My wife, Debbie, had always wanted to go to Israel. My standard response was "it's too dangerous, (or too expensive) at this time. Let's wait a bit..." So almost 40 years have passed, and she still hadn't traveled to the Holy Land.
I, on the other hand, went to Israel twice in 2008 to set up logistics processes for shipping a new computer for a company that IBM purchased that year. My excuse of safety concerns was thus rendered null and void, so I started thinking of ways to travel there as a couple.
What came to mind was a "Space A" trip via the US Air Force using AMC ("airplane maybe come") flights, but to do so we had to have a lot of time at our disposal. Well, we both retired from our jobs in March, sold our home, packed all our goods into storage, and took off for Europe via Las Vegas, Denver (where son Mark and his wife, Katie, put us up for a month), back to Provo to visit son Carson, NYC (where son Andrew and his wife, Polina, hosted us for a week), and Philadelphia (to visit son Chris and wife Anne, and grandchildren Isabelle, Chase, and Heather).
After making a recon trip to McGuire AFB, NJ on Thursday 29 April to ensure all was set for a flight to Rota, Spain on Friday, we learned that the incoming plane had been diverted to Dover AFB, Delaware, so we made plans to be there early Friday to sign up and wait our turn to get aboard our first "hop."
Debbie and I started out from north Philly just in time to catch all the morning rush hour(s) traffic, and I was feeling anxious about making it in time to beat all those "others" who would be competing for our spots on the plane. We crawled through stop and go traffic on I-95 in Philly for over an hour, made several questionable turns in Wilmington trying to get on the right road to Dover, but arrived at Dover AFB about 10 AM for the 1440 "show time" for the flight to Rota. We waited in the brand new USO lounge, sans bags, as they were not allowed inside--they had to remain in the main terminal, unattended, while every 15 minutes an announcement was made to report any unattended baggage to authorities, supposedly so they could be blown up as possible terrorist-planted bombs. Who reviews this stuff, anyway?
After waiting an hour, we were informed that the flight to Rota had been "scrubbed," meaning it was cancelled for now, and we were to come back tomorrow. We took our bags and headed for the BOQ, only to find out that it was a reservist drill weekend in Dover, so all on-base rooms were taken. We drove back to Wilmington to get a room at the Fairfield Inn, using Carson's employee discount, but had to pay the $1 highway and $1 bridge tolls for Delaware highway 1 again, as we had just paid them on the way down. (Funny thing--the next day the tolls had been raised to $2 each, under the assumption that anyone traveling on Saturday must be doing it for fun and could pay double.)
So to recap--flight from McGuire diverted to Dover, so we delayed a day, went to Dover, and then were delayed another day. Not off to a good start...but good for the toll-takers and motel operators!
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