Vacation Planning

Whew!  What a whirlwind.  I did not think this vacation was actually going to happen.  Australia/New Zealand has been on our travel bucket list and when we found out we were moving to the Pacific we made a mental list of some places we’d really like to try and get to while we were out in this part of the world.  Australia and New Zealand were on the top of that list.  I definitely did not think we’d be planning to travel so soon after arriving in Guam, especially since Mason’s already been off the island 3 times for work since we’ve been here, and we’re not really close to many other countries.  We saw a small window of opportunity in July and figured we’d try to take leave/vacation since Mason will be super busy with work in August and September and then we’ll be in baby mode the rest of 2016. 

When Mason was on one of his recent work trips I started looking into various things to do and routes of travel for Australia and New Zealand.  I entered my planning mode:  library travel books marked with sticky notes, multiple pads of paper with notes, several computer screens open, late nights of planning.  I made SEVERAL rough itineraries which would undoubtedly changed every time Mason and I talked about different variables. Then I had enough information to go on, and decided to table the project for a bit.  Since Mason was so swamped at work we really just didn’t think he’d be allowed to go.  His Commander basically told him, he wasn’t approving Mason’s leave until Mason could demonstrate that a certain project was underway enough for him to be gone for 2.5 weeks.  This definitely made me think our trip wasn’t happening, and not because of Mason’s capabilities, but because of how this exercise he’s the Project Officer for has been going.  Every time something on the checklist turns green, three other things turn red. 

Anyways, we found out on July 8th that our leave was approved!  Yay!  Mason HAD to be back to work on August 4th, so after scouring the Space-A schedule and everything else, we kept an eye out for a flight that was supposed to leave around July 11th. 

Andersen AFB happens to be a large stopping point for various military aircraft, so it is definitely a spot where we can attempt to utilize Space-Available flying.  This is basically a system where if there is a transport happening and they have room, they’ll open seats which allow military folk to travel for free.  However, there are MANY catches and the stars have to align. 

Since these flights are military flights, they can be changed or cancelled at any time.  You have to be prepared to wait, be stuck, or pay your way home from wherever you are traveling to/from.  There are different priority levels, and seats change constantly.  

The flight didn’t end up coming through Guam, so Mason worked that week and we decided to keep an eye out for a flight that would leave on July 18th.  Things were looking very promising.  The flight was scheduled, we could see that it was making its stops prior to Andersen, we went to the terminal here on base and got everything turned in to be on the flight, and then Saturday afternoon (July 16th) we saw that the flight was no longer listed on the Guam page.  After calling to get some info we learned that there was too much cargo on the plane so they weren’t going to release any passenger seats.  This was around 5:00pm.  After panicking (knowing that this was a possibility we needed to plan for), we decided to book our plane tickets for THE NEXT DAY!  It was pretty crazy at our house from 5-7:00pm that day, not to mention I had mentally been preparing that Sunday was going to be my packing/clean the house day, and suddenly I was having to get everything ready NOW, since it was 7:00pm and we were leaving for the airport at 3:15am!!!