Shipping your pet overseas to Germany

So we just finished our flight from Baltimore Washington International Airport to Ramstein Airbase.  It wasn't as bad as we had expected. 

A few notes on your pet carrier.....A lot of carriers come with plastic clips to hold them together, like ours did.  Most airlines require the top be bolted to the bottom, either by plastic or metal nuts and bolts.  So I just went to Lowes and bought a package of 6-1 1/2" machine screws and wing nuts.  I put the cage together and drilled holes on each corner and in the center of each sides.  I also bought the stickers and food tray from Petsmart and placed them on the carrier. Although Delta had all the stickers at the counter and added some "this side up" arrows to her cage. We had no issues with her carrier.

When we originally made our reservations with travel on post they had us on an airline from Atlanta to BWI that doesn't take pets.  MAKE SURE YOU CALL THE AIRLINE AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR CONFIRMATION TICKETS.  After I called the airline and found out they didn't take animals, I went back to travel and they booked us on Delta.  I called the airline to reserve our cat a spot as pet cargo (as opposed to flying in the cabin). You will need to know the dimensions of your carrier and the weight of it with your pet in it. Also make sure that travel books your pet on the AMC flight because they only carry 10 pet carriers per flight.

When we started our trip, we had to go to the "Special Services" counter at Delta to check in all of our bags and our cat.  They took all of our checked baggage and then weighed the cat in the carrier (she was 14 pounds total).  They added the  "up arrow" stickers and another "live animal" sticker to the carrier.  We had to pay a $200 pet fee.  They also added a form to the cage with some personal information you have to fill out.  After you are all finished at the ticket counter you have to take the pet to the "oversize baggage" drop off.  We took her over the oversize baggage drop off and a TSA agent had me take her out of the carrier so he could check it for safety.  After his 2 sec "safety inspection" they had me put her back in and they placed a zip tie thru the door to the carrier to keep it from accidently opening. We took her about 2 hours before our flight departure time. There is a sticker attached to the form from the ticket counter and when they load the animal onto the plane the stewardess is suppose to bring this tag to you to tell you that your animal is loaded onto plane.  Although, they changed our plane at the last minute and didn't let anyone board until late, so they were in a hurry to take off.  I asked the stewardess if my cat was loaded, she left.....then came back and told us the pilot saw her on the ground outside plane!  A few minutes later she came back and told me the ground crew assured her the cat was aboard. So a short 2 hr plane ride and we arrived at BWI.  We went to pick up our bags from the luggage carrousel and behind the luggage carrousel where oversize luggage is hand delivered through a garage style door is where we found Mrs Popoki.

 

After we got all of our luggage together we went to the AMC terminal, there was a really long line of service members there.  After we slowly made our way forward, about 30 minutes, we were getting close to the rope dividers and we noticed that there was a separate EMPTY line for "Soldiers traveling with family members and/or pets"!! So we moved over to the correct line and was at the check in counter pretty quick. Once at the counter they will check and weigh all your baggage first(even your carry on items).  Then they weigh pet carrier and you pay a $116 fee, they take your 6 page multi language form you get from the vet and make a copy of it.  MAKE SURE you have the forms filled out correctly a couple next to us didn't have the German part of the form filled out and had to call their vet to see if he could redo it and fax it to them before they could fly!!  They will attach the vet form in a baggy to the carrier and it too will have a ticket that will be brought to you before take off. 

 

After all is done they will have you keep your pet with you until 2 hours before take off.  So we took her outside to the pet relief area and put her harness and leash on her to let her stretch a bit(we had a 6 hr layover but by this time it was down to 4).  We also brought a gallon bag of cat litter and a 9x16 cardboard cake pan in our sons carry-on luggage.  To our surprise SHE USED IT even with the harness and leash on!!! 

 

After she walked a bit we put her back in her cage and decided to go to the USO and rest a bit.  We already knew this but just in case pets are not allowed in the USO, so my wife and son went in.  I placed all of our carry on luggage in the USO luggage storage area and left the cat in her carrier on the luggage cart at the doors of the USO.  Then she and I went on a stroll of the airport to get the humans some food.  Since it was late the only thing open on the non security side was subway, Duncan donuts, Starbuck and a bar.  So we grabbed some food and went back to the USO, my wife and son decided to come outside of the USO and eat with me on the bench.  After we ate it was my turn to go into the USO and my wife stayed on the bench outside with Mrs Kitty.  The USO is recently remodeled (hence the no pet rule) and has a very nice staff.  There are 30 really soft chairs in the TV room, free Wi-Fi, about 6 eating tables with chairs, a shower area, family rooms, lots of books and magazines to read.  There is free ice cream, snacks, water, and coffee.  We stayed there until they where closing up shop, they close at 2200 but asked us to start clearing out at 2145 so everyone would be gone in time.

 

Since our flight was at 2350 we took the cat back to the AMC terminal and the same man that checked us in was there with a pet manifest and checked her off the list and put her next to the other carriers going on the flight.  We went thru the security check point and on to our terminal area, again our flight was delayed by 30 min so we sat and waited till boarding. 

 

Once we arrived at Ramstein AFB we showed our IDs and passports then went to pick up our baggage.  The pets where all together on carts waiting to be picked up.  There was no 55€ fee that we thought we had to pay.  Then we went on to getting a briefing and separated by what areas of Germany we were going to.  Also make sure you all before you fly out and reserve a pet friendly room at what ever base you are going to. We made ours about 30 days out and was delayed by 1 day all we had to do was call and let them know of our delay.  There is a family who didn't reserve a pet friendly room ahead of time and ended up with the father in one room with the pet and the wife in kids in completely different building!

 

If you have any questions about shipping your pet just let me know.

Shipping our car to Germany

Well we successfully made our drive back from Texas and shipped the car off all on the same day! NEVER AGAIN will we try that!  It wasn't hard but we were exhausted.  We thought it was going to be harder than it was so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to correct any deficiencies that they found.

We went online to  https://www.whereismypov.com/ (type this in exactly as you see it, one altered letter will bring up 100 porn sights popping up!!, yea it happened to us!) and found out that Atlanta,GA was the closest VPC (vehicle processing center) to Fort Benning.  On the site it tells you what you are and are not allowed to keep in the car and what all paperwork you need from Lienholder or Lease holder.  The website is very informative, you can look up and see where the nearest VPC is to you and to where you are going. 

We got to Atlanta from a 15+ hour road trip back from Texas so you can imagine how the inside of the car looked. We stopped off and got our rental car to drive until we leave for Germany. We transferred all of the luggage we had with us over to the rental at the car wash (most of our luggage at this time was stored at a friend's).  Then we began the rush to detail and clean the car so we could take it to the VPC.  We vacuumed out the car real well, wiped down the leather seats, cleaned the windows and overall did the best we could with what we had at the car wash.  I took it through the drive through car wash and did the ultra supreme wash.  I had to wipe off a few stubborn bugs from the front bumper but overall it looked good.  I checked under the hood and it was just dusty, I did my best to wipe it down.  It was about 2pm and I wanted to get the car to the VPC in case we had to re-clean anything we would have time. They are open from 8-4pm M-F but when I emailed them to see if I needed an appointment they said no just make sure we were there before 3pm so they would have enough time to do all the paperwork.

Sorry for the poor quality pics but my rear camera on my iphone is messed up so I had to use my front camera for all these pics.

Once at the VPC you will give your keys to an inspector who will take it into the inspection area and you will go inside and start your paperwork.  I had to provide them with 3 copies of my orders and amendments (although website says 7), the lienholder authorization letter, and my vehicle registration form.  The clerk will give you some forms to fill out, address, phone and emails stateside; address phone and emails for overseas; point of contact of family or friend stateside; and sponsor info.  After you finish all your paperwork inside you will go out and do the walk thru with the inspector to check for dents, dings and scratches on your car. They are thorough, they even documented small swirl marks left from wiping off the car with a dry cloth.



They will provide a box to put anything you have left in the car.  We had our trailer hitch, tow rope, warning triangle, small tub of tools, windshield screen and owners manual.  When I got outside to meet the inspector he already had all of the items in the box and told me to check through it to see if it was all there or if he missed anything. He will also take off your license plates and place them in the box.

Once we went over all the cars scratches and dings he had me sign and initial the forms.  That was pretty much it.  He gave me a customer comment card and I gave them all excellent.  It was way easier than we had thought.  I did notice they had a vacuum and cleaning supplies in a corner so I guess if you had to re-clean something they would let you do it there, but our quick cleaning at the car wash seemed to be enough.

 

Along with all the paperwork you walk out with they will give you info on how to go onto the website and track where your car is.  The clerk also told me to go online and add the phone numbers when we get our German cell phones and let the VPC in Germany know when we arrive, so if it does arrive sooner than expected they will know we are there.

 

I have heard that coming from Germany back to the states is a harder inspection? Is that true? Let me know your experiences and/or hints for returning. 

Household Good shipment to Germany

We just received an Email on Sept 17th stating that our Unaccompanied Baggage (UB) arrived in Germany, It only took 30 days, I was expecting 45. It's there waiting on us in temporary storage until we arrive and acquire housing.  We are a little less than 30 days from our flight out and just had our House Hold Goods (HHG) picked up.  I wanted to let you know a little more detail about that. 

Kim and I have done quite a few moves since we have been in the service. Most of the stateside moves we chose to do the DITY (Do IT Yourself) move. That is where the Government will pay you 80% of what they would normally be charged by a moving company for you to move yourself.  We have done this so many times that I am now an expert at Tetris!  After the rental truck fuel and food expenses we have always ended up pocketing close to $2000 which is great when you are moving to a new area to get everything set up.

Going overseas you do not have that option. This is our second overseas duty station (Iraq doesn't count, LOL). Korea was our first and we learned a lot on what to ship early.  You can go to the first blog and read about our Unaccompanied Baggage(UB) shipment.  Having the shippers come may sound like a nerve racking ordeal but its really not that bad.  Before they come have a garage sale or sell your unwanted items online (bookoo, craigslist, or local FB page) this will save from having to unpack and store items you really could do without. Wash out all your trash cans before movers come so they don't stink when you get them back.

Clean out all those drawers that accumulate all crap, make sure all your trash is emptied.  We have heard stories of the movers packing up trash cans with trash in it.  What a nasty surprise that would be after 60 days!  Take everything off the walls and pull everything out of cabinets that is higher than arms reach.  If you don't want it packed, tag it with a note that says "DO NOT PACK".  We cleaned out one bedroom and placed all of our luggage and bathroom items in it and marked the door "DO NOT PACK".

I thought this was funny "Lady Clothes"

 

We also shipped a lot of our unopened dry groceries and canned goods.  We took them out of the pantry and left it on the kitchen counters and labeled the pantry "don't pack".  I also went and bought my favorite spices that the Commissary may not have or may have a limited supply. You need to make sure you take pictures of all your high value items and their serial numbers.  The packers should document the item on the outside of the packing box and write the serial number on the box. Make sure all the high value items are documented on the inventory sheets.

Also make sure you at least provide drinks for the movers. We always provide them lunch, we use to buy them pizza because its easy.  My son went to work for the moving company that moved our stuff into our house when we came to Georgia from Korea.  He told us he gets so tired of eating pizza, I never thought of that. So this time we bought sub sandwiches, chips and water from the commissary. I cut the subs into smaller portions too. The packers seemed to really enjoy it and so did the movers the next day (we had to go back and get some more subs for next day). 

Since we were going overseas the movers that came on the second day loaded all of our stuff into shipping crates.  This was great because we had some items missing years ago.  We did a stateside move and the movers loaded all of our items in a 18 wheeler and crated our stuff at their warehouse, we ended up with someone's waterbed parts and a few of their boxes, and they ended up with some of ours.  We did get reimbursed for it but it was aggravating. 

The only thing that did not fit into the shipping crates was our couch they had to put it into a "sofa box" and it will ship in the box instead of a crate. The movers had to leave and come back because they only brought out 6 crates to begin with. We ended up with 9 crates and 1 couch box.  I wrote a note on my inventory sheet about crate #9 because they did not seal it up in front of me, all it had in it was our elliptical machine and the side rails to our bed.  The movers were saying they might be able to ADD (build) two more feet onto the crate and fit the sofa in the crate with the elliptical.  We shall see :)

Right now we are living out of our suitcases for the next 7 days until we leave for a little family time in Texas, then its off to Germany!  I will post an update when we receive it in Germany.

UPDATE ** IT TOOK 32 DAYS FROM WHEN WE SHIPPED TO WHEN WE GOT THE EMAIL IT ARRIVED





PCS to Germany

Kim and I have been getting a lot of questions on PCSing overseas. We've been reading about the many problems people are having trying to get the gamut of steps completed and in a timely manner.  Korea was our first overseas move and we learned a lot from that move. We've also done SEVERAL stateside moves.  If you plan early and set up a good game plan the move will go pretty smooth. I started all of our plans close to 6 months out.  You can do a lot of things way early so you don't end up rushing in the last month. 

If you are going overseas the EFMP screening, review and approval is VERY time consuming, we started it 8 months out! For us, it took close to 6-7 weeks to complete.  It is very time consuming because ALL of your dependents must have been seen by an on post DR within a year, once the 5888 has been reviewed by chief EFMP office the recommendation is sent to Fort Sam Houston for their classification. After that the paperwork will come back to your duty station and they will let you know the results.......THEN that packet will be sent to the overseas location you are going to ensure they have the medical facilities in place to properly take care of your family members. I checked on the status of our EFMP screening EVERY Friday until it was in. You don't want your paperwork sitting in someone's INBOX for a month (IT HAPPENS).  Remember it is your paperwork no one cares more about it then you! Once approved by your overseas location your S1 will receive amended orders authorizing family travel. If they do not get approved you have two options: Call your Branch Manager and see if you can be reassigned to an area with a larger post (usually larger post means bigger hospital) or go unaccompanied (no one really wants to do that).

6 Months
After you start the EFMP screening you need to do your Passports. There are two kinds, NO FEE Passports and Travel Passports.  I suggest at least 6 months out to pay for and get your Travel Passports first (you will definitely want to travel), you can goto http://travel.state.gov/passport/  to fill out and print the application or you can use the site to find a passport office close to you. You must send original birth certificates along with the application.  If you have a reprinted BC, like we did on our youngest son, It must be a LONGFORM birth certificate which has more information than the reprinted one that we had. After you get the travel passports back in you can go on post and do your NO FEE Passports. These passports will have the SOFA (status of forces agreement) stamp in them to allow you to be in that country longer than a travel passport. You CAN NOT pick up your no fee passports until you have your amended orders saying you are approved to take your family members with you, that is why you want to do those after your travel passports.

There should be an Overseas PCS briefing set up by ACS that you and your spouse can attend. Make an appointment to attend this briefing for the both of you it has a LARGE amount of information.

4 months
About 3-4 months out check your Civilian DL and see if it expires during your overseas tour get those renewed.  Check your Military ID cards and make sure they do not expire while you are on leave.  If you have pinpoint orders you can call lodging overseas and reserve a room, you can give them estimated arrival time if you don't know when you fly then call back once you get your flight date. 

Make an appointment for you and your spouse to attend the Antiterrorism briefing and make sure you get the paper saying you both attended (you need it to clear). 

Go take the Drivers License test for whatever country you are going to (military member only). It's  a good idea to get this completed stateside so that you do not have to take it during your inprocessing overseas and you can drive that much sooner when you arrive. The place you go on post to get your 348 military license (or military bus license) is probably the place that you take the test. The host country licenses (USAREUR, AFI) are only good for that specific country so you also need the International Drivers Permit (IDP) to travel around outside the host country. Obtaining the IDP license is simple. Go to your local AAA office with your driver license, fill out a simple form and pay $15 for each licensed drivers in the household, no test required. This allows you to drive in almost all other countries that you will be around. The IDP is only good for 1 year so you have to renew it every 12 months while you are overseas that is why you need to make sure your civilian DL is current because they will not issue you an IDP if your stateside license is expired. 

90 days out
Call your Finance company on your car and get the Lien Holder Shipment Authorization Letter, for more info on what you need to do to ship your POV go to https://www.whereismypov.com/turnin.asp this is the site that you will use to ship your POV. If your car is paid off go to the site and see what all you need to do to prepare your vehicle for shipment.  I have heard it takes about 2 months from when you drop car off to when you receive it. We are not sending our car until a week before we fly so I will post another blog about it once we receive our car in Germany. We have saved enough money to buy another car when we arrive. We downsized our main vehicle for easy travel and fuel conservation and sold our 2nd larger vehicle instead of putting it in storage; it was going to cost more to store it than what I wanted and I would rather have that money to travel. Shipping a second car to and from Germany was more than I wanted to spend.
If you have animals, set up an appointment with the on-post veterinarian to make sure you have all the appropriate shots and test done before its too late.  For Germany you need a certain microchip, rabies vaccine no sooner than 3 weeks, a valid bilingual veterinarian certificate and a copy of your orders.  Save money because you are responsible for ALL the fees associated with taking your pet with you. Also there are breed bans in all overseas locations; we had to rehome our dog because he was a possible Pitbull mix and not allowed in Germany. Also when you go to port call to set up your flight make sure they know how many animals you are taking because Patriot express only allows 2 pets per family for more info go to http://www.amc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-110415-049.pdf  You will also need to know the dimensions and weight of the crate with pet in it for your commercial leg of your flight to a AMC Patriot Express location. Once your port call makes your commercial flight from your city to an AMC location you have to call the airline to reserve a spot for your pet. If there is no room they will set you up another flight.

Set up your HHG or UB shipment whichever you are going to ship first. We shipped our UB 60 days out and it arrived in just over 30 days, we shipped our HHG 30 days out and I hear it takes 60 days.  So when we arrive in Germany we will have our UB there and our HHG should arrive about the time we get into our house and UB set up. We were able to get a decent temporary couch on a local army spouse FB page that we will use stateside after our HHG and UB ship. We kept an old TV and mattress that we did not want to ship to Germany, but a cheap air mattress works too. When we leave we will take it all to Goodwill. Before the final movers arrive, pack and weigh your luggage with everything you plan on taking with you, that way you won't be forced to leave anything behind. Don't forget about the temperature changes, we are leaving the South to go to Germany in Oct so going from 90 degrees weather to full blown winter determined what we packed in our travel luggage.

Make sure you have your chain of command submit your PCS award and NCOER at least 90 days out.  I was suppose to final out on Friday but my NCOER was not complete so post will not allow me to clear until I have my NCOER in hand or a letter from my O5 saying I can clear without it, which is what I had to do. My chain of command was aware my NCOER wasn't done and we were planning on me signing it the Friday before I leave but apparently that doesn't work.
Have a garage sale before the movers come, Bookoo, Craigslist, and local FB groups are also a good outlet to get rid of unwanted items.
30 days
Submit your DA31. You can pick up your airline tickets 30 days out. Get with your sponsor overseas and have them set up your PO Box so you can forward your mail BEFORE you leave. If you live on post go to housing and put in your 30 day notice.  We are leaving on the 27th but due to the first of the month being a weekend and having an appointment on that Monday I wasn't able to go until the 4th to put in my notice. So housing will receive my ENTIRE BAH for the month of OCT, they will pro-rate those 4 days and mail us a check for the remaining balance.  Check up on your NCOER and PCS Award. Set up the USDA pet appointment for 10 days prior to your arrival date.  Check and see if you can do a "partial turn in" of your CIF and turn in everything you need to PCS so when you go to clear you can just get your papers stamped.
Final days before leave starts
Pack and reweigh your travel luggage.  Don't forget to pack some school supplies for your kids to start the new school with and put it in their luggage.  Start clearing, trying to do as much as you can each day so you can have some down time with the family. I can clear post in about 2 days with the exception of the appointments you have to make. You should have already had your first housing walk through and should be doing the final cleaning and mowing before your final walk through.  We paid a local neighborhood boy to weed eat the back yard for us.
Make sure you do your change of address cards and let all the local companies know your new address so they can send your final bills to you.  We didn't do that when we PCSed a few duty stations ago and I found out by looking at my credit report that we owed money to a utility company.  Some that you might not remember to change are; Ebay, Amazon, Paypal, USAA, college,  magazine subscriptions......then the normal, cell phone, cable, elec, other banks accts, finance companies(car, house, and loans) and family LOL.
We decided to go back to Texas before we leave for Germany but we are coming back to Georgia a few days before our flight so we can take cat to get vet certificate, ship our car and our flight is out of Atlanta.  We are leaving the bulk of our luggage with one of our friends in Georgia so we don't have to deal with it while we are on leave. 

I hope this helps you out, If you need anymore info let us know.  Have I forgot anything?

Shipping Unaccompanied Baggage

So today is the day we send our Unaccompanied Baggage and military gear.  We have decided to ship the UB 60 days early then our HHG will go 30 days before we leave.  We have ended up getting a donor couch for free and we have a king size bed we don't want any more, so those along with our clothes in our suitcases is how we will live for the last 30 days.  We have decided not to ship our car till the week we leave but have money in our savings account to buy a hooptie when we get there.

So even though we are able to ship 1025lbs for the three of us this is all we are shipping. After our tour in Korea we kind of got an idea of what we needed for this trip.  Although I did go through a lot of blogs to make sure we weren't missing anything.



We are also sending our 3 bikes with our UB, If you have a bike I HIGHLY suggest that you ship it in your UB shipment.  It makes a huge difference to be able to hop on your bike to get out and about until you get a car.  In the background you can see all my military gear that is going as well.  I prepack all of my expensive gear and lock them in tac boxes and duck tape the outsides so the corners cannot be pulled up to get gear out.  I also make a mark or sign my signature over where the tape ends so if anyone tries to remove the tape the marks don't line up.

So the things we suggest to ship in your UB are:

• TV and DVD player
• camping style chairs
• bikes and helmets
• some type of table to eat on (we use the fold up ones)
• a fan
• enough blankets for everyone
• pillows, sheets, and towels
• shower curtain and small rug
• weather appropriate clothes that wont fit in your luggage
• coffee pot
• laundry baskets and a few hangers
• air mattress and pump
• small lamp
• pots, pans, cooking utensils (the stuff from ACS usually isn't enough)
• paper plates, cups, bowls and eating utensils
• tool kit (hammer, a few nails, screwdrivers, a few screws, allen wrenches, level, tape measure, box cutter, adjustable wrench, pliers)
• backpacks (to use while you explore, or to bring things back when you are on your bike)

So this is what we have packed, have we missed anything? What are some of your favorite things to send in your UB?