Space-A Victory
Space-a means "space available" or "free". I like the free part but with most free things, there are some strings attached. When attempting to fly for free, compliments of the US Airforce or Navy, there are some pretty crazy strings attached.
We don't have any cash flow left for this year designated for travel or vacation but we want to go to Washington and see family and friends we haven't seen in quite awhile. What is one to do? We decided to attempt taking a space-a flight from some base within a 3-4 hour drive from our house to an airbase within the same distance of friends in Washington. Our first attempt date was set at Nov 1st with a plan of only trying until Nov 3rd before giving up the journey.
The challenge in space-a travel is not just whether or not there will be space for us on a particular flight, but finding a flight that is going where we want to go and that flight actually taking off.
Our first attempt ended up being on the 31st but that flight was cancelled when we were about an hour from the house. The second attempt was on Nov 1st and delayed to a later time that day, then cancelled upon our arrival and our final attempt was on Nov 2nd with a success!
We ended up arriving at a location much further than we hoped, about 4 hours from our friend's house BUT we made it. We kept tabs on our expenditures for fast food, gas, snacks, tolls, and hotels during the few days of trying to get a flight and the grand total for four passengers was . . . a whopping $200. Not bad for four one-way tickets.
We tried to stay positive and enjoy the excitement of the journey while we were trying to find our flights. Matt wasn't really confident and was ready to throw in the towel a few times, I was really having a good time - my own private "Amazing Race", and the boys were a little confused but seemed to buy into our "treasure hunt" explanation.
We made the best of our overnight trip to New Jersey and stopped off in Philly to see some sights and eat an original cheesteak sandwich. Yum.
Now that we are here, I am going to enjoy every moment we have with our friends and family and start the hunt for our return a few days before time to go home. If all goes well on the return you can bet we'll be taking our next space-a vacation to Spain!
The Small Group Halloween Party. We had our Halloween party the Monday prior to Halloween. I had every intention of getting pictures of the boys on Halloween, however we started the space-a journey earlier than planned and spent Halloween night passing out candy to people at toll booths along the Jersey Turnpike!
We don't have any cash flow left for this year designated for travel or vacation but we want to go to Washington and see family and friends we haven't seen in quite awhile. What is one to do? We decided to attempt taking a space-a flight from some base within a 3-4 hour drive from our house to an airbase within the same distance of friends in Washington. Our first attempt date was set at Nov 1st with a plan of only trying until Nov 3rd before giving up the journey.
The challenge in space-a travel is not just whether or not there will be space for us on a particular flight, but finding a flight that is going where we want to go and that flight actually taking off.
Our first attempt ended up being on the 31st but that flight was cancelled when we were about an hour from the house. The second attempt was on Nov 1st and delayed to a later time that day, then cancelled upon our arrival and our final attempt was on Nov 2nd with a success!
We ended up arriving at a location much further than we hoped, about 4 hours from our friend's house BUT we made it. We kept tabs on our expenditures for fast food, gas, snacks, tolls, and hotels during the few days of trying to get a flight and the grand total for four passengers was . . . a whopping $200. Not bad for four one-way tickets.
We tried to stay positive and enjoy the excitement of the journey while we were trying to find our flights. Matt wasn't really confident and was ready to throw in the towel a few times, I was really having a good time - my own private "Amazing Race", and the boys were a little confused but seemed to buy into our "treasure hunt" explanation.
We made the best of our overnight trip to New Jersey and stopped off in Philly to see some sights and eat an original cheesteak sandwich. Yum.
Now that we are here, I am going to enjoy every moment we have with our friends and family and start the hunt for our return a few days before time to go home. If all goes well on the return you can bet we'll be taking our next space-a vacation to Spain!
The Small Group Halloween Party. We had our Halloween party the Monday prior to Halloween. I had every intention of getting pictures of the boys on Halloween, however we started the space-a journey earlier than planned and spent Halloween night passing out candy to people at toll booths along the Jersey Turnpike!
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