I separated the notes into four sections (they would be individual Word documents,
but I put them all together in this document):
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Space A Boot Camp
Pacific Space-A Travel
Tricks of the Trade, Space-A Travel
Traveling Light (but comfortably)
Sunday Session Space-A Travel Overview and Demonstrations
Space A Boot Camp
Speaker: Barry Canter (with help from his wife Pat)
These notes were taken by Ralph Soule (ralph.soule@soulefamily.org). Any
mistakes or errors are my responsibility and not those of the speaker.
Key points
• There is no charge for personnel traveling in government owned aircraft, but
there is a small fee for travel on a commercial contract
carrier(approximately $15-30) depending on the port. There is also a fee
for meals served aboard military aircraft.
• Space Available Flight (aka Space-A travel or military hops) is a privilege
afforded to military service members, their families, and service retirees.
The system accommodates these passengers by letting them fill seats on
Air Force air transport flights that would otherwise be left empty after all
the space-required (duty) passengers and cargo have been
accommodated.
• Space-A travelers may sign up for travel 60-days in advance of the desired
travel date. Passengers are categorized by priority of travel (one through
six, emergency leave highest, retirees lowest) and are processed in
priority order by their sign-in time (Julian date). You can sign up via email
and other electronic means as well as coming in person to the passenger
terminal.
• There are tools on the web supported by volunteers to help you choose a
departure point for the destinations you prefer.
• Space A seats are normally identified as early as 2-3 hours and late as 30
minutes prior to departure. It is recommended you check with the
passenger service center for the space available show time for the flight
you wish to take.
Resources
• AMC travel site: http://www.amc.af.mil/amctravel/index.asp. It has links to
terminal Facebook pages, travel information and documents, links for
email sign up, and general rules
• Unofficial: http://www.baseops.net/spaceatravel/. It has an overview of the
process, eligibility categories, FAQs, baggage allowances, AMC
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Passenger Terminal Contact Information (including fight recording
numbers), and regulation links.
Unofficial: John D's Space-a pages (a link at the top of the forums
on www.pepperd.com or you can go directly to http://www.spacea.net).
The site is very well organized with Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs) and has a lot of the basic information travelers need.
Unofficial: Dirk Pepperd's discussion board website (www.pepperd.com). The
forums contain discussion "threads" organized by topics like flight
schedules (posted by volunteers), trip reports, and other topics. It
facilitates posting specific questions and getting answers from others with
more experience.website is well-organized .
Unofficial: http://spaceamaps.blogspot.de has maps of popular travel routes,
terminals, links, and west/east coast/Europe terminals. It has "typical one
month flights" diagrams that show the average number of flights from a
particular departure terminal to other destinations during the month in
question. For example, in the diagram labeled "Flights From Charleston in
May 2012," you show a "6" between Charleston and Spangdahlem. That
means in May of 2012, one could expect there to be about 6
flights between Charleston and Spangdahlem.
Unofficial: Flight Destination Database, http://spacea.hopto.org. It has route
planning guidance and lists what bases have flight into a specific
destination and where you can typically go from a particular origin. This is
updated monthly.
Unofficial: http://spacea10.blogspot.com. Craig Hullinger's Info on Space A Florida to the World. Lots of great route information and maps.
Check out Armed Forces Vacation Clubs
Hosteling International (HI) at www.HIUSA.org, reservations world wide: www.
HI hostels.com
Website Space-A report. Lots of good information and tips (I could not find this
so I must have heard it incorrectly)
Documents Needed to Travel (see http://www.baseops.net/spaceatravel/)
• Identification cards (DD Form 2, Armed Forces Identification Card)
• Passports
• Immunization records, and
• Visas (when required by the DoD Foreign Clearance Guide).
Overseas Logistics
Credit card (some machines need cards with smart chip to get cash)
Getting Signed Up
• Ways to sign up: at the base, via email (make a copy of that request),
takahop.com (they have a $3.99 app as well), top of dirk pepperd's
website, most terminals have Facebook pages as well,
• Retirees can be on the sign-up list for up to 60 days so sign up 52-53 days in
•
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•
•
advance of when you want to travel. This gives you 7-8 days to catch a
flight when you plan to show up for travel and will make you very high on
the priority list for Category 6 travel.
The speaker lives on east coast so he signs up for all bases on east coast
(Dover, McDill, McQuire, Charleston, Dover). If he plans to be out of town
for two weeks, two weeks plus 7-8 days after he signs up to depart, he
signs up at all the bases in Europe to come back to the US
He looks for flights to where he wants to go from bases that have the most
flights
After two weeks in Europe, his 60 days is almost up for coming back
You are dropped from the list after 60 days
Barry talked about military priorities and mission changes done by base
operations that can impact availability of flights and base lodging. Sometime
mission changes will add cargo or passengers that will "bump" Space Available
passengers before they reach their final destination. When this happens, affected
passengers maintain their priority based on sign up date and do not have to sign
up all over again. He said that travelers need to be prepared to "live" at the
terminal (i.e., spend lots of time there). He observed that for some 4am flight
"show" times (the time in advance of a flight that you need to present yourself
"travel ready" [documents and luggage]) it may be more practical to eat dinner,
come to the passenger terminal at 8pm, and wait/snooze until people are
assigned to a available seats. Ralph note: he must sleep better in terminal seat
than I do. You check with the passenger service center for the space available
show time for your flight prior to departing the terminal. You need to be ready for
immediate processing and boarding, but there is usually more time to prepare.
Key Terms
Roll call or Show time. This is when you must present yourself and baggage read
to travel. It varies from as early as 2-3 hours (big planes) and late as 30 minutes
(small planes) prior to departure. A passenger service representative might
announce 20 seats available for Germany, who wants to go, calls names or asks
for sign up dates by category.
Six Categories
Category 1- Emergency Leave Unfunded Travel.
Category 2 - Sponsors in an Environmental Morale Leave (EML)
Category 3 – Active Duty on Ordinary Leave
Category 4 – Unaccompanied Dependents on EML and DODDS Teachers on
EML During Summer.
Category 5 – Permissive TDY (Non-House Hunting) Students, Dependents and
Others.
Category 6 – Retired, Dependents, Reserve, ROTC, NUPOS and CEC
Rank has nothing to do with priority
Strategies
Strategy 1: don't fly when active duty are flying like summer when cat 3 are flying
unless something unscheduled, same with Christmas and
Thanksgiving. Historically, February-March and October-November are low travel
periods.
School-age children in Europe get out of school middle of June, back in middle of
Sept so he signs up in last part of Sept because active duty are not flying in large
numbers then because their kids are back in school
Strategy 2: Getting from air terminal to city
* Look for base billeting, perhaps shuttle (not many bases have buses anymore)
* Try to get a ride from someone
* Rent car
* Taxi
Strategy 3: Even if he is traveling in Germany, he signs up for Rota, Spain,
Aviano, Ramstein, England, and Belgium. He may fly Ryan Air or take train to the
base that has the most flights. If a flight goes from Italy to Germany to USA, it
might be better to travel to Italy to originate there since there may be a bigger
crowd in Germany to sign up. "Through" passengers don't have to re-sign up if
the mission makes a stop somewhere.
Strategy 4: Keep track of schedules. These are posted 3 days in advance on the
www.peppered.com site, start reading the lists in advance to discern rough
patterns for flights when it is time for you to go.
Strategy 5: Bring a DD Form 2141 (needed for landing at commercial airports,
which the crew might not have)
Strategy 6: Keep copies of your fax/email for proof of remote sign-up and date of
sign-up. People at the passenger terminal have to manually enter your
information into their database based on your remote sign-up request.
Sometimes errors occur in this process and your information does not get
entered. If you find this happens when you show up at the base for travel, most
personnel at the passenger terminals will manually enter you in the database
based on hard copy records of your remote sign-up request. It is also a good
idea to keep a one page summary of the base and time/day of remote sign-up
just for reference. Some people keep this in dropbox and others travel with a
flash drive that has this information.
Miscellaneous notes
Each AMC terminal publishes a guide to its services, local transportation, and
lodging. These are called AMC Grams and are available in the terminals and
online (do a Google search for "AMC Gram [base name]" and interest the name
of the base (without the brackets). These are a wealth of useful information that
you should consider bringing in hard copy before you travel.
People can get frustrated waiting for flights. Bring lap top, computer, most
terminals have wi-fi.talk to people, etc. It is often easier for military people to
relate, camaraderie, and make friends quickly.
Most US cell phones don't work in Europe. You can buy a European phone
(disposable too)
Mr Vaughan, lives in Madrid, Spain, teaches English to MNC employees
(Vodaphone), does entry level and one week immersion training, he wants
people for the students to interact with, you can get a week's stay free at the
hotel plus meals just have to show up and speak English. They also have
programs in Italy and Germany. Their website is www.vaughanvillage.com, sign
up on the website, they offer you dates
Spangdahlem Air Base is the other big base in Germany, approximately 30 km
NNE of the city of Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate.
Someone asked about setting up accommodations in country when you don't
know when you will be arriving. AF lodges can sign up one year in advance and
will take space a reservation if their booking is less than 50%
Most bases have long term and short term parking (use a sun shield, consider
cracking windows unless thunderstorms are common)
Not all passenger terminals remain open all the time (like Ramstien). Information
is on website for hours of operation as well as the terminal's Facebook page.
Planes likely to fly on: C17, C5 (73 seats), KC-135 (707), KC-10. Patriot Express
(commercial charter flights to convey military and their families to overseas duty
stations) fly from SEATAC and Travis, BWI and Norfolk Navy Base.
Perhaps bring sleeping bag to sleep on jump seats for long flights
You cannot sign up for "all" as a country since 2010
Ability to use BX/Commissary with retired ID depends on SOFA for the particular
country. Not in Germany. Can eat in dining halls at Ramstein, same is the case
for most AFB that have eateries run by civilian contractors.
Check out hostel in Trier Germany (castle overlooking the Rhine)
Pacific Space-A Travel
Thailand and Singapore
Darryl Brown - retired Navy submariner and bank examiner with FDIC, retired
Foreign Service Officer (FSO) from the State Department in May 2011. He was a
pinch-hit speaker since the plan to have someone speak via Skype did not work.
He lives in Pattaya Thailand, 100 km S of Bangkok and publishes a newsletter
for retired military in Thailand among other activities. He still does some work for
the State Department (traveling soon to Amman Jordan for three months).
Getting there: There is no easy way to get to Thailand. You can take a Patriot
Express (commercial charter flights to convey military and their families to
overseas duty stations) from SEATAC (Seattle) to Korea then take KAL
commercial to Thailand. They fly from SEATAC and Travis, BWI and Norfolk
Navy Base. The closest Space-A destinations to Thailand are Singapore and
Korea. Airfare from Singapore to Thailand is very reasonable. There is a Travis
flight to Yokota AB. You can then can fly to Singapore Space-A. You can take the
train from Singapore to Malaysia. Iff you do this, you should go to the Cameron
Highlands. There are also many flights from Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage,
Alaska to Ossan, Korea, which is another way to go Space-A to Singapore. You
don't need a VISA in advance in advance to visit the country. You get one on
entry that is valid for 30 days. May - June is high PCS season, likely no seats
since flights will be full of active duty and their families.
Weather: Be prepared to sweat for everything you do in Thailand. The best times
to come for weather is Nov-Jan. Hottest are April and May. Monsoon
season runs Jun - November (torrential downpours). Cooler mountain areas are
not too far away.
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy. Respect for the King is very important.
Speaking ill of him in public is against the law. Visitors need to stop when outside
in Bangkok at 1800 when they play music to honor the king. He talked about Red
shirt - Yellow shirt political conflict (shirt colors represent opposing factions).
There is a separatist movement in the southern 3 provinces of Thailand
bordering Malaysia. They set off bombs periodically.
Language is a challenge in Thailand. Many students can read and write English,
but do not speak it very well. There is a shortage of native English speakers in
the country. Thai is a tonal language. They use five tones for speaking. Grammar
is very simple, but it is not easy for foreigners to get to get the tones right. The
Thai will not tell you that they don't understand you as this would be
embarrassing to them. They do not like to confront people. Keeping "face" (or
respect) is really important in Thailand as in other Asian cultures. Any place
where people are trying to learn English, they will try very hard to help you, but
things can get dicey in small towns (or even cities after dark) because many of
the English speakers go home.
Thailand is a wonderful, strange, beautiful, lovely land full of contradictions.
Darryl has lived there for 5 years. The people are very friendly and polite,
frustrated as an American because he is relatively direct: here is what I want.
Thai do not have a word for "no." The closest they come is "not yet." Thailand is
a very safe country. He has never felt afraid. Violent crime against foreigners is
rare. Typical example: two young guys on motorcycles will snatch women's bags.
Pattaya grew from a very small place to more than 1 million in 45 years because
American military went there on R&R during Vietnam. Not recommended for
family activities.
Bangkok population is about 14 million.
Other cities
In the South, Phuket is expensive, touristy.
Cajkam (perhaps Cha Am), small city, lots of golf courses, family oriented ->
Huahin
Krabi is a nice place.
One of the nicest things about Thailand is the ocean water: very clear.
Food is very spicy. Five star restaurants and street vendors. There are places in
the North that eat food even hotter than most Thais can stand. Be prepared for
much hotter food than you are used to if you eat in a small town. The Thai word
for white foreigners is "Farang." Thai will try to make sure you don't get the really
hot food.
Cheng Mai probably has american population of 5,000. Chiang Mai. Flower
gardens. Very nice hotels.
Chiang Rai sister city. Elephants, eco tours.
Shopping
A lady spoke up that went to Thailand from Singapore in 2000. There was a
travel agent there that she booked through the ITT office in Singapore. She loved
the shopping.
Good places for shopping. Weekend markets, J-day market, Saturdays and
Sundays in Bangkok. Amazing, gigantic, relatively expensive.
Asia-Tique located on river, open at night when it is cooler. Also big shopping.
More modern
Floating markets: one is 30 miles outside of Bangkok, canal vendors cooking
food and selling things, also have tours of lightening bugs at night
Shots (what to worry about): malaria, dengue fever (mosquito borne, no shot for
it), yellow fever. Not needed for most tourists. Most retirees can get shots for
these under 65 from military bases. Over 65, go to county health department.
He talked about how much it costs to live there.
He loves the service culture of Thailand. You are treated very well.
Look for AF Recreation Center (AFRC) in countries in the Pacific region.
New Zealand-Australia
Getting there: Flights from McCord start in Aug (lots of cargo, few people),
perhaps can get on later in the season like Sept
If you get to New Zealand, you need to have a ticket out of the country to travel
Space A. Spring Season flights from McCord, can also fly from RAAS base in
Australia (Richmond). Richmond is outside of Sydney, can take a train from there
to Sydney. There is a regular C-130 from Hickham to Pago Pago and then
Christchurch. McCord flights are C-17s that leave full of cargo (so few Space-A
passengers), but come back empty and they have 3 week turnaround. if you go
to Australia or New Zealand, you need an exit strategy in case there are no
Space-a flights.
When you go to Australia, you need an ETA, electronic transit authority, good for
a year, costs $25. There is a person named Brown (perhaps Patrick) that is
the Australian POC on Dirk's website.
Taiwan
The best way to get to Taiwan is to take Patriot's Express to Japan/Korea and
buy commercial ticket from there.
Do not fly to Guam because it is very hard to get out on a Space Available flight.
Tricks of the Trade, Space-A Travel
References
* pepperd.com (discussion forums, flight schedules)
* spacea.net (FAQs, phone numbers, AMCGRAMS and other information)
You need a master plan for your signups.
AMC websites and terminals show 24 hours of historical flight data: Look at flight
data 72 hours in advance. Example: you can get to Ramstein from several
stateside locations. You need to think about your best chance to get from point a
to point b (where are most of the flights originating and which has the lowest
backlog?). It is sometimes better to look backward at what flights have been
departing than studying the last category moved. X number of flights to y number
of destinations. Backward trend: Last 24 hours of data showing how many were
there, how many left, how many were competing for the available seats, sign jp
date of last person moved. If you are trying to leave from BWI, this is another part
of the equation you need to consider. If BWI is not moving anything below
category 3, it makes little sense to go there.
At the end of the summer, when the children of active duty stationed overseas
are back in school, is when the category 2 and 3 rush starts to tail off. The
second week of September would be safer than last part of August. By end of
September and October, there will be lots of empty seats. If there are empty
seats, your sign up date does not really matter much and there are many times
when unscheduled missions to popular destinations clear out the terminal of
even people that just signed up.
Trip Planning
www.spacea.net has route maps for the most common ways to get to popular
destinations. Use this information when planning where you will sign-up and
possibly wait for a plane. Your sign up ends at 60 days or when you arrive at the
destination you requested.
Backward planning process
Step 0: Research where you want to go and what services/local
connections/billeting are near. Each AMC terminal publishes a guide to its
services, local transportation, and lodging. These are called AMC Grams and are
available in the terminals and online (do a Google search for "AMC Gram [base
name]" and interest the name of the base (without the brackets). These are a
wealth of useful information that you should consider bringing in hard copy before
you travel.
Step 1: Determine your target date for travel. Select a date one week back from
your target date to give yourself time to catch a flight since you don't know what
missions will be flying. To provide some margin for the unexpected, you want to
be in day 52 or 53 of your 60 day sign-up clock by that date. Your target date
minus 7 days minus 52 days (use a Julian date calendar to calculate) is the date
you want to sign up. This gives you 7 or 8 days to get where you want to go.
Step 2: Sign up with all the originating bases that are reasonable for you to travel
to. This can be done via email, fax, or in person. The sign up process is covered
on these websites: Always print a copy of your request to sign up email. AMC
wants to know your destination (limit of five). You can sign up with many different
terminals with a single email.
Step 3: Plan your return. Estimate when you might depart, then add the number
of days you plan to spend traveling before you return. Use the same process as
above and subtract 52 days from this date. This is the day you sign up at
overseas bases for return. You also need a back up plan to travel commercial in
case you cannot get a flight due to military missions or personal emergency.
Step 4: At 45 days or so out from your planned CONUS departure, you need
start planning your OCONUS departure airport. Sign up for multiple locations to
return. This is mostly an experience-based result of watching the trends. Look
forward for flights for the next 3 days (these are posted by volunteers on Dirk's
website). Look backward at the number of flights and passengers departing (this
is available on Facebook on the terminal page). Ask experts on Dirk Pepper's
discussion boards. A lot depends on time of year and how competitive the place
is. Hickham is very popular in the summer. CONUS is considered one place for
signup (this might not be true any more). When you come back to CONUS, list
the actual air base where you want to return.
On the top of the flight schedule form (flight destination database located
at http://spacea.hopto.org). He calculates which terminals fly more to which
destinations (provided by James Keaty). Stats are broken down by month for
each terminal.
Tools
You can sign up for five departures on takeahop.com app at one time.
Takeahop uses something like pseudo person ID instead of an identifier like your
SSN.
Tapatalk costs $2.99 and makes it easier to access sites that lack mobile
versions such as www.pepperd.com. It has nothing to do with flight sign up.
Tips
If you have issues with PAX service people, be polite and ask to talk to the
NCOIC.
Traveling Light (but comfortably)
He travels a lot (does a lot of consulting). He was the only speaker I saw that
used powerpoint slides (he will be posting to www.peppard.com)
Outline
• Clothing and foot ware
• Luggage
• Necessities (based on his experience)
• Technologies
• Tips and References
• Q&A
Clothing
He demonstrated his vest (made by Scottevests, pronounced "scottyvests) http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/Travel_Vest.shtml) with 24 pockets.
Among the things he pulled out of the vest were:
• long sleeve turtleneck in the back pocket (part of his layering approach, good
lumbar support otherwise)
• iPad
• inflatable travel pillow (by Lewis and Clark in a custom case that also contained
eye shades for sleeping)
• emergency bivvy blanket (made by Sol)
• sunglasses
• iPhone
• earbuds (integrated into the jacket collar)
• passport
• boarding pass
• wallet
• international phone
• pen
• extra reading glasses
• platypus collapsable water bottle
• Pencil Grip LED Keychain light (available on amazon, search for TPG-27501)
The vest did not look bulky. Reviewers on the ScotteVest website suggest you
buy the vest or jacket one size larger than normal because it would be hard to fill
it with things if it fits snugly. He carries nothing in his pants pockets when he
boards the plane. The emergency bivvy blanket, while certainly compact, did not
really look practical for repeated airplane use. It is made out of metallized
plastic, a foil bag on the inside and a polyethylene orange bag on the outside. It
can tear and even though the tears can be repaired with tape, you actually have
to climb into it.
The vest allows you to "wear" almost all the things that would go in a typical carry
on bag, which can be very useful on European airlines that strictly limit carryon
baggage size (no one ever worries about a passenger's jacket). This can be
really useful on military cargo planes that don't allow access to your carry on
baggage in flight.
He wears Scottevest pants and they also make underware (with pockets no
less). There is a link on the ScotteVest website to the "No Baggage Challenge"
documenting Rolf Potts' trip around the world using the vest without
luggage, http://www.rtwblog.com.
He only travels with clothes made from synthetic fabrics because they don't
wrinkle much (he demonstrated this with Columbia cargo pants and REI
Adventureland pants, available from www.rei.com or the local store in
Jacksonville (as well as many other cities). Columbia also makes good shorts (he
usually takes at least two pairs). The shorts can double as a swim suit for men.
He likes the REI Adventureland pants because they have some hidden, zippered
pockets and look dressier than cargo pants in the event he wants to go to a nice
restaurant. Because he does laundry (either at US military facilities overseas or
in the sink of his hotel room). He takes five t-shirts, four other casual shirts, four
pairs of underwear, two pairs of pants, and two pairs of shorts (all of this is on his
excel packing list) for two weeks. He uses dry sheet detergents. Most synthetics
will dry overnight. He does not carry a laundry clothesline, but realizes this is just
personal preference.
He keeps a warm up suit in the top of his bag. If he thinks he might get cold in
flight (even with his long sleeve turtleneck shirt and best), he puts this on before
boarding.
Weight is important. He takes only a backpack and small carry on (he "wears"
the rest in his vest) for two week trip to Europe, 29 lbs together.
Maintainability
The only thing that limits how long he can be away from home is his supply of
prescription medications.
He carries Toms Shoes (www.toms.com) and flip flops in his backpack. He wears
Clarks shoes on the plane.
Durability
He worries about luggage and clothing with lots of zippers because they
generally don't last long on affordable items.
Packability
Look for things that don't wrinkle from packing. Some things are difficult to pack,
like shoes. He wears the heaviest shoes he is going to carry. He stuffs things
inside his shoes to conserve space.
Clothing selection tends to be very personalized, of course. Color matching is
important. He tries to stay with just two or three colors. He carries stone, black,
and Navy blue. All his tops and bottoms match.
Hats: he carries a ball cap and watch cap (for chilly airplanes)
Luggage
Buy a scale so you know how much it weighs (amazon digital, Walmart)
There was some discussion about the size of allowable carry on luggage. The
US limit is 45 linear inches (the sum of height, length, and width). The limits vary
by commercial airline in Europe, a source of great frustration to fliers. Ryan Air
and others use 18 inch carry on limits. Some European carriers make you pay
double to check luggage at the gate instead of on-line. European carriers are
much stricter about baggage dimensions that US carriers.
Options/Types of Luggage
onebag.com -> their cardinal rule is don't check a bag
His backpack weighs 23 lbs when packed. (3.2 lbs empty). Rick Steves packs 20
lbs (or so he claims)
Packsafe bags have a cable in the strap to keep people from cutting the strap to
steel it.
While he said there are three types of bags, he only talked about backpacks and
wheeled luggage. He prefers a backpack without wheels. Several attendees told
horror stories about expensive luggage with wheels breaking on trips making
them steamer trunks.
Weight: The backpack he uses weighs 3.2 lbs empty. The rolling backpack he
showed (that he does not use anymore) is over seven pounds, a roll aboard is
typically ten lbs. If you are weight limited and can carry a backpack, why give up
so much of the allowance to the luggage itself? He recognizes that there will
come a time when he will not be able to carry his clothes on his back.
Necessities (travel comfort)
Terminal survival
* He keeps protein bars in his bags in case he is at a terminal for extended stays
without food
* He carries a week worth of meds on his body or in small bag just in case he
gets separated from his luggage.
Onboard the Aircraft
* He brings his own food and water just in case
* He ensures his electronics are charged prior to boarding (some flights are very
long)
* Layering is important since temperatures in flight can go up and down
* He has a thermal blanket bivvy sack that REI sells (made by Sol)
* Consider bringing noise canceling headphones or ear plugs (he carries his
own)
* Inflatable pillows are very handy (and flat)
At Your Destination
* Currency: Get local currency from ATMs. At the end of trips, he puts leftover
foreign money in a plastic bag for the next trip. He carries change in his bag for
vending machines.
* Room security: You can bring door stops so no one can enter at night. He
carries a small power strip (four outlets, amazon) and country specific outlet
plugs
* Being a tourist: staying mobile, staying safe and secure through situational
awareness. State Department has advisories of scams (he gave an example of
one that he and friends suffered through in Buenos Aires)
Technologies
* He gets an overseas cellphone (turn off all your cellular data on devices before
you depart), onesimcard.com offers a SIM card that can be used in many
countries, they can be set up so people can access them by dialing a US phone,
magic jack lets you do VOIP calling from your computer
* You should use your portable device on wi-fi only because overseas roaming
charges will be shocking
* He uses tripadvisor.com overseas for restaurant and hotel recommendations
and to post reviews.
* He likes google translate
* Some people carry a flashdrive on a lanyard with all their travel data
(dropbox.com does the same thing) like Space-A signup emails.
He has an Excel packing list (SPAT - Packing -List.xls) that he will put on dirk's
website after the conference. The list is organized into three categories: what he
carries in the clothes he will be wearing, backpack, and the Rick Steves little bag.
He carries extra gallon size zip lock bags
He unpacked his backpack. Among the contents (too fast to list completely and
they will all be on the packing list anyway):
• Toms shoes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Small roll of duct tape
Cable ties in a bag (many uses)
Rick Steves mesh bags (part of his compartmentalization system)
Warm up suit
4 shirts
Four US plug power strip from amazon
Gloves
Protein bars
Spare TP
Inflatable pool float, $4 at Walmart, in case he has to sleep on the floor
somewhere
• Bivvy sack thermal blanket for two
• Sleeping bag liner
References (these can all be found via google)
Let's Pack a Bag
One Bag
Rick Steves
Travel Gear Blog
Smarter Travel
Sites for shopping for the gear he mentioned
Sierra Trading Post
REI
ScotteVest
Magellans
Sunday Session Space-A Travel
The "Big 3" space-a "guys" are Rob Gragg (takahop), Dirk Pepperd, and John D.
GAO study from last year, HASC, concluded it would overburden system to allow
spouses to travel without their service member
Demonstrations of Using Websites to Plan Space-A Trips
How he got started. Dirk is a retired SFC. His website stood up 1994. Currently
there are 18,000 - 20,000 unique visitors per month.
There is a travel guide in Military Living magazine (usually available in
Commissary or BX)
What is Space-Available Travel?
* It allows authorized (uniformed services and their family members) passengers
to occupy Dod aircraft seats available after all space-required cargo and
passengers have been accommodated
* Available on DoD (USAF, USN) aircraft
* Available at little or no cost
* Space-available travel is a "privilege," not an entitlement
Categories (http://www.baseops.net/spaceatravel/)
* Rank is not a factor
* Spacea.net is the best source of tools
* Space A Travel Categories
Category 1- Emergency Leave Unfunded Travel.
Category 2 - Sponsors in an Environmental Morale Leave (EML)
Category 3 – Active Duty on Ordinary Leave
Category 4 – Unaccompanied Dependents on EML and DODDS Teachers on
EML During Summer.
Category 5 – Permissive TDY (Non-House Hunting) Students, Dependents and
Others.
Category 6 – Retired, Dependents, Reserve, ROTC, NUPOS and CEC
Process - Sign-up
* How? By fax, email, web (takeahop.com), iOS/Android apps, or in person
- Name, category, # of seats, destinations
- For up to five destinations ("all")
* When? As soon as you are on leave (active duty) or anytime for retired military
* From where? Everywhere you think you will depart from
* Sign up is valid for the duration of leave (active duty) or 60 days, whichever is
longer
* Keep copies of your fax/email for proof of remote sign-up and date of sign-up.
People at the passenger terminal have to manually enter your information into
their database based on your remote sign-up request. Sometimes this errors
occur in this process and your information does not get entered. If you find this
happens when you show up at the base for travel, most personnel at the
passenger terminals will manually enter you in the database based on hard copy
records of your remote sign-up request. It is also a good idea to keep a one page
summary of the base and time/day of remote sign-up just for reference.
Process - "Show Up"
* Arrive at the terminal for the the flight you want to catch
* Declare yourself "present" within 24 hours of the "show time" for the flight
* Be travel read at the flight's "show time." If a show time says 1500, you should
plan to be at the terminal by 12 or 1300 because schedules can change.
* A "roll call" is done at the show time. Available seats will be filled by category
(Cat-I first and Cat-VI last) and date/time of sign-up within each category.
* If you make the "cut," you will be manifested on the flight, receive boarding
passes, and be on your way.
Strategies
* Be flexible
* Be early
- Sign up for outbound and return as soon as you begin leave
- Sign-up for all possible departures/destination
* Plan ahead
- Create reference sheets of phone numbers: terminals, lodging (24 hrs
reservation), car rental
- Plan for ground transportation, pay attention to the schedules
- Some cash in local currency before you arrive
- Car rentals at destination
- Food and lodging
- Return trips (a location with an easy flight out may not be so easy to return to)
* Flights only leave from the terminal so it pays to stay close
* Be flexible. Sometimes it is easier to go east to go west.
* Keep your original sign-up date by annotating your "final destination" on your
original boarding pass
* Travel "off season" to avoid large amounts of predictable Cat I - III travel. When
DoD schools are on break, traffic is much higher.
- Historically, February-March and October-November are low travel periods
* Consider one-way car rentals (can be cheaper if you are helping the company
reposition cars)
* Travel light - 30 lbs of luggage or less. The maximum is 2 pieces and 70 lbs.
* Think of the "next step" in your travel plan after arrival at your destination
- How will you get from the terminal to the train station or lodging?
- Will you arrive at a time when you can get transportation or do you need to plan
to spend the night
Pros and Cons
* Pros
- Save money
- Travel on military aircraft (great family experience)
- See how the military does the emission
- Meet interesting retirees, etc.
- A challenge and adventure
* Cons
- Not guaranteed - burn leave/time sitting at the terminal
- Can get diverted (based on mission or maintenance)
- Can end up costing you money and leave
- You may have to fly home via commercial airlines
Make sure boarding pass has final destination and furthest place you want to go
Resources
* pepperd.com (discussion forums, flight schedules)
* spacea.net (FAQs, phone numbers, AMCGRAMS and other information)
* OSA Flight Schedules (dated, was a resource from AMC)
* Other travelers
* Experience
* The Regulations: DoD 4515.13-R and AMCI 24-101 Vol 14
* Handbooks available in the Exchanges
Demonstration (this was done live at the conference)
* Log in to pepperd.com
* Can search for posts related to your destination of interest (use the destination
as the search term)
* Basic Topics of Discussion Boards
- General Space-a Forum
- Flight schedule information
* Las Category Moved
- Ground transportation forum
- Space-a Trip Reports (reports from people that have been where you want to
go)
- Space-a Lodging
- Cruise information
- Tech Central
- Off Topic Discussions
- Solo Travelers
- Threads to SPATS Events
- 2012 Space-a Cruise
- Discussion Thread for 2013 Space-a Conference
Skype Call with Founder of www.spacea.net, John D. from Germany
He provided an overview of the site.
Example: Travis AFB AMC terminal Facebook Page
Review of the 24-Hour Space-A Roll-Call Report that appears on the page and
how you can use the information for trip planning. These are screen shots posted
as photographs.
It shows flight/seat release information (date/destination/seats released/seats
used), PAX selected (lowest cat selected/date-time of sign-up), PAX Competed
for Flight (Number of PAX, Lowest Cat, Date-time Sign-up)
If Lowest Category selected is 3, only active duty are departing and there is
strong competition for the flights with few seats. Number of people competing for
the flight (25 seats on the flight, 39 people showed up). Now you have a general
idea of the backlog that you can factor into your decision-making process for
coming to this terminal.
You can use the Facebook to search for a terminal. Some terminals "like" the
other terminals and you can use the "likes" to access other terminals without
having to search.
Terminal Facebook pages are run by each terminal
ALL Military (Space-A) Live Schedule Feed -> could not find this on Facebook
You have to balance between the schedules on Dirk's site and the schedules that
are posted by the terminals.
Demonstration of a Smart Phone Apps
Tapatalk - improves the ability to access sites like Dirk's on a smart phone. It has
nothing to do with signing up for travel. It is available for both Android and iOS
devices. It costs $2.99. Once you load the program the first time, you have to
search for Dirk's site, use the term "pepperd," log into the site, the view
categories are: latest (posts), forums, favorites, Private Messaging (PM), and
More (you can see who is on the board and what application they used to get
there)
Takahop - available for both Android and iOS devices. It costs $3.99. For each
base, it provides phone numbers for the passenger service terminal, the weather,
a map showing the location of the base, the flight schedule recording number.
Reference
Aircraft inventory (basic information), document library, and Space-A travel
advisory
Register for Travel/Sign-up
Provide personal details (name, rank, service, phone number, email, country of
residence, next of kin
Choose departure airfields (not all airfields allow remote sign-up)
Certification email
* You will get a reply from some terminals and no reply from others.
Pseudo Person ID. This is something AMC came up with to replace use of Social
Security Number (SSN). RMT (Remote), four digits of last name, initials. Use of
SSN dates to the days when people signed up in person at terminals. Not all
terminals use it.