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When we originally made our reservations with travel on post they had us on an airline from Atlanta to BWI that doesn't take pets.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





Our new toy

So Germany has a regulation for US Troops against bringing privately owned weapons into Germany. Don't get me wrong you can bring them over if you want to go through a dog and pony show and ALOT of red tape.

AE Regulation 190-6 says:
"It is prohibited to bring firearms into the Federal Republic of Germany until they are properly registered with U.S. Forces and German authorities. This cannot be done prior to being stationed here and completing the German Firearms requirements."

so if you do decide to get your FBI background check and approval from your first O-5 in your chain of command you can fill out the paperwork and then you:
 "Obtain a German Hunting License (Jagdschein) by attending and passing a local U.S. Forces Rod and Gun Club sponsored German Hunting Course, or obtain a Sport Shooter's Permit (Waffenbesitzkarte). The Jagdschein establishes need for rifles and shotguns and up to two pistols."
Once you complete all of this you can have a "authorized licensed gun dealer" mail them to you in Germany. Then after you register them with your local German town and with the MPs you are good to go. WHEW!!


This all seems like a lot to mess with if you just want something to protect your family with.  So after a little reading a research I figured out you do not need any special authorization or requirements for this.........

Yep that is our new toy/home security, its a PSE discovery 2 compound bow.  I chose this model at the Archery store because it can be used by all of us in the house.  It does not have a cam lock, it has a constant 30lb draw strength so it can be fired from any draw length up to 30".  Which for those who are clueless like we were, Jonah at age 10, kim and I can all 3 shoot this with out it having to be re adjusted to each individual person.  For me it pulls real easy I can fully extend my arm and have a proper draw with no issues. 

Here is Jonah with the professional at the Bow shop teaching him proper techniques.  He did very well. Although with the constant weight on the string he fired about 5-6 times and got tired.

If you look back at the first pick we also bought 2 FLU FLU twister arrows. These are urban backyard arrows.  The extra large fluffy flights on them slow the arrow down considerably when fired.  The sales clerk said to put a couple of rocks in a milk jug and have someone throw it in the air and try to shoot it with the FLU FLU arrows.  If you tried that with a normal arrow and missed there is no telling how far that arrow would go.

 

So what personal protection items do you prefer if you cant take a firearm?

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?