I found out early in January 2009 that everything had been approved for the move to Germany. But life didn't start to get hectic until mid-May. The government hired movers to come and pack up our stuff; we scheduled it for the week before Memorial Day.
The Foreign Transfer Allowance authorized ten days of meals and lodging for our family after our household goods were packed up. The FTA only authorized the published per-diem rate in the location where our family was living (Anne Arundel County, Maryland for us) but there was no regulation that required us to use the FTA in Maryland. The best thing about the FTA is that the allowance was authorized for each member of our family (100% for me, 75% for Tina, and 50% for each of the boys). That gave us almost $200 dollars a day in food and over $450 a night for lodging. So we scheduled a vacation to Walt Disney World and the government paid almost all of the bill. We redeemed points from our Disney Visa credit card to buy the park tickets so that didn't cost us anything out of pocket either.
Tina wanted to go to Disney World before most of the public schools got out for the summer but the FTA isn't authorized until after our household goods are packed out by the movers. This was the biggest factor behind scheduling our household goods to be packed before Memorial Day even though we weren't scheduled to leave the country until July 2nd.
After our household goods were packed up, we went to the Maryland Zoo before our family membership expired at the end of May. Then the next day, Tina took the boys and drove to North Carolina where she spent Memorial Day with my mother at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science in Durham. She North Carolina early the next morning and drove to Florida. She spent several days visiting with a friend who lives outside of Tampa. I flew down by myself later in the week and then we spent the next eight days and seven nights at the Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. Oscar and Calvin liked driving the race cars, Tina liked all of the great food, and I liked the new Toy Story ride. We had a great trip and took lots of pictures. Afterward, we all drove back to Maryland together.
Before we left the country, we had a number of other adventures:
1. We flew to Las Vegas to visit Tina's parents and to conduct some very important business. Oscar and I flew separately from Tina and Calvin because I got bumped from an Airtran flight a few months earlier and had vouchers from that for two free round-trip tickets. Unfortunately, Airtran does not fly directly from Baltimore to Las Vegas so Oscar and I had an annoying layovers in Atlanta (flying west) and Milwaukee (flying east). Tina and Calvin flew nonstop on Southwest both ways. Because Airtran also imposes "capacity controls" on the redemption of free vouchers, it is hard to find good flights for the redemption of free vouchers. In the end, we settled for late-night flights in both directions. At least they were free. Oscar and I spent less than 24 hours in Nevada -- arriving on a late night flight and leaving on a red-eye later the same day. Tina and Calvin stayed an extra day.
2. Tina's return flight from Las Vegas to Baltimore was overbooked so she and Calvin got almost $700 in Southwest vouchers to fly a few hours later. She arrived home late at night with renters scheduled to move into our house the next morning. There was a lot of work still to be done. I was supposed to do most of it before she arrived but didn't get as much done as I had hoped. We worked hard late into the night to get the house ready for the morning. I got rid of some last minute stuff that was still laying around the house by posting an ad on craigslist saying it was free but had to be picked up "right now" (ie, 1AM). Somebody called 20 minutes later and came to take it away. Hurray for technology.
3. On June 20th, renters moved into our townhouse in Maryland so we spent that night in a local hotel (again, paid for by the FTA). The next day we drove to North Carolina one more time for our annual family reunion week at Holden Beach.
4. After Holden Beach, we drove back to Maryland for three more days of hotel living before leaving the country. June 29th was a Junior Orioles Dugout Club game so we went to see the Orioles one last time. Predictably, the Orioles lost the game.
5. On the morning of July 2nd, I sold our 1998 Honda Accord to a coworker (arrangements had been made ahead of time; the government would only ship one car overseas and we opted to have them ship the Honda Odyssey). The guy that bought the car gave me a ride to work and I spent a few hours there saying goodbye and boxing up the rest of my stuff. The office had a nice going-away lunch for me and then I got a ride to the hotel where Tina and the boys were waiting with all of our luggage. We took a taxi to Dulles Airport and waited for our 10PM flight to Frankfurt.
Next time: the first few weeks in Germany...
The Foreign Transfer Allowance authorized ten days of meals and lodging for our family after our household goods were packed up. The FTA only authorized the published per-diem rate in the location where our family was living (Anne Arundel County, Maryland for us) but there was no regulation that required us to use the FTA in Maryland. The best thing about the FTA is that the allowance was authorized for each member of our family (100% for me, 75% for Tina, and 50% for each of the boys). That gave us almost $200 dollars a day in food and over $450 a night for lodging. So we scheduled a vacation to Walt Disney World and the government paid almost all of the bill. We redeemed points from our Disney Visa credit card to buy the park tickets so that didn't cost us anything out of pocket either.
Tina wanted to go to Disney World before most of the public schools got out for the summer but the FTA isn't authorized until after our household goods are packed out by the movers. This was the biggest factor behind scheduling our household goods to be packed before Memorial Day even though we weren't scheduled to leave the country until July 2nd.
After our household goods were packed up, we went to the Maryland Zoo before our family membership expired at the end of May. Then the next day, Tina took the boys and drove to North Carolina where she spent Memorial Day with my mother at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science in Durham. She North Carolina early the next morning and drove to Florida. She spent several days visiting with a friend who lives outside of Tampa. I flew down by myself later in the week and then we spent the next eight days and seven nights at the Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. Oscar and Calvin liked driving the race cars, Tina liked all of the great food, and I liked the new Toy Story ride. We had a great trip and took lots of pictures. Afterward, we all drove back to Maryland together.
Before we left the country, we had a number of other adventures:
1. We flew to Las Vegas to visit Tina's parents and to conduct some very important business. Oscar and I flew separately from Tina and Calvin because I got bumped from an Airtran flight a few months earlier and had vouchers from that for two free round-trip tickets. Unfortunately, Airtran does not fly directly from Baltimore to Las Vegas so Oscar and I had an annoying layovers in Atlanta (flying west) and Milwaukee (flying east). Tina and Calvin flew nonstop on Southwest both ways. Because Airtran also imposes "capacity controls" on the redemption of free vouchers, it is hard to find good flights for the redemption of free vouchers. In the end, we settled for late-night flights in both directions. At least they were free. Oscar and I spent less than 24 hours in Nevada -- arriving on a late night flight and leaving on a red-eye later the same day. Tina and Calvin stayed an extra day.
2. Tina's return flight from Las Vegas to Baltimore was overbooked so she and Calvin got almost $700 in Southwest vouchers to fly a few hours later. She arrived home late at night with renters scheduled to move into our house the next morning. There was a lot of work still to be done. I was supposed to do most of it before she arrived but didn't get as much done as I had hoped. We worked hard late into the night to get the house ready for the morning. I got rid of some last minute stuff that was still laying around the house by posting an ad on craigslist saying it was free but had to be picked up "right now" (ie, 1AM). Somebody called 20 minutes later and came to take it away. Hurray for technology.
3. On June 20th, renters moved into our townhouse in Maryland so we spent that night in a local hotel (again, paid for by the FTA). The next day we drove to North Carolina one more time for our annual family reunion week at Holden Beach.
4. After Holden Beach, we drove back to Maryland for three more days of hotel living before leaving the country. June 29th was a Junior Orioles Dugout Club game so we went to see the Orioles one last time. Predictably, the Orioles lost the game.
5. On the morning of July 2nd, I sold our 1998 Honda Accord to a coworker (arrangements had been made ahead of time; the government would only ship one car overseas and we opted to have them ship the Honda Odyssey). The guy that bought the car gave me a ride to work and I spent a few hours there saying goodbye and boxing up the rest of my stuff. The office had a nice going-away lunch for me and then I got a ride to the hotel where Tina and the boys were waiting with all of our luggage. We took a taxi to Dulles Airport and waited for our 10PM flight to Frankfurt.
Next time: the first few weeks in Germany...
