Info on Ramstein AB, Germany

[contraildash]

Here's a question about getting there.

I know there is a rotator from BWI direct to ETAR. Now I don't particularly feel like driving from Oklahoma to Maryland, but would still like to go direct. Is it possible to leave from a closer port call (DFW), go to BWI, and catch the rotator over?

Looks like the most likely routing is just DFW to FRA (not sure on the layovers). Until I get my orders, the travel office isn't helping much. They do have a ton of folks PCS'ing so I can understand.

[HU&W]

Here's a question about getting there.

I know there is a rotator from BWI direct to ETAR. Now I don't particularly feel like driving from Oklahoma to Maryland, but would still like to go direct. Is it possible to leave from a closer port call (DFW), go to BWI, and catch the rotator over?

Looks like the most likely routing is just DFW to FRA (not sure on the layovers). Until I get my orders, the travel office isn't helping much. They do have a ton of folks PCS'ing so I can understand.

Easy flight DFW-FRA. It's a 777 direct and the seat headrests all have entertainment systems. The flight runs approx 9.5 hours. Once in FRA, use one of the many shuttle services to ride down to Ramstein. It's about an hour ride and will run about 40 euro per person. I use Rita's and they take credit cards.

[Flare]

I'll throw in my unsolicited 2 cents on the rotator.

1) Your travel office might force you to take the rotator, in which case they'd buy you a ticket to BWI and then you'd jump on the rotator that evening. You are also allowed to stay overnight in Baltimore if you want to. (example: DFW-BWI on Saturday, then overnight in Baltimore and catch the rotator out Sunday evening)

2) The rotator is not a bad deal. When we PCSed to our Aviano last year, I really wanted to fly commercial to Venice, but they wouldn't let us--they made us use the rotator. Looking back on it though, it was so much easier that way. I don't know how big your family is, but between the wife and kids, we had 17 suitcases, and we were exhausted (especially the kids) by the time we landed in Aviano the next afternoon. It was awesome to be able to throw the bags into folks' cars from the squadron and be at billeting in 2 minutes. Even if it's just you and your wife, it'd still be much easier to already be at Ramstein.

Just my opinion.....

[contraildash]

If we did have to take the rotator, would it be safe to assume that I'd still get to ship my car from Dallas? (yes I know what assuming does...)

[Flare]

Shipping your POV and your port of call are not related, though they can be. Shipping your POV can be done at your port of call, or you can do it (sts) at the nearest VPC to your current base. I was stationed at Luke, and I shipped my POV from San Diego more than 2 months before we got on the rotator at BWI. They definitely do not "make" you drive all the way to your port of call and ship the POV from there. In fact, if you want to ship it early, they have to pay you mileage for both to and from your current base to where you ship your car.

Bottom line....if Dallas is your closest VPC, you can definitely ship from there.

[JeepGuyC17]

Stayed in KMCC (the bigg-ass hotel by the flightline) and the rooms were REALLY nice. They've been waffling back and forth on whether aircrew will be staying there, but I guess the latest is that they will have a limited number of rooms available to crew dogs. The soundproof window glass works really well too.

[contraildash]

Stayed in KMCC (the bigg-ass hotel by the flightline) and the rooms were REALLY nice. They've been waffling back and forth on whether aircrew will be staying there, but I guess the latest is that they will have a limited number of rooms available to crew dogs. The soundproof window glass works really well too.

I have pets, so I don't get to stay in the KMCC...kinda looked forward to lading on the rotator and walking across the street to the KMCC.

[skinny]

KMCC is the most obscene waste of money I've seen. The place was way over budget and way late being opened up. The parking lot was designed thinking everyone drove a damn Mini and for some reason, I'm hard pressed to make it out of the food court for less than 10 bucks. I guess they have to recoup some of that money that was spent by being so damn late finishing the thing.

I for one can't wait for Christmas to come around when every service member, their families, contractors, host country nationals, and every other swinging dick (roughly 50,000 of them) drives into Ramstein to do some holiday shopping. Meanwhile, my ass is stuck in line at the gate for 30 minutes trying to get to work.

It was a good thought but when you have so many Americans concentrated in such a small area, putting all your AAFES eggs in one basket like they've done is going to create some headaches. Shutting down Vogelweh AND Ramstein, and moving them into one central location just doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

[slc]

anyone have any suggestions for a road trip, ie good conditions, and not too long of a travel distance

[Swizzle]

World Famous Tennenbaums

[Springer]

Years past we drove to Grindelwald/Grund (14 km S of Interlaken) and took the cog train to Kleine Scheidegg, ski down to Brandegg for lunch then take the cog train back to Kleine Scheidegg and do it all over. I was hiking there last month and see new lifts being installed for expanded skiing.

In my day, 5 sqd mates would rent a chalet in Wilderwil (2 km S of Interlaken) for the winter skiing season.

Edited October 21, 2009 by Springer

[TAMInated]

Saint Anton, Austria. Best ski trip of the many I took in Europe. The skiing is insane and the "Apres Ski" nightlife is second to none.

Agreed. None of the places I went were as good a time as St Anton. I know of at least one DNIF that may or may not have been a direct result of skiing down from the Krazy Kangaroo after apres ski.

[contraildash]

So speaking of car insurance...

I've had a few folks tell me that they dumped USAA over there and went with Geico (I'm pretty certain that's who hey said they had)saying that it was cheaper than USAA.

I just got off the phone with USAA and my coverage went up about $350 per year. Not bad, but if there's a significantly better deal, I'm always down for it.

edit for more stuff

Edited October 22, 2009 by contraildash

[HU&W]

So speaking of car insurance...

I've had a few folks tell me that they dumped USAA over there and went with Geico (I'm pretty certain that's who hey said they had)saying that it was cheaper than USAA.

I just got off the phone with USAA and my coverage went up about $350 per year. Not bad, but if there's a significantly better deal, I'm always down for it.

edit for more stuff

Just keep in mind how much easier (convenient) USAA is over there. If you buy a car, all you have to do is call USAA the day before and vehicle reg will have it in their database the next morning. e.g. no waiting for green card in the mail. Also, when we totaled our van over there, USAA was lightening quick in resolving the claim. No personal experience, but I've heard horror stories about other insurers.

[Finance_Guy]

anyone have any suggestions for a road trip, ie good conditions, and not too long of a travel distance

Winklmoosalm--near Reit im Winkl, but go over to the Austria side (to the south). But the German side wasn't bad when there was good snow. Was a great spot when staying at Chiemsea, of course I was really a beginner then, so what do I know.

http://www.winklmoosalm.com/

[Bryanhg007]

Any insight to how the OHA/BAH and utility allowance works at Ramstein? I've heard that you only get paid the amount of your rent, but that the utilities is a flat rate. Any truth to this? Or is it like in the states where we get a flat BAH rate and you can either rent cheap and save some money, or be paying out of pocket. The .gov website says it's around $1850 for OHA and $950 for utilities for a married LT. I'm just wondering if those are the maximums they'll pay you depending on your rental contract or if I should assume a $2800 BAH type payment each month? Thanks for any advice!

[HU&W]

Any insight to how the OHA/BAH and utility allowance works at Ramstein? I've heard that you only get paid the amount of your rent, but that the utilities is a flat rate. Any truth to this? Or is it like in the states where we get a flat BAH rate and you can either rent cheap and save some money, or be paying out of pocket. The .gov website says it's around $1850 for OHA and $950 for utilities for a married LT. I'm just wondering if those are the maximums they'll pay you depending on your rental contract or if I should assume a $2800 BAH type payment each month? Thanks for any advice!

Truth. OHA gives you a cap for your rank. If you rent below the cap, you get the amount you rent for. If you rent above the cap, you get the cap. If you buy, I believe you get purchase price divided by 120 up to the cap (90% sure on this one, but I didn't buy). For me, my cap was 1350ish euro and my rent was 1125ish euro. I got 1125. Additionally, I got around 500 per month for utilities and usually used just under that.

[contraildash]

HU&W nailed it..essentially it's a use it or lose it kind of thing.

For me, I'm getting an OHA of €1196. But our rent is €1200. Hell I'll pay the extra €4 a month for a nice free standing house with a yard, in K-Town.

Monthly utility allowance is where you make your money, don't waste energy and you'll make bank. Now, if you are thinking, "I'll just have the land lord include utilities in the rent and bank the €615/461!" be forewarned that housing is on top of this game (I was warned like ten times in my initial meeting). They'll cut off your utilities allowance apparently.

Don' forget all the other allowances and such for being overseas, moving, ect, ect. If you are smart, you can come out pretty well.

If you don't go through AHRN, expect housing to be an epic pain in the ass about it. Heaven forbid you make them do some work and go inspect another house. Expect the 20 questions game about why you didn't use AHRN. Expect to get shit about having to use a realty agency to find a place, never mind the fact that AHRN listing suck currently. There are no exceptions to the rule, no waivers, no helping a dude and his wife out.

What is really retarded about the whole thing is the way the calculate how much a place is 'worth' and thus how much of your cap they will give you. It's 90% based off square meters of a place. For example, a 100 sq meter house is no more valuable than a 100 sq meter apartment. They do take into account garages, yards, ect, but it's only the difference of a few cent's per sq meter. It's absurd and a huge ass pain as I'm finding out.

So my suggestion as far as looking for a place, in order of least ass pain:

1. Find someone who's moving out, since their place will already be inspected, ect.

2. Go through AHRN if you can, pickings can be slim, and it's very cutthroat come summertime, but less pain with housing.

3. Use a realty agency, aka immobilien, yes you have to pay a user fee, but they do find nice places quick. See my warning on housing's opinion of this route.

[Toro]

I don't have my permanent gas card yet, just the temp for the rental. Hell, I didn't even know you could put money on it. Is there some advantage to that? I just thought it kept track of your ration.

They should explain it when you get the card, but putting money on the card allows you to use the card at any ESSO station off base (~$3 a gallon as opposed to economy prices of $8 a gallon or more). I always keep about 50 bucks on the card in case we decide to take a long day trip somewhere. It's also handy if you want to fill up on a Friday evening when the gas lines on base can be 30 minutes long (there's an Esso less than two minutes out the West gate). As long as you have a positive balance on the card - even one cent - you can take the card into the negative on a single transaction. But if the card has zero or a negative balance, you cannot use it off base. For example, if you put $50 on it and used $49.99 on the first fill up, you could go back without refreshing the card and fill it up later. If the total cost was $40 for the second fill-up, your card would now have a $39.99 negative balance (since it had a 0.01 balance to begin with) and the card would have to be charged the next time you go to an Esso on base (or online).

Another thing to watch for on the card is demagnetizing the strip. I didn't take much notice when I filled up on base and the worker couldn't get my card to swipe, so she punched in the numbers manually. The next time I needed gas I was off base close to empty. The ESSO people don't check the card before you fill up, so it wasn't until I had my 100 Euro gas bill that the Esso worker realized my card didn't work. Apparently she didn't know about manually punching the numbers (nor did I at the time), so I had to pay out of pocket. Side note - if that ever happens, (1) Tell them to manually enter the number and if that doesn't work (2) Go the AAFES customer service in the BX with your card and receipt and they will refund you the difference. Anyway, I just figured the card was faulty and got another one....then another one a couple weeks later. Somebody finally pointed out that since I keep my card in my glove compartment - which is next to my stereo speakers - it was likely demagnetizing the strip. I've kept it in my center console and had no problems since.

[Guest spocky]

Greetings All,

I have a question about type of car. I got my first assignment to Ramstein ab the other day was wondering if just any type of car would work in the German Streets. I have been to England on vacation and have an idea of the size of some cars, but recently have gotten mixed advice from many people. I have a newer car so would like to keep it, but am some what concerned about the survivability of a Mitsubishi Lancer on the German roads and under the German weather.

So I come to your expert opinions for advice.

[Toro]

I have a question about type of car. I got my first assignment to Ramstein ab the other day was wondering if just any type of car would work in the German Streets. I have been to England on vacation and have an idea of the size of some cars, but recently have gotten mixed advice from many people. I have a newer car so would like to keep it, but am some what concerned about the survivability of a Mitsubishi Lancer on the German roads and under the German weather.

Any car will work fine. I'm in Germany and was previously in England - the car size isn't an issue here like it is in England, but the average parking spot is smaller. German weather isn't an issue either (again, not like England). It rains in the winter, but no more than any particular place in the states.

[Guest NDwife]

Moving to Ramstein this May or June and I have some questions for those who have been there. I have used the search forum and read all the related Ramstein and C-21 threads. Here are my questions.

1) My husband and I decided long ago that we would get new couches at our next assignment but that was before we found out Ramstein was next. Would you suggest shopping for couches in Germany or do it here at home before the movers come?

2) I read storage space in Germany can be an issue so do we bring our bikes or leave them in storage here in the US? We don't use them regularly but we do like to do rides around the neighborhood with the kids(ages 3.5 and 1.5). We will bring the kids bikes for sure since my son usually rides once a day and they don't need as much space.

3) What stuff do we specifically not bring? I know everything with a motor and plug should stay home but what else should stay? Our house is 1700 sqft, will we most likely be moving into something of similar size or bigger or smaller?

Thanks.

[skinny]

1) My husband and I decided long ago that we would get new couches at our next assignment but that was before we found out Ramstein was next. Would you suggest shopping for couches in Germany or do it here at home before the movers come?

This one s completely up to you. Keep in mind, German style furniture is a lot different that furniture you would find in the states.

2) I read storage space in Germany can be an issue so do we bring our bikes or leave them in storage here in the US? We don't use them regularly but we do like to do rides around the neighborhood with the kids(ages 3.5 and 1.5). We will bring the kids bikes for sure since my son usually rides once a day and they don't need as much space.

I would definitely bring the bikes! Bicycle riding in Europe is much more respected in Europe than in the states, i.e. people are actually keeping an eye out for you. Storage shouldn't be an issue, most of the newer houses have an attached one car garage.

3) What stuff do we specifically not bring? I know everything with a motor and plug should stay home but what else should stay? Our house is 1700 sqft, will we most likely be moving into something of similar size or bigger or smaller?

FMO has washers and dryers that they will loan to you during your stay there however, the full size ones can be hard to come by. You could get stuck with the smaller european versions. Some rental homes there are pre-wired for US washers and dryers but some are not. If the landlord caters to American renters chances are your US washer and dryer will be okay. Freestanding German houses are usually pretty big. They build their houses big enough that generations of families can live there. The house I lived in was so big that the landlady split the three floors into three separate apartment style homes. To get a good idea of what you can expect, go to www.ahrn.com. This is the same website that the housing office uses to provide you with a list of available houses.

Hope this helps. I left Ramstein in May 2010 but Contraildash is out there right now so he may have more up to date information. Best of luck!

[cmac88]

I never lived in Ramstein but I was in Frankfurt and have been around the area quite a lot.

All I can say about the furniture is that if you want a "La-Z-Boy" Style couch then buy before you go. If you want a quality but with a little flair and something different, buy in Germany. I don't think there's a HUGE difference but the ones over there do tend to have a different styling and will probably be pricier.

Like stated before..... DEFINITELY bring the bikes. You will regret it if you don't. Riding a bike in rural Germany is an awesome experience.

I wouldn't worry about too many of the appliances. Just bring the things you NEED, not useless ones. I don't know how it works for you guys but we were provided plenty of transformers from my parents office.

As for the house and space, I lived in the city so naturally we lived in a bit smaller of a place. It was 6 Rooms with 2 Bathrooms on two floors and probably around 2000 sq. ft. The houses in Rural places do tend to be of pretty good size though. From my experience, the newer the place the more "open flooring" it'll be. Some of the older places can have a lot of overall space but not much of it is open. Think old Boston town home. But I'm sure you'll be in a newer place.

[contraildash]

I'm assuming your husband got C-21s?

Furniture:

My wife and I had the same question, buy US and ship or wait till we got here. I was hesitant on the Euro furniture, but I absolutely love the leather couch I got. It's really up to you. Check out IKEA or http://www.lederland-kaiserslautern.de/ that'll give you some ideas on what to expect here.

Bikes:

Bring them. One word - Autofrei! In the summer the Germans will shut down scenic roads for a day and only allow bike/rollerblade/skateboard/walking/ect on the road. I'm talking lots of road, 50+ Km. Along the way, each town/villiage will have food and entertainment. They are ton's of fun. Besides that, there are so many places to ride bikes here. Very worthwhile.

Electronics:

You can bring 110v stuff from the states, you will need to use transformers though. FMO will supply two large ones for you, and people PCS'ing are always selling them. My wife didn't bring a good majority of her hair styling related stuff, and it kind of sucked having to buy all that again. Also, if you have good kitchen appliances (mixers, ect) bring those as well. When we cook, we just plug what we are using into the transformer. One transformer is much cheaper than a ton of new stuff.

The only major things I have that are 220v are the shop vac I use (we have all wood floors) and lights. Basically things that don't make sense to have multiple transformers for.

Send me a PM and we can start helping you guys out.