Dover to Rota

I woke up about 4am. I did my morning routine. I got my pack ready. I’m still new at getting my pack all ready. It is very bulky and I know I don’t need half the stuff in my pack. But I’m bring it all back with me.
I walked to the Dover amc terminal it was about 5 in the morning. Waiting to get manifested is very stressful and frustrating. You are gambling with your leave essentially. I have been in Dover for roughly 2 days. I spent money on a rental car and a hotel. Overall, is it less than a plane ticket to Europe? Yes, it is. In that way it is worth it. That’s the equation I will always use.
I boarded the c-17 with 28 other passengers,mostly families. The cargo was ammunition caches and passengers. I fell asleep at takeoff and I woke up 40 minutes into the flight. I copied my the person next to me and laid my self inflated mat out. I folded it in half and sat half way up with my legs out. If you don’t have a mat and you sat or went to sleep on the deck. You would end up colder than sitting in your seat. The plane is cold and the deck of the plane is even colder. By the process of conductivity if you don’t put a barrier between your body and the cold surface your skin will absorb that temperature. By the end of the 6 hour and 40 minutes flight I was in the fetal position curled on my mat. It was the best sleep I have had on a plane. That mat cost me $60 and it paid for itself two fold that flight.
I got to Rota Spain at 1025pm. I immediately started walking to my lodging. A nice lady named Isabella, who saw me walking, gave me a ride to lodging. I situated myself.
Then I went to get lost in the city of rota. I found a nice place to eat. I ordered with my broken Spanish and I went back to base.

I had this thought that I should write a guide book on how active duty miltary should ride spacea. It is worth a blog post.

July 4th

I started July 4th by flying from San Jose to Houston. I slept most of the way especially on the connecting flight to Baltimore. There were no flights to Europe front the pax terminal that night. I decided that I needed to fly from Dover to Rota. So I rented a car from enterprise. It cost me $398. I didn’t expect to spend that much money. It cost more because car rentals make money on travelers, especially people like me. Regardless I paid and went. I left at 8pm and the navigation estimated my arrival time to 1014pm. I pulled over half way through and took a two hour nap. I was still fatigued from the flight and jet lagged from guam time. I woke up and got a meal at Burger King. It was 1030pm and the drive thru and the restaurant were busy with travelers possibly from 4th of July festivities. Only three people were working and they were in the weeds. I felt for them especially for the manager. She was a beautiful late 20s early 30s woman. She had that white black mix to her, which made her face unique. Baltimore has a large black population so imagine her parents were a mixed couple. I know how it feels to be undermanned. I had a thought of helping them out. If at all legal. It was just a thought. I made it to Dover AFB by midnight. The terminal is 24/7 but no one occupies it. So I confirmed that there was a flight at 0630 Monday to Rota Spain. Only thing left to do was to sleep in my expensive rental car. That was my Fourth of July.

I was reading down and out in Paris and London by George Orwell. It was given to me by friends as a going away gift from Guam. I read a few pages on my flights. It pushes me to write. I will write consistently on this trip.