Europe Next Week...What?

So this time next week, we will be getting ready to leave for Europe.  We have no tickets, no reservations anywhere, and no plans because we don't know when we are leaving exactly and we're not sure where we're flying into.  "What are you talking about?" you ask.  Well, I'll tell you.

Kirk is on active duty status until September, and because of that, we can take advantage of "space available" or SpaceA, flights to anywhere the military flies for the low, low price of $17!  Yes, my friends, all five members of the Hilbrecht family are headed over the pond for $85.  The only thing is that we are not sure which flight we will be getting on, when it leaves or where it will land.  

Because of security reasons, departure times and destinations are not published in advance.  We could also get bumped by someone with a higher priority.  We are just on leisure travel, which is low on the list, so we have to be flexible with times and locations.  We've been told that the most frequent departure location is Baltimore.  The most frequent destination location is Germany.  We will also have to be flexible on our return and may find a flight back to Baltimore isn't feasible.  So this is our plan...

Friday we will find out what days the planes depart.  Could be Sunday, Monday, and/or Tuesday.  Or not.  We are renting a car one-way and driving to Baltimore.  This gives us freedom to return to any spot in the US in case the flights back to Baltimore are not convenient.  We can return to any other base and rent another car and drive home.

In Baltimore, we will put our names on the manifest and get a room and wait for the call.  We are putting our names on any flight to Europe no matter where it's going.  We could get there Sunday; we could get there Tuesday.  We could find that all flights are full and we're not going to Europe this time and then we'll go to Disney World.

Once we are on board whatever aircraft is taking us---could be a 747, could be a C-17 cargo plane---we are set.  It's no frills, bring your own snacks kind of thing, but for $17, I'll pack a picnic basket!

Or hope is to land somewhere in Germany then rent a car and see the sights.  We plan to tool around the Black Forest on our way to Switzerland.  In Switzerland, we want to see the Alps, do some hiking and zip-lining, visit a glacier, go to Lucerne and Zurich and who knows what else.  We plan to make our way back to the base through eastern France, visiting Nancy and Strasbourg and then stopping in Luxembourg just to say we did.  

Or we could end up in Spain or Italy.

Like I said, flexibility is the key.  Not my strong suit, but I'm looking at this as a challenge.