I was going backwards then I probably wouldn’t’ve realized it except at take off and landing (I was leaning into my seatbelt at take off and back against my seat when we landed).The flight was easy; we did wear earplugs though to block out some of the extra noise the plane made. It was actually a cargo plane and when we exited we went out through the cargo hatch.

As it happened, the plane to Charleston was the same plane that was going to Rota that night. So when we got in, we marked ourselves present, sat tight for a couple hours (played on Sporcle.com which was funny…it only took 8 of us to figure out all 50 capitals of the 50 states). Lucky for us, there were 73 seats available, no hazardous material, and only 23 of us. So we climbed back on the plane, and received our $4.25 meals which included a hoagie, a full size candy bar, can of soda, water bottle, and individual pack of cheetos. We also got a blanket and travel pillow wrapped in cling wrap. For any of you thinking about wrapping my Christmas presents in plastic cling wrap, for your sake I don’t suggest it.

And basically I slept most of the plane ride. We departed at approximately 0100 hours local time and arrived at 1530 local time (a difference of 6 hours). After helping someone out with sending an e-mail to their son, we hiked over to the Navy Lodge and now I’m a much happier camper because I’m clean and my hair doesn’t look like a grease monkey. The plan is to head out for some dinner tonight, and since I’ve stopped taking the cold medication I’m actually starting to feel a little bit hungry. =D

*~The Traveling Buddies

Location: Rota, Spain
Day 3: Over and Out