A -long- PCS Story

 My husband and I got married in 2025 when he was living and working in Germany, and I was living and working in the United Kingdom. It was a whirlwind of a year. A lot of planning and strict schedules were needed for us to be able to get everything done in Florida on our 2-week wedding (elopement) and honeymoon trip. The sad part was when it was over and we had to go back to our respective countries. We did make it a point to see each other at least once a month for the remainder of our time apart, and that was a beautiful opportunity. We know how lucky we are and we were so happy to be able to travel around Europe a little bit, though not as much as we would have liked, and now it is time for us to say "Farewell" to this continent. We are sad to leave behind all of the beauty, treasures, and history, but we are elated to be finally starting our life fully together. 

We are moving back to the continental United States, to an area neither of us has lived in before – Arizona. It is going to be quite the climate change from England and Germany! I started my leave first, saying goodbye to England and hopping on a flight to Deutschland to spend a week here with John while he processes out of his current command. I think I chose the absolute worst day to fly out, because LHR was having baggage issues out of it's international terminal, and one of my bags did not make it onto the flight. After long hours waiting in line to talk to the desk agent, I found out that I could drive the hour back to the airport the following day and retrieve my bag. We got there just in time to grab it off the conveyor belt.

While in Germany, we celebrated our 1-year wedding anniversary by visiting the beautiful "Burg Eltz." It was a beautiful hike through the woods to the most fairy-tale looking castle I have ever seen! We did a tour, had lunch, and wandered around a bit. The castle was built in stages, and housed multiple families. The history is incredible.

*I wont lie, I started this blog post during that week in Germany, and never finished it, so now I will continue the tale, from about a month later...

John and I had one heck of a time traveling from Germany to AZ. It took about 26-30 hours (we honestly lost count) and we were absolutely exhausted. We will never be doing that again. If you drive, the government makes you stop at 8 hours per day. Yet to fly, they have you constantly traveling for far longer. We were definitely too tired to get our rental car and drive to our new hotel... Next time, we will be taking that into account and will make sure we aren't doing too much all at once.

That being said, we got to our new hotel and everything was great! We spent the first weekend (which was a holiday) driving around our new town and visiting some thrift stores. Our first real meal? Cracker Barrel! We enjoyed it so much that we went back two days later. Our first week in Tucson was a whirlwind. We moved into our house a few days early, and now, a month later, are still waiting for our household goods. 

PCS is a stressful time for all families, no matter the size, and no matter the distance. I am so grateful that John and I are together, in one house, for good and that we have the next three years to enjoy this beautiful desert landscape. I will try to write more blog posts about our adventures, and hopefully add a few more photographs as well.

-Kaelyn