Adventures of Space-A Travel

This story is about Space-A travel. For those of you that are not familiar with it, active duty and their dependents and retired service members are given the opportunity to fly on military aircrafts or contracted commercial airliners if there is space available. That's where the name Space-A came from. These flights cost anywhere from nothing upwards to $29. This rate makes it a great way to travel around the world and especially convenient for those stationed overseas away from family.

I live in Germany right now and for the first year I became homesick and flew back to the states twice within four month of each other. Purchasing a roundtrip ticket for a flight that was 6000 miles away at $1200 per roundtrip wasn't a financially practical choice, so I decided to start doing some research on the procedures of Space-A.

There is quite a seemingly difficult process you must go through, but once figured out it is all worth it. I unfortunately will not be going into detail due to OPSEC reasons, but you can obtain the information through other sources. There are seasons of the year where travel is at peak levels and at lows. Of course travel at peak seasons will decrease you chances of getting on a flight. You must always keep in mind that active duty members have priority unless it is someone on emergency leave, so plan smart.

My first time traveling Space-A was during early February. Pretty low season for travel with all the holiday hustle out of the way. My journey started out with a four hour drive to Ramstien AFB. I was nervous and really had no clue what I was doing. I walked in luggage in hand and gave all my documents to the check in clerk. He marked me present, I waited for roll call, and actually made it on a flight! I could not believe how easy this was and was so mad at myself for not trying before spending all that money on tickets during my first year stay.

My flight is bound for Baltimore, Maryland International, and how lucky for me I was on a normal commercial airliner. Full service flight and it had televisions! This was great for $29! I arrived in Baltimore. Disoriented from travel and time change they lead us through the process of customs and baggage. To my surprise there was a huge line of elderly and girl scouts greeting soldiers and their families. They were handing out goodie bags filled with drinks and snacks for traveling. This really touched my heart.

I headed down to the USO so that I could connect with internet and check prices for a round trip ticket to my final destination, Las Vegas, Nevada. My ticket was booked, but I was not leaving until the following morning and ended up having to stay the night in the airport. After speaking to the staff in the USO, they informed me that there was an area that the airport closes down for service, but leaves open for military and families if stranded overnight. Okay, I was scared. I had never been in a situation like this before and I was traveling alone to top it off. I made peace with it and made the best of my situation. I decided to have a camp out!

The area was filled with stranded soldiers back from deployment and families just trying to get home. Everyone looked out for each other and it was a great sense of community. The airport even provided security walk throughs over the night to make sure everyone was okay. Once morning hit I was on my way home! Watching the Grand Canyon go by as we soared above it made excited and even more homesick. I finally arrived home and felt a huge sense of accomplishment. It was the first time I had ever adventured off into the unknown like that. Normally my travel is pretty structured. It was great and introduced me to another side of myself I did not know existed.

I have traveled six more times using Space-A since my first time. The most difficult being with my three young boys during the summer season. I cannot say I highly recommend traveling this way, but it really made for the greatest unexpected vacation. We visited Washington D.C. and went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This was on my oldest sons wish list of places to visit, so I figured we would take advantage of our being stranded.

We were stranded on the east coast for over a week, but eventually made it through. In that time I can say the USO's in all three states we visited trying to get on a flight back to Germany were a blessing. They provided everything from games systems, food, books, sleep areas and internet access. So, please support the USO's. They are an amazing organization. The passenger terminal did an amazing job too! They were very patient given that they had to stay open 24 hours to accommodate the delayed passengers. Patience goes both ways though. So watch out for those p's and q's!

The most important advice I can give anyone willing to travel Space-A is to pack light, bring your sense of humor, and lots of patience. It will get you through even the highest of travel peak times. The process of Space-A gets easier as you do it and just becomes routine. Sometimes it is really easy traveling, but you never know when you will find yourself in a scene like this …

Happy travels!!