is that the great people you meet have to up and move to a different country just as soon as you really get to be friends. A couple of close friends from my entering class left today for Mexico and I’m pretty bummed – it won’t be the same without them here.
It also turns out that “Permanent Change of Station” (aka moving) is no walk in the park – they’ve just revoked business-class travel (more on that in a sec) and those lucky enough to get posted to Mexico actually have to drive there. That’s right, the State Department won’t pay to both ship your car and send you in a plane, so if you want a vehicle in Mexico you get the pleasure of driving it there yourself. Nothing quite so glamorous as road-tripping to your first diplomatic assignment. And the State Dept ever-so-generously reimburses at 21 cents to the mile. Unless you drive a Neon, that’s probably not going to cover your gas.
To top it off, my friends’ super cute 2 year old started vomiting at 8:00 last night, just in time for their five-day cross-country drive. Hopefully it’s just nerves – she can’t find her favorite toys because most of them were packed – or a very quick 24-hour bug. It’d be hilarious if it weren’t so terrifically inconvenient.
About business class, the previous policy allowed it for flights over 14 hours … so I was super excited for my first ever business-class flight! All said, it’ll take something over 20 hours to get to Dhaka … but apparently the DOS is too broke for business class. Luckily if they put us in economy they have to give us a night in London (first ever visit to London!) but somehow it’s just not the same. Also it’s two very long economy flights. Sigh.
You think having to drive to your next PCS is bad, imagine having to go there by ship. That’s how poor the Navy is ;)