PCSING TO GERMANY? | HELPFUL TIPS WHEN MOVING TO GERMANY
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ค. 2024
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My dad was Air Force and we lived in Ramstein in the 80s. Absolutely loved it and both my kids are planning to join the Air Force with hopes they can have experiences like I did. When I retire, I plan to go back to Europe.
Great video and VERY informative. You hit the nail on the head!
These tips were so helpful! We’re moving to Ramstein in November so we’re pretty excited!!
And please please make another video as we like more info! Thank you for being very informative girl!
I will get on it! 😉
Omg this helped so much! I’ll be moving to Ramstein/Landstuhl to be exact in 2 months! Thanks for this video!
I'm so glad, that's awesome!! If you have any other questions let me know!
Thank you so much for all this great info! My husband and I will be PCS’ing this summer and I have no idea where to begin. Just subscribed to your channel and plan to watch AAAALLLLL your videos!! 😊
Thank you so much!!! Hopefully we can help make the transition a little smoother!
Wow this is so helpful! Thank you!
This is super super helpful thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!
You're so welcome! We have the basic knowledge, seems crazy not to share it!
Hello from New Mexico! I'm previous enlisted, civilian now. I've been applying for civilian jobs out there. My family and I just watched this video and it was super informative!!! Thank you so much. I just subscribed!
Heyyyyy 👋🏼 that's awesome. I hope something works out!!!
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much! Moving there next year!
Awesome! Good luck! 🥰
This video is amazing! I’m moving from Kadena to Spangdahlem and needed this.
Ahhh that's awesome. So perfect. We came from Kadena too!!
I use to live In Bitburg. I loved it!!
Funny story, when I was moving here to be with my husband, I watched all of your PCS videos when you were coming to Ramstein. It was you who helped me as I traveled all by myself lol. Then I ran into you a few times on base it was like running into a celebrity lol this video is extremely helpful. Tfs!!!!!!!
I love that! I love knowing we helped you coming here! That makes me so happy! And I love running into people that know us because of videos too! I don't always know what to say because I'm generally just awkward ha ha. 💚💚💚💚
Project Wink, you are an amazing energy! Thank You for making these videos and helping others!
May your kindness be contagious🥰🤩😷😋🥰😇.
Hugs 🤗 for Calvin!
So 👏 friggin 👏 informational 👏
I'm so glad! 🤗🤗
Thank you super helpful more n more info pls
Did it four times, twice as an Army Brat and twice as an Airmen. Best advice. Is to enjoy. It takes about 6 months to realize that the tension America sometimes put on each other isn’t there. You soon realize that no matter who you are you are an American. That become very liberating
My husband is getting stationed at Ramstein, we’re moving in April! So helpful, thank you!
Awww yay. I'm glad!
How exciting! We arrived in October, Safe travels🤍
Friiieeeends? Lol
My husband and I will be moving there in August! This was so helpful, nobody has told us anything! So thank you!! My husband is coming from Kadena and I’m coming from Arizona so he knows alittle more than me but this helped us both!
Quick question- When should I start looking for a job? We get there mid-august, I’ve heard start applying now and I’ve also heard to wait till we get there.
Oh thats awesome! We came here from kadena as well! And I'll actually be in Tucson visiting my best friend next month ha ha. Small world.
I'd say start looking now. You don't have to be here to apply, plus you can see the close out date and weather or not you'd be here by then to interview.
@@ProjectWink that’s too funny! Thank you so much this is very helpful!
I just found out I’m pcsing to ramstein in may and I’m pretty excited!
Oh thats awesome!! Where are you coming from?
Thank you
Yes...please make another video. This one was fantastic! Thanks for the info!❤🙌
I will get to work on it! 😉🤗
Thank you for this we will be moving to Ramstein next month.
Thats so exciting!
I’m moving to spang but there’s not too many videos on it
@@alondramartin6373 Yeah I haven't much on TH-cam.
I wish we knew more about it. I'm sorry. 😭
love the nails today Mandy. Great tips for incoming. Very helpful
Really informative video; one thing you should have added is to apply for a regular (standard) passport prior to travel to Germany. Lots of GI's and family members have arrived on their official (service) passports and have found out that these passports do not allow the leisure travel to other countries in Europe.
I'm fairly certain that's something they tell you when you get it. That your "No Fee" passport is for official duty travel only. But i can absolutely mention it in another video. They do mass passport issuing days here as well though, and its considerably cheaper than getting it in the states. So at least its not totally impossible to get once here 😉
They used to go through Rhein Main with everyone instead of Ramstein before Rhein Main closed.
Nice vlog! :)
I thought that was where you guys where . Hmm guess I got confused. Have fun. I only got to visit on a tdy
Hey Mandy, I was stationed in Germany three times throughout my career. I'm retired now. I must say, that this is the best prep video (information), that I've ever seen. Even better than any of the military ones. Great job. Keep up the good work!!
Ahhhh. Thank you so much!!! That means a lot! It took many hours! Lol
Getting base housing can take a while. Took us a year to get base housing when we were there.
My two cents. The reason you may not understand Germans in this area is that many speak a local Dialect Pfälzisch. Get Google Translator on your phone. It works pretty well. On finding a house, I have always gone through German sources. Just learn the translations like EBK means that there is a built-in kitchen.
My husband and I just PCS to Germany currently in quarantine
We lived in spangdahlem from 15-19. My biggest advice is don't buy a cheap car. You still gotta keep the car inspection worthy. I spent 2000 euro just to keep my car passable
Thank you!! My husband and I are going to be moving there in March!
So exciting!!! 🤗🤗🤗
@@ProjectWink We are moving to spangdahlem, do you know how different it is over there or is it about the same? Thank you for these videos by the way! :)
We've been to Spangdahlem a handful of times. And I would think its probably pretty similar, but im not 100%.
Either way, it wouldn't hurt to plan ahead 😀
I am in Germany it is the best i love it even though covid-19 i still love it
Oh ok never mind you are there.
You should have seen the place in the 1980s when there were 250,000 troops the and 12 air bases ;)
Thank you so much for all the info. We will be arriving there in August. If you can make another video would you be able to share any info on flying with a pet & the process when getting there(Ramstein) as far as... do they get them out of their kennel to check their chip again ect.Thank you!
I can touch on flying with pets sure!
I do know that they dont check their chip when they get here. But they will check pet paperwork for vaccines.
Off topic question, but was wondering what do you use for vlogging as far as editing program and laptop/computer?
Yes, please do more videos like this!We're heading there soon (pending medical approval!) I spent a long evening binge watching your videos a few days after he found out and found myself whistling your intro the next day, lol! We were at Aviano 11 years ago so I'm not nervous but I'm sure Germany is a bit different and things will definitely be different with kids!
I'm definitely interested in all your tips about non-dual voltage stuff. We were newlyweds in Italy so we didn't have any of the kitchen gadgets we have now. Also anything you suggest stocking up on before the move? I sew and was told to stock up on fabric/ thread/ notions as there is nothing as inexpensive as Joann's. Are most villages stroller friendly?
Ahhh that's so cool! It never occurs to me that there's so many new people watching our videos all the time because new people are always moving here and looking for information. Then I had a 💡💡💡 moment lol.
We didnt have to worry about voltage in Japan cause we lived on base, but coming here i was so disappointed looking at the stuff we had that wasn't dual voltage.
Also, there absolutely is not a Joann's equivalent, but there are smaller fabric stores for sure. 🤗 maybe get some of your favorite fabrics before coming. You can always order they from their website as well, they ship here. 😉
And yes. Sidewalks everywhere lol. Except like between villages in the farmlands, there isn't sidewalks or even a shoulder to the road most of the time. But almost always a side walk in town. 🤗
OMG I love you, thank you! Definitely saving this for when (if?) we finally get hard orders to Ramstein. Luckily since we've lived in Korea, I feel prepared for another overseas move but this time we have two cats lol. Plus I know that Germany is so different from Korea.
Ha ha ha. You're welcome! Fingers crossed! Coming from Japan there wasn't much of a culture shock either. So that's a plus!
Pcsing here from another overseas location with pets is triiiicky ha ha. Pet spots are hard to come by. Luckily, I think cats can ride in cabin (but only two pets in cabin per flight, for everyone) so you'd have to get a flight that no one else was using an in cabin pet spot.
@@ProjectWink I'm so torn between being excited and not because of COVID haha (as far as plans changing, knock-on-wood).
Luckily we're coming from DC area but that still doesn't help the only 2 in-cabin spots and limited cargo spots. Hopefully, we get hard orders early before he leaves for TDY so we can immediately book tickets and start looking for a house.
No middle man for renting is scary lol, when we were apartment hunting in Korea, we had to go through approved realtors who acted as the middleman the entire time you live there. If we needed anything done, we went to the realtor who went to the landlord. If there were issues we could go to housing who would then talk to the realtor and/or landlord.
How's the internet? Hubs is a major gamer and relies on good internet...which was easy and cheap in Korea but I have a feeling its not so in Germany.
Kylie FitzGerald the Internet isn’t great but from my experience getting WiFi is a pain we waited about 2 weeks for our internet to be installed and in the meantime we were waiting on that we went to spangdahlem for Internet. They don’t have free WiFi that often in Germany. It’s kinda rare to find that.
Things may have changed a little lol almost everywhere on base has free Wi-Fi. It does take a few weeks to get it set up but the wait time is just a normal thing here. And the service isn't terrible, our friends are gamers and they don't have any complaints. This biggest thing with gaming (or uploading TH-cam videos) is just hooking up and ethernet cable.
Not dealing with a realtor is so much easier, honestly. All the landlords speak English. Thats part of the process, they have to be able to communicate with you. I just What'sApp message our landlord when we need something or when he needs something and its easy peezy.
Project Wink I was there 2014-2016 so take my comment with a grain of salt lol. We were also stationed at Buchel so that’s like way out in the boonies. It’s a small base in a German base in Rhineland pfalz. It’s different than at ramstein. I had to travel like 30-40 minutes to go to spangdahlem so it was kinda far from Americans and it was only German housing for us. But like Mandy says things might have changed since I’ve been there 😅.
Yes 100% please help with the electricity and voltage! I have some electronics that I have no idea how to check if they are dule voltage (how do I even check) and if not .... like my peleton how do I get that working?
Internet service???
Car registration.
Banking?
I can absolutely make videos about all of those things ☺
Usually on the back/bottom/plug in tag will say 110v or 120v or 110v - 220v. If it just says 110v, its not dual voltage and won't work here.
Hi! Thank you for your video, it is really helpful (moving from Aviano, Italy to Ramstein at the end of July). If you could go back to your first time in Germany, where would you live in? Thanks
Honesty, I really love the area we're in. I kinda wish we were in a village with a store we could run to real quick, but I love it here.
@Project Wink thank you so much for answering. Is there a train station in your town? Here in Sacile (Italy) there is and I love to be able to get on the train and visit the Italian cities, it is really easy and fast. Once in Germany I’d love to find a house in a town where I can easily walk to the train station. Can you recommend any city/town with a train station? Thank you again for your patience, you’re very kind!
Super helpful tips!! We'll be there late November. I was wondering if you could include things all about traveling/PCSing with pets to Ramstein. I have a 5 lb chihuahua and 2 cats but I've heard you can only bring 2 pets with you for housing? I think we'll end up living on base and I read somewhere about a 2 pet max policy. Any tips PCSing and preparing for travel with pets would be amazing! Thank you!!
So, everyone's experience with pets here is so different that I didnt want to say "do this, this and this, and this will happen" because I've not met two people with similar pet pcs experiences 😬
But yes there is a two pet max for living on base. There is an ETP, but i don't know what those cases are.
Thank you for the video. It was so much helpful I move in 6 months. I do have a few questions, did you bring your whole household? Or did you leave some stuff in NTS? Have you seen ppl ship pickup trucks there? I have that and a Mercedes suv so thinking Mercedes may be easier. And finally I made a reservation online for Ramstein and got a confirmation Number but then when I looked at the site again it said online reservation weren’t allowed lol do you know about that? And If u don’t stay the whole time of your reservation and leave early cuz you found a place are you charged still? Thank you in advance
I'm so glad it helped!
We shipped all of our HHGs. Whatever we couldn't use (for voltage purposes) we stored in the attic.
There are plenty of trucks there. Don't worry about your car being "too big" because the roads are so small. They're not lol. People and movies lie. But the military will ship only one of them, the other would be on your dime.
Your best bet would be to call them. They have a US number, and they're open 24/7, someone will answer. I do know for a little while they were only showing reservations to be booked 48 hours in advance because of covid. But that stopped a while ago. I booked our reservations 2 months out. And no you do not get charged for checking out early. Chances are, unless you're living on base, you won't find a house that fast right now (from what friends are telling me). But the hotel will charge for 10 nights when you check in, and if you check out after by 7, they will refund you the last 3 that were already paid for.
Super helpful video! How did the BAH work for mil to mil?
We're not mil to mil so I'm not sure. But I'm pretty sure if you're mil to mil with dependants one of you will get your rank with dependants bah, the other will just get your rank bah.
Im going to Germany in late October I’m wondering about how hard it was to get your pets over there. I’ll be leaving from my tech school I’m a little worried about that added stress alone. In general, how was the process for you and your animals? Did you find a lot of landlords restricting “aggressive” breads?
Its not so much the landlords restricting breeds, its the rotator flight that will deny breeds Germany views as aggressive (unless they're a "mix" 😉)
Getting a pet spot is kind of tricky as there are only 10 spots per flight in cargo, i believe. And 2 spots in cabin for smaller pets. Honestly having a little flexibility in dates goes a loooong ways.
Thank you for this video! Question, though: government doesn’t pay your housing expenses? I’ve been looking at overseas posts and I figured that was standard?
What housing expenses exactly? Like to move there or like monthly? What do you mean?
Get a tourist passport now. Start learning to speak German. German people are very friendly and wonderful people. Read up on German customs. If you drink alcohol, don ever drink. I don't drink but I hear Jever Plis is very smooth beer and delicious. The food is very good. There is a place called Walter Feddercreek's (a Snell Imbiss). Curry wurst is the best. We loved it. I would live there if I could have found a job. Travel by car if you can. Germany is a great place. Big cities are still big cities so take care. Foreigners are not Germans so they act differently. American Servicemen still act up so watch out.
Hi
Mandy, it seems we might be moving in June. Would you know how it works getting teens licensed there? My oldest is 16 and will need to get a permit and drivers license. My middle son will be 14 but he’ll be of driving age while we’re there. Hopefully you’d be able to shed some knowledge on this. Thanks
Unfortunately I have no idea how that works. If you already have a license, you just take the online test and get your license here. But im not sure how drivers Ed and everything works for us, on the german side of things drivers Ed is like 2,000€ and 2 years long lol. Buuuuut I do know there's a different system for on base, I just don't know what that is.
You might want to mention about the quarantine time .......
What about quarantine time?
Where do you go in to get your drivers license?
is the housing the same in other branches since you said airmen/airforce, like I've heard that you don't get to look at housing ahead of time and they just tell you where you're going to live and you have to take it or go to the back of the waiting list? is it different if you're going to somewhere smaller, say vilseck/grafenwoehr, as opposed to rammstein?
Sorry 😮💨 I never saw this comment.
It’s probably slightly different for different branches. I do know Army didn’t have a choice, they had to live on base for a certain amount of time.
My son and DIL are moving to Germany next year with their labradooble. Can you do a video on PCSING with your pets please? I am so nervous about the dog getting there safely.
There are so many factors that play into pcsing with a pet and special cases and situations for everyone. One of those special cases being Covid, its affected friends leaving here with pets, I wouldn't even begin to guess how that'd affect those coming in with pets.
Depending on where they're coming from, it's a straight flight here from BWI if they get a pet spot on the rotator. I know certain airlines aren't flying certain breeds across the states right now, because of covid, and that's adding some stress to the process for those encountering that.
But, covid not included, once we were moving, everything went smoothly. There isn't anything to worry about as far as moving a pet here.
Hi, PCSing soon. I'm wondering if we can move into the stairwell apartments and then move off base once we find a good house/ are ready to.
It's possible. We helped friends move from the stairwells to off base, but its all on your dime. The military won't help move your stuff off base.
Does Amazon deliver there?
Idk 3k sqft is a lot of house here in the states lol. I better be able to find that there
I'm sorry, I should have stated for most people. I've never lived in anything close to a 3k sqft house.
Did you have an issue flying your dog cargo in the winter months? Ours has a rotator Spot but it’ll be winter, and probably less than 45 degrees out so I’m worried they won’t let him go
We didn't have any issues, no. But we flew November 15th, 3 years ago so it was a very different (non-Corona) time.
But normally pets fly here all through the winter so that shouldn't be an issue.
They used to have films that told you not to show up "broke," as Europe was expensive!
Great video! We were on the 4th floor stairwell when I was kid.
Btw - Dutch Bros!!!✌(The peace sign is because it's part of their logo, oh boy my dad just rolled over in his grave! 😁)
I'll be moving to Germany from the United States in August to be with my boyfriend who was just PCS'ed to Ramstein AFB a month ago for 3 years. He's currently trying to find off based housing for us but it's been difficult to find pet friendly ones as I will be bringing my dog there . Any helpful hints for moving a 50lb Goldendoodle to Germany? :P I also want to ship my car... but figure it'll be super expensive since I'll be paying out of pocket as we're getting married after I move there... so maybe best to sell it and use that money to buy a new one when I get there? HELPPPP!
So that's all super tricky. Possible but tricky. Housing off base right now is veeeerrryy competitive, and under a certain rank they have to live in the dorms. There are a couple shipping companies I know of that ship from here but idk if it's the same people that ship to here. But our friends just pcs'd there Great Dane so it's definitely possible. Shopping your car will be a couple thousand dollars. Orrrrr you could sell or and get a new one here. Which is hard to do sometimes, I know, especially if it's paid off. But there are tons of cars for sale here. American and German spec cars. Lots of BMWs, Mercedes, Audi - for a lot cheaper than they are in the states - if that's your thing.
Is it a hard process to use our own vehicle in Germany if we shipped it overseas? We are thinking to sell it stateside then buy one in Germany, but would you recommend having 2 vehicles have a family?
The military will literally ship one car for you lol. They drive the same cars we do in Germany, ship the car. You will need two cars.
@@ProjectWink is it expensive to get our car inspected in Germany to be able to drive it ?
If you get it inspected off base you do have to pay, it's less than $100. But if you get it inspected on base it's free. But whether you ship your car or buy a car there, it's gonna need the same inspection.
I wish my husband got orders for Germany! We are going to Yokota in November. Still exciting but not Germany. Lol How did you like Japan?
We loved Japan honestly. I think we enjoyed Japan more than Germany. Though we were in Okinawa and it was very different from mainland.
@@ProjectWink Yeah I've heard it's different. I hope I like it since we will be there 4 to 5 years.
What part of the west coast are you from?!
Washington state lol
I saw you had pets, could you tell me your process on getting your pets through customs?
What specifically do you want to know? I didnt have to do anything once we arrived here aside from show them my paperwork.
I want to live offbase and having a garage is all I care about
Any places offbase with garages?
Yes, plenty. We have a two car garage.
Me and my wife are getting based here. We want to live off bases for the life of me I can’t find any reasonable homes for rent online. Any tips ?
It's probably slim pickins right now but homes.mil (kaiserslautern military community if searching in ramstein area) and ahrn.com are the ones people use most. As well as bookoo.com
@@ProjectWink okay and does my wife need to get a passport ? I’m only a couple weeks into tech school so I haven’t gone to mpf yet to talk about all this. Just super anxious hehe
@@maxmichelson5769 I would definitely go talk to the people that know lol.
We were required to get our no fee passports before moving to Okinawa (before here) but some people had to get their regular passports to come here. So I don't have an exact answer for you.
How much is a used car cost on the average over there?
At least a $100 lol.
I dont know how to answer that. They're normal car prices 🤷🏻♀️
How can I PCs my pit bull when he’s apparently banned please help!!
You can't. 😬 as far as I know there's no way around it. Unless his paperwork says he's a mix, he won't be accepted into the country. Either on base or at the international Airport.
So he is actually a pit bull mix but looks predominantly pit bull do you think if I change his paperwork to say mixed they ll let him pass?
I wanna say that it can't say "pit bull" at all. So like "pit bull mix" isn't even allowed. Buuuuut, the passenger terminal would know more than me.
Used to have NO CLOSETS over there. You had to have big wardrobe cabinets. Houses big because the US government wasted money over there. They used to put people in those housing projects on base, like the low-income places in the States. MOVE OFF-BASE ASAP!
Um hello, I do live off base. And I don't have closets 🙄 pretty sure I said that.
@@ProjectWink You mentioned it in the video right after I typed it. Wink, wink ;)
You got nice ass handwriting
Do I? Lol thanks!
Omg transformers!!!! Do NOT... I REPEAT, DOOOOOOO NOT! Leave your transformer plugged in!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your electric bill will be FUCKING HUGE! And people in Germany love their dogs. Do with that what you may, however you can bring your dog with you literally anywhere like restaurants and such. Another thing that you don’t wanna struggle with is getting your family sponsored, if you are newly married like I was (not sure how it is for full families). Just have the paperwork ready! A couple Drs visits on active duty base just to be sure the paperwork is done properly. Luckily my husband was at vogelweh before I got there and we moved down to buchel but everyone’s experience is different. If you live off base be ready to conserve Electricity, oil, and possibly water depending on the location. Some if not all homes have oil tanks (been a while I forget) for the heating, some have good water system which will be useful and I am not sure but I think all have an electricity company that will bill you the same each month however that doesn’t mean you are using the same amount of electricity each month it just means you might get a very large bill or possibly a check at the end of the year for spending more or less energy than the year before. However that will also determine how much your bill is for the following year is. Get ready for no air conditioning also. I once made the mistake of going to phantasialand in August, it was the hottest day of my life. No A/C only fans, mist, and lots of flies. Lots of bodies=lots of heat.
Sooooo thats a common misconception - if the transformer has an on/off switch you can leave it plugged in, just keep it turned off when its not in use.
Yes. Those would be smaller topics I could cover in another video 🤗
Project Wink mine didn’t have a switch but I suppose if it has a switch that might be the case :) I don’t remember 😂
I'm already sad that soon you'll be leaving Germany. No more exploring Germany videos.
We still have over a year. And we hope to do a little exploring when we get back to the states. Visiting Brittany and such. ☺
I don't think that that many new troops get stationated bc of Trump...
And Germans in general are speaking pretty good English, not only in the Ramstein area :)
Thats no true at all lol.
Over the next few years there will be about 5,000 less military members in Germany as a whole. There are currently almost 200,000 military personnel (DOD civilians, reservists, and contractors) in Germany. Thats such a small percentage it won't even be noticeable lol.
@@ProjectWink I only know that nearly 10k troops are leaving Germany. We don't know when, how, and where they going.
@@ProjectWink 200.000? I don't think so, I've a number from 50.000 Military members in Germany.
Between active duty, reservists and DOD civilians - there are over 200,000 lol
This is useful information but the way it’s edited makes it really annoying to try to listen to the actual information you’re sharing