Cell Phones, Internet, Cable

You need to be prepared to be a little confused when deciding how to go about getting all three of these things. Just go ahead and know it might take a while and a lot of question asking!

There are four different cell phone companies, TKS, T-mobile (aka Telekom or Deutsche Telekom), Vodafone, and O2. All of these companies have different plans that you will need to research to figure out what works best for you and your family. Some of them have home phone, internet and cell phone services all packaged together, but you don't have to get them together. Make sure to ask about calling back to the states either from a cell phone or house phone. Most of them will allow unlimited calls to the states from a land line for around 5 euro a month. Don’t jump into a plan just because you want a phone; be sure to understand the contract. Ask about military, deployments, month to month plans or 2 year plans. Know all your options before signing a contract.

Be prepared to wait a LONG time for internet if you are living off post in a private rental. Not all companies can service the small villages. Your best bet is to go to T-mobile for internet, they are the largest company and can usually service all locations (usually, not all the time). The day you pick your house be sure to sign up for internet and home phone. It can take weeks before a technician can come to the house to hook it up. Even if you’re not moved into your house yet, go set it up! Lucky for me this is how all these posts came about…. 5 weeks without internet!

Remember you are living in a foreign country, all of your letters and mail from phone and internet companies will be written in German. Be sure you translate them (use Google translate or a neighbor) they usually have some kind of important information in them such as a company can’t service where you live… after you’ve waited a week. Yup, it happened to us.

As for cable... we do not have cable. If you can live without it then there really is no point in paying for it. Since I don't have cable I don't know all the ins and outs about it, but to get AFN and all 11 or 12 channels it offers you have to have a decoder box and those can cost up to $200. You will also need a satellite. If you move into a house that previously had a military family it might already have a satellite. We do not have one which means we'd have to buy one. And they can be quite expensive so we have opted out of having cable. TKS does offer a cable package with more channels than AFN. I don't have much information on that but just ask different companies when you get here. If you choose not to get cable you can watch TV shows on ProjectfreeTV.com. The post library also has a large selection of DVD and TV shows that can be rented. 

Getting a cell phone is usually first priority. You will have no way of contacting anyone without a phone. If you don't feel comfortable setting up a plan you can always get a pay as you go phone from the PX. You add any amount of money to the phone and use it until you need to add more. Pay as you go phones work great from some people who don't use it much, or that teenager who might run up a bill ;)

My husband and I have a phone plan through O2 and internet through T-mobile. We originally wanted internet with O2 as well but they could not service where we lived. Just remember to be patient, it's normal to wait a few weeks for internet.

Housing

Housing information is the one thing everyone wants to know but will vary depending on where you are being stationed and your sponsors rank and number of dependents. I will tell you how housing works here at Vilseck/Grafenwoehr. I'm sorry for those of you being stationed somewhere else, if things are run differently then I can't help much here. But maybe it's done the same way throughout Germany. 

There are three types of housing: On post housing, which is physically on post. Off post government leased housing, which is still owned and maintained by the post itself just outside the gates. And private rental housing, which is rented out through a landlord. Some locations have a rule that E6 and below and a few other ranks such as commanders can live on post then all others can live in government leased housing depending on availability. On post and off post government leased housing have both 110V and 220V plugs. So lucky you, you get to use all your American appliances. I have heard there are not enough 110V to plug in all your American appliances so you will still need some adapters and maybe a transformer. In smaller locations, like Vilseck, the off post housing may have nothing available and will send you to private rental. A private rental house is still through housing but you will search through listings of houses on the economy that are for rent from a landlord. This can be a little frustrating due to the language barrier of landlords and the distance. A lot of private rental houses are anywhere from 10-40 minutes away from post. But it is ultimately your decision if you want to drive that far. Make a list of pros and cons of the houses you look at and decide what will work best for your family. 

Most people want to know their chances of living on post before they get here. My husband and I were approved for a 3 bedroom government leased house before we arrived. We thought we would then for sure live in a government leased house. We are now in a private rental. Don't get your heart set on a location or type of house because it will likely change. 

If you are coming to Vilseck/Grafenwoehr you can go to either housing office. We are stationed at Vilseck but found our house through Graf. Just remember to be patient when looking for a house. We love our house but it is a 30 minute drive to and from work everyday. But we have made great friends with our German neighbors and absolutely love being the only Americans in our village! 

                                                    A few photos of our house!

                                         And the beautiful view we have!!!

Arriving in Germany

Flight: No matter what time your flight is be sure to try and sleep on the plane as much as you can. I know there may be kids or movies playing, just try to block it out and sleep! This will help your transition with the time change once you do arrive in Germany. Forcing yourself into the new time zone will be the best for adjusting. Try not to take naps once you get to your location. Go to bed and wake up at normal times. Set an alarm to make yourself get up! The more you sleep or take napes the longer it will take to adjust and you will start to feel miserable. So do yourself a favor and try to adjust right away! A lot of people are confused as to what happens once you land in Germany. You will be sent through customs, which is really them just checking passports. You will then be sent to pick up your luggage. Be prepared to hurry up and wait as the Army loves to fulfill that statement. We waited for a while to get our luggage, one because there is so much luggage coming off the plane and two, it's not a typical airport where they have conveyer belts moving all the luggage. The Airmen themselves are moving it off the plane. Once you have received your luggage you may be sitting around for a while. I believe we waited about an hour because the service members had to "check in" or something... I really don't know what they did but it took forever. Buses will then arrive at Ramstein and you will be bused to your location. Our bus ride was about 4 hours. Obviously that will change depending on where you are headed. Just take some time to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Once you get there hopefully you have a sponsor there to help you out and welcome you to your new home :)

                    

                      This was my first glimpse of Germany!

 

Appliances to bring or leave in the United States

This information about what appliances will and won't work is probably the most sought after info when PCSing to Germany! So here it is, all laid out and explained so please read, re-read and share this information. I wish we had known all this before we moved here!

 

                             Things to leave in the states: 

Washer, dryer, and refrigerator. The Army will provide all of these for the duration of your stay in Germany. You also do not need to bring any clocks that plug in. The hertz system is different in Germany and your clock will lose 10 minutes every hour.

 

                                      Things to bring: 

Lamps, TV, computers, kitchen appliances, game systems. Some of these items may be duel voltage meaning they can run on 110 or 220 V.  Look at the bottom of the appliance and it should say 110-220V. Some of them may say 100-240V, these items will definitely work in Germany. Yes the plug is different and will not fit in a German outlet but they have adapters. All you do is plug your item into the adapter which will then fit the German outlet.  All lamps will work even if they only say 110V. All you have to do is use an adapter and change the light bulb to a 220 bulb. Don’t try a 110V light bulb, it will blow. This means you can use your Scentsy! You just need to find a consultant over here that sells 220V bulbs! Most computers are duel voltage. If the bottom of your computer doesn’t say look at the actual charger, if it says 110-220 then your computer will work with an adapter. It is the same with phone and camera chargers. Most TV's are duel voltage. We made the mistake of misreading the information about TV's. We read that the operating system would not work in Germany, what is really means is that we can not watch German DVD's. The TV itself will still work but the European operating system for media is different. So bring your TV! We had to buy another one once we got here. 

                               Items that are only 110V: 

These items can still be used. You need to look at the bottom of the appliance to see how many watts it runs on. With these items you can use a transformer. A transformer changes the 220V to 110V. If you have an appliance that runs 550 watts you will need a transformer that is slightly bigger (600W) so it will cover the initial surge when turning the appliance on. If you have a 1,000W transformer and only have a 330W appliance plugged in, it will still use 1,000W no matter what and will run up your electric bill. So use only what you need.  

 

                            Appliances to think about: 

Appliances that use heat typically run very high in watts (crock-pot, iron, griddle, coffee maker, hair straighter). These items can be used but will take a large transformer. The bigger the transformer the more expensive it will be. It will be easier to either go without or find a German version of some of these items once you get here. 

 

                                   Items with motors: 

Stand mixer, hair dryer, blender, food processor: These are the only items I’m not 100% about. I know the hertz system is different in Germany and these items can be used with a transformer but over time the motor will get used to running on a different hertz system and once you bring it back to the states it won’t convert back and you can blow the motor.

 

                          Things we bought in Germany: 

We were not given all this information so we brought everything we owned. We ended up buying a German hair dryer, hair straighter, iron, and microwave. An American microwave would work but would take a very large transformer so I would not bring it.

 

Tip: Write down all your appliances BEFORE you pack HHG along with the voltage and watts. We had to wait until our HHG arrived to know what size transformers we would need.  

 

 

Baggage allowance and things to bring on the plane

         Flying overseas for a PCS allows you to have a larger weight allowance for your baggage than a typical commercial flight. Most airlines allow you to have 50 pounds, a PCS flight allows you to have 70 pounds per bag. Each family member can have 2 checked bags, one carry on and one personal bag such as a purse.  So yes, if you have a family of 5 you can have 10 checked bags and 5 carry on bags. Remember you and your kids have to carry all of this into the airport and get it all back once you land. When my husband and I flew to Germany we had 4 checked bags and 2 carry on bags and it was a lot to keep up with.  I had 2 suitcases, one weighed right at 70 pounds and the other 71, oops haha, they let me go without a fee for that extra pound! But all that weight was very difficult for me to lug around. It may seem like you want to take as much as you can but remember, the hotels on post have washers and dryers. You can wash and re-wear clothes. The hotels also may not have much space for tons of bags. Just be aware that you may be cramped in a hotel for 2 weeks before you move into a house.

          Make sure you look up the temperatures for your arrival time and wear clothes on the plane that are comfortable but fit the conditions when you arrive. We flew out in June and I wore jeans, a short sleeve shirt, and flip flops, but my Mom kept saying "won't your feet get cold on the plane?" Nope, because I brought socks! I don't like having to tie and untie shoes so flips flops were the obvious choice for me to be comfortable! I also had a fleece jacket and neck pillow. And it did get chilly on the plane but they also had blankets for everyone. Obviously bring things to do on the plane, books, Ipods, mini DVD player for kids, handheld games (make sure the sound can be turned off). Our flight did play movies but I had Sudoku, crossword books and a cross stitch project to keep myself busy. They will allow knitting/crocheting/cross stitch needles on the plane. They did ask if I had any sharp objects in my carry on, and I did have scissors but I just said no. If I was caught I would have said sorry I forgot and thrown them out. 

         Depending on the time of your flight they will serve meals. Our flight left at 1830 so we had dinner served and a “snack” which was a full meal with a sandwich later in the wee hours of the morning. If you are picky about what you eat then bring your own snacks. And if you have children make sure they have toys and snacks to be sure they stay happy on the seven hour flight.  Don't be afraid to get up and walk around. It's actually good for your circulation to stand up every now and then. If you have children have them walk around and stretch so they don't get too restless.

        Just remember that it's only a few hours and next thing you know you'll be in Deutschland!

                    Dinner on our flight! And it was actually very good!