Wow, I'm blown away at how many people on this board were there. It's really awesome and I'm loving that several people have already responded. What is your opinion of England. Did you get to see much. My baby was only 2 months old when we were transferred to Upper Heyford and I'm sure you well know that our military salary can hardly be considered a living wage, so we didn't get to see a lot. We did see London but I never got to see the crown jewels. We sent to Straford-Upon-Avon and that was a glorious day and I truly can't remember if we were anywhere else. Of couse we lived in Woodstock, so Blenhein Palace was where I took by little girl on a regular basis. It was always our "outing." I loved England at that time. I went back years later as it was part of my job and I was truy sickened at how "Americanized" they had made it. Don't get me wrong, I love America almost as much as President Trump, but I mean there were Domino Pizza, McDonalds and several other such restaurants that, if I were the PM, I would never have let do business there because, IMO, it ruined the culture that I loved. For instance, there was a fish and chip place where we got the very best fish in all the world and it was wrapped in a paper cone so you could just use your fingers and pull it out to eat; no silverware at all, and that restaurant had no set hours so you never could count on it being open, which drove my ex-husband nuts but to me was all part of the charm. What did you like best about England.
I went all over. At least every other weekend my friends and I would take a coach/bus to the Channel, and take the ferry across to Calais France. Sometimes one of us would drive but that meant we couldn't drink so that was rare. We would bring a case of Bud and trade it for real beer with the Brits that often went along with us. Brits LOVED the bubbles. We would wander around Calais seeing the sights and eating the food, and head back late at night. If we drove it was because we were going to Paris to see the sights.
I also got to go all over besides London. I went to Scotland, Wales, France of course, and Germany. Stonehenge was a huge disappointment - I don't recommend it to anyone. We went to the grand opening of "The Missile" roller coaster in 1989 on the 4th of July at "The American Adventure" amusement park - Buzz Aldrin was there to open the ride (he was drunk though). The reason I called out July 4th is all Americans got in free that day. New Years Eve in London at Trafalger Square was a blast. That was the first place I saw a woman in the men's room (sitting on a urinal peeing). A million+ people partying all night, drunk, but having a great time. My coworker and I also had tickets to "Pink Floyd The Wall, Live in Berlin" but both of us ended up getting transferred before the concert. I still have the poster that came with the ticket, and the video tape we ordered. I also have a framed picture of the real wall with some barbed wire and a piece of the wall on my desk to this day. The wall of course came down while I was stationed in England and people took chunks of the wall to sell later - good idea.
I also liked being in a darts league, and I played a TON of Snooker. I have a lifetime membership (along with my coworker) to a local Snooker club near the base because of some charity we did to raise money for the hospital where his wife had her 1st kid. She was a preemie and needed an incubator, but the hospital had only one. If another baby was born early and needed one they would've had to go to London, so we arranged something (not going into detail on this for doxxing reasons) to buy another incubator. The club loved it so much they gave us cue sticks, shirts, and the membership.
I know you mentioned the restaurants taking away from the culture, but when they got a KFC in the local area everyone went wild. That place was always packed. The Fish & Chips restaurant across the street did fine. They used the old-school newspaper to wrap the fish and gave you plenty of vinegar for the fish and fries. I ate there a lot. There was also a fair amount of Indian and Chinese restaurants thanks to the Commonwealth.
I loved being there, and took advantage of everything I could. I should mention I turned 18 about 3 months prior to getting there, so I was able to drink before I hit 21. I think that helped because I got all of that out of my system before coming back to the states (still under 21). I was also enlisted so I didn't make hardly any money - I just stretched it however I could.
I took my wife there on a European tour more than 10 years after I left. I wanted to just go and drive wherever we felt like driving but she wanted structure. The compromise was we went a week before and I took her all around England, and then we went to Paris for the start of the tour. The odd thing is this was before Waze or cheap GPS, but I rented a car at Heathrow and drove to a hotel I'd never seen without a map, and made it without getting lost. I asked the car rental people where the hotel was and they gave me a landmark I knew. Ten+ years later nothing had really changed and I drove right there. Really weird. Oh yeah, I liked driving manual transmission cars while sitting on the right side of the car. I never had a problem getting used to that side of the car - it just felt natural.
That said - England is no longer the same and I fear it is forever lost. That is likely what is in store for the US as well, due to importing all the illegals.
Wow, I was there from 81-84.
We were there from 79-82. Who knows we could have crossed paths in 81 or 82. How cool is that.
Very cool. I was in the 77 TFS.
88-90 for me
Wow, I'm blown away at how many people on this board were there. It's really awesome and I'm loving that several people have already responded. What is your opinion of England. Did you get to see much. My baby was only 2 months old when we were transferred to Upper Heyford and I'm sure you well know that our military salary can hardly be considered a living wage, so we didn't get to see a lot. We did see London but I never got to see the crown jewels. We sent to Straford-Upon-Avon and that was a glorious day and I truly can't remember if we were anywhere else. Of couse we lived in Woodstock, so Blenhein Palace was where I took by little girl on a regular basis. It was always our "outing." I loved England at that time. I went back years later as it was part of my job and I was truy sickened at how "Americanized" they had made it. Don't get me wrong, I love America almost as much as President Trump, but I mean there were Domino Pizza, McDonalds and several other such restaurants that, if I were the PM, I would never have let do business there because, IMO, it ruined the culture that I loved. For instance, there was a fish and chip place where we got the very best fish in all the world and it was wrapped in a paper cone so you could just use your fingers and pull it out to eat; no silverware at all, and that restaurant had no set hours so you never could count on it being open, which drove my ex-husband nuts but to me was all part of the charm. What did you like best about England.
I was at RAF Alconbury - hence my love for A-10s.
I went all over. At least every other weekend my friends and I would take a coach/bus to the Channel, and take the ferry across to Calais France. Sometimes one of us would drive but that meant we couldn't drink so that was rare. We would bring a case of Bud and trade it for real beer with the Brits that often went along with us. Brits LOVED the bubbles. We would wander around Calais seeing the sights and eating the food, and head back late at night. If we drove it was because we were going to Paris to see the sights.
I also got to go all over besides London. I went to Scotland, Wales, France of course, and Germany. Stonehenge was a huge disappointment - I don't recommend it to anyone. We went to the grand opening of "The Missile" roller coaster in 1989 on the 4th of July at "The American Adventure" amusement park - Buzz Aldrin was there to open the ride (he was drunk though). The reason I called out July 4th is all Americans got in free that day. New Years Eve in London at Trafalger Square was a blast. That was the first place I saw a woman in the men's room (sitting on a urinal peeing). A million+ people partying all night, drunk, but having a great time. My coworker and I also had tickets to "Pink Floyd The Wall, Live in Berlin" but both of us ended up getting transferred before the concert. I still have the poster that came with the ticket, and the video tape we ordered. I also have a framed picture of the real wall with some barbed wire and a piece of the wall on my desk to this day. The wall of course came down while I was stationed in England and people took chunks of the wall to sell later - good idea.
I also liked being in a darts league, and I played a TON of Snooker. I have a lifetime membership (along with my coworker) to a local Snooker club near the base because of some charity we did to raise money for the hospital where his wife had her 1st kid. She was a preemie and needed an incubator, but the hospital had only one. If another baby was born early and needed one they would've had to go to London, so we arranged something (not going into detail on this for doxxing reasons) to buy another incubator. The club loved it so much they gave us cue sticks, shirts, and the membership.
I know you mentioned the restaurants taking away from the culture, but when they got a KFC in the local area everyone went wild. That place was always packed. The Fish & Chips restaurant across the street did fine. They used the old-school newspaper to wrap the fish and gave you plenty of vinegar for the fish and fries. I ate there a lot. There was also a fair amount of Indian and Chinese restaurants thanks to the Commonwealth.
I loved being there, and took advantage of everything I could. I should mention I turned 18 about 3 months prior to getting there, so I was able to drink before I hit 21. I think that helped because I got all of that out of my system before coming back to the states (still under 21). I was also enlisted so I didn't make hardly any money - I just stretched it however I could.
I took my wife there on a European tour more than 10 years after I left. I wanted to just go and drive wherever we felt like driving but she wanted structure. The compromise was we went a week before and I took her all around England, and then we went to Paris for the start of the tour. The odd thing is this was before Waze or cheap GPS, but I rented a car at Heathrow and drove to a hotel I'd never seen without a map, and made it without getting lost. I asked the car rental people where the hotel was and they gave me a landmark I knew. Ten+ years later nothing had really changed and I drove right there. Really weird. Oh yeah, I liked driving manual transmission cars while sitting on the right side of the car. I never had a problem getting used to that side of the car - it just felt natural.
That said - England is no longer the same and I fear it is forever lost. That is likely what is in store for the US as well, due to importing all the illegals.