2017 I&i?

[Allan W]

Anyone got any ideas for a 2017 I&I? If we stick to North America, how about San Diego? New Orleans to Pensacola via Mobile? Phoenix/Tucson area?

 

Thought I would start a planning thread early this time.

[FlyingCanOpener]

New Orleans to Pensacola is my AO! You could spread that all the way to Baton Rouge with the USS Kidd and the Port Hudson battlefield just north of town. Vicksburg is a 3 hour drive from Baton Rouge up a scenic highway along the Mississippi River. USS Alabama is a nice stop, but I think there's other stuff in the region along the I-10/US-90 corridor. If nothing else, we could do our best Russian spy impression and sit across the bay from the Ingalls shipyard and gawk at the USS Tripoli being built.

 

Summer is a special kind of humid subtropical hell, but spring would be nice. Around Easter week is perfect (Our school district is out the week before Easter, so I'm free and most places would be a little light on visitors (A lot of school districts in Louisiana do the week after Easter as their break) for my purposes, but others' mileage may vary.

 

In terms of intercontinental meetups, I think Argus mentioned several months ago about an Australian I&I; I'm about to plonk down some cash for an ANZAC Adventure in late June/early July and am hoping that they could line up with my schedule.

[Markus Becker]

A Central German I&I came up by accident. Though the national elections might be getting in the way.

 

http://www.tank-net.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42011&hl=

[Leo Niehorster]

A riverboat ride would be nice.

[sunday]

A riverboat ride would be nice.

 

Concur. Perhaps we could find one of those Rhine or Danube cruisers with not many pre programmed excursions and organize some history-oriented activities.

 

OTH, just got back from Athens, and seems their War History museum could be good for a day visit, judging for the exterior exhibits: F-86D, F-104, F-84, F-5E, Bell 47, AT-6, some 25mm French Hotchkiss AA guns, a British-made 40mm Bofors gun, couple of Comet turrets, several Skoda howitzers, a 1877-vintage Krupp-gun, some experimental, protected Krupp guns, a pre-WWI British 152mm howitzer, a nice collection of mountain guns, etc. Food is good, and prices are quite affordable. Drawbacks for summer would be the heat, and the large amount of tourists. Access to mil areas in Greece is notoriously difficult, too.

[Allan W]

A riverboat ride would be nice.

On the mighty Mississippi?

[Leo Niehorster]

 

A riverboat ride would be nice.

On the mighty Mississippi?

 

Indeed!

Also, I like the (around) Eastern date. Not so hot and humid — a condition under which I suffer greatly.

 

Of course, a cruise on a European river would be nice also. We missed a short one on the "West Wall" European I&I.

How about a combination GermanyAustria/Hungary? Several museums and stuff in Vienna and Budapest of TN interest.

Might be a bit tight on time, though, possibly using a Danube cruiser as basis accommodation?

[shep854]

Stretching a bit east of Mobile and you have Pensacola and Ft Rucker--NAVAIR and Army Air museums respectively.

Residing in Birmingham AL makes this rather doable for me as well.

Being in the Free SouthEast, a range session or two is easily doable. Range management in this part of the country is very easy-going.

[Markus Becker]

Might be a bit tight on time, though, possibly using a Danube cruiser as basis accommodation?

 

[Allan W]

Stretching a bit east of Mobile and you have Pensacola and Ft Rucker--NAVAIR and Army Air museums respectively.

Residing in Birmingham AL makes this rather doable for me as well.

Being in the Free SouthEast, a range session or two is easily doable. Range management in this part of the country is very easy-going.

This is a trip I'd like to do. It would probably work best as a rolling I&I, starting in New Orleans and ending in Pensacola or Orlando/Tampa.

[sunday]

Sounds like a great idea, Allan.

[Richard Lindquist]

Does anybody know the status of the Infantry and Armor Museums at Fort Benning? Between the museums and the simulators, it might be just as good as the two Ft Knox I&I (1998 & 2002). Do we have anyone on the ground there at Benning? The Confederate Naval Museum is there as well. About a three hour shot if we try to add Ft Rucker and the whirlybirds.

[FlyingCanOpener]

Infantry museum is open and is pretty nice. They have an Armour wing with some artefacts, but the stuff for the museum and such is on base and closed to visitors unless you ask really nicely and know the right people. I got to go in back in 2013 and spent several hours there, but since then they've managed to get several closed sheds up to cover some of the stuff like the Panthers and I think even the Jagdtiger.

[BansheeOne]

I could do the week before Easter; it would also make economic use of my active ESTA authorization which runs until August. Flying to New Orleans from Berlin means upwards of 16 hours with either two stops or six-hour-plus layovers in Newark or Miami, though. Well, I guess a flight day is a flight day anyway. Orlando would be good for the outbound leg since I would probably go to Frankfurt to see the family for the holidays; Lufthansa does that non-stop (thank the Mouse).

[FlyingCanOpener]

What about Berlin to Houston Intercontinental then a Southwest flight to New Orleans? 3 hour layover in Miami, and it depends on the timing for the Southwest flight.

[sunday]

I could do the week before Easter; it would also make economic use of my active ESTA authorization which runs until August. Flying to New Orleans from Berlin means upwards of 16 hours with either two stops or six-hour-plus layovers in Newark or Miami, though. Well, I guess a flight day is a flight day anyway. Orlando would be good for the outbound leg since I would probably go to Frankfurt to see the family for the holidays; Lufthansa does that non-stop (thank the Mouse).

 

What dates did you look, Axel? I see there are some tickets that I could redeem for miles in some days just before Easter.

 

Re FCO: Seems Miami is the hub to go. But I've heard some horror stories about checked luggage thieving in Miami airport.

Edited November 26, 2016 by sunday

[FlyingCanOpener]

Yeah, the Berlin-Houston flights all stop in Miami as well; albeit for a couple of hours. New Orleans isn't big enough to have true international flights anymore (It now has a flight to London though--woohoo!) so it's a bit of a pain to fly into from overseas.

[sunday]

Yeah, the Berlin-Houston flights all stop in Miami as well; albeit for a couple of hours. New Orleans isn't big enough to have true international flights anymore (It now has a flight to London though--woohoo!) so it's a bit of a pain to fly into from overseas.

 

That flight of BA sometimes uses a 787, so it could be a good experience. I am thinking about going Iberia Madrid-Miami, with one of the new (for IB) A330s.

[Allan W]

Miami is an awful airport. Orlando or Ft Lauderdale are much more pleasant if you can get flights into them.

[sunday]

Miami is an awful airport. Orlando or Ft Lauderdale are much more pleasant if you can get flights into them.

 

Thanks, Allan. Seems I will need to fly Star Alliance, anyway.

[sunday]

BTT

[FlyingCanOpener]

Yeah people, are you coming to my AO or not?

 

Heck, we might even get MCab to come back home again.

[sunday]

Waiting for dates set, already missed a few cheap plane tickets.

[sunday]

Had a chat with Harold, and the second half of April, especially after the 17th-19th is a good date to start, then five days visiting should be enough.

[FlyingCanOpener]

That's after Easter Break for me, but if the 5 days includes a weekend, I'm game for whatever; Pensacola is 6 hours from me and New Orleans is 2 hours and change.