So my husband just got orders for us to move to Lakenheath AFB, Englnd in June! This is so sudden he was stationed in Cannon AFB, New Mexico not even a year ago. I am a military brat, my dad was in the Army since I was born and I got married to my husband last year, however although I have been all over the United States My dad was never stationed overseas. So this will be my first time at a military base outside of the United States. Can someone who lives or has recently lived in Lakenheath tell me how it is? Anything I should know? We plan to live on base so how is the housing, the area on base, etc. I want to know everything! I would really appreciate it! Thank you.

Housing off base is a lot larger and somewhat nicer than base housing. They are currently building a large number of homes on Lakeheath, but it's a 2-3 year wait, along with being required to live off base during the waiting period. Large furniture can be somewhat harder in some of the English homes, the doorways and hallways are more narrow than in the US and if you have a Queen/King size bed, they most likely will cut your boxspring in half. I live onbase and I like the housing. All of our larger furniture was brought in through our window. There is also housing on Feltwell, about a15 minute drive or so from Lakenheath, which is nice also. Eodwife and myself live in Lords Walk on Lakenheath while Sharkbait lives in the economy.

Most of the stuff you need/want will be on Lakenheath, but the furniture store is on Feltwell, as the household items mostly are at the Bxtra on Mildenhall (5 minute drive)

Any advice on the area isn't my expertise as I have only been here for two months, but Sharkbait would be the one to ask. She's from England and knows a lot more of the area.

Also, eodwife and myself were JUST talking about the fact of how people think we live near London and such. We're about 2ish hours from London. 30 minutes to Cambridge which is where you find shops and restaurants and such. We live in farmlandish area. There's not a whole lot out here but it's really pretty.

Yeah, I wouldn't say it's a 2-3 year wait for Liberty Village. I know of at least six different families who only waited about 6 months to a year.

  I was a stand in MrsKB for Mr KB (lol) and I made sure that he picked a house with a drive way and not a parking pad. You just get a nicer house and don't feel like you live in the projects. But I like our little house. We have a two bedroom and considering that I was an RA in college before we got married and lived in the dorms and so did he, this is the most space either one of us has ever had on our own. It's home.

It is a nice place if you're willing to accept the differences and embrace change. I can tell you that shopping here is not something I like to do because I hate paying pounds, which cost more than dollars. I also don't like European sizing cause it makes me feel like a fatty.

It's pretty, though the winters can be rather grey and dreary, but the summers are very mild and sunny and that makes it better. Sunshine lasts until like 9 pm in the summer and it's nice to spend as much time outside as possible. We've found that aside from one creeper, the local people here are really nice, very gracious, and we have a pub that we go to that is kind of "our spot." In fact, I hadn't been in a while and went in after my foot surgery, they doted on me and asked about my husband, when he as coming home, anything they could do, and gave me a free pint of cider.

All in all, there are definitely pros and cons to this base as there are any other base around the world or in the states! However, also like any other place, it's what you make of it and your attitude. I did have a break down, and I've heard several others do too, when I first got here. I was stuck in a house without tv, internet, and I didn't have a car. My husband got to go to work and see people every day. I didn't have that luxury and I broke down and cried. So I've kind of made it my personal mission that anybody who moves here WILL NOT go through that if I have anything to do with it. So when you get here let us know, we'll take you out. Well I'll be in the states for part of June and Sharkbait is PCSing, but I'll take you out when I get home.

Good luck, and keep us posted! Also, if you have any specific questions on command sponsorship, shipping pets, or just anything, let us know .I can promise you that there are no stupid questions and that the odds of there being a question we haven't been asked before is slim!

Thanks a lot you guys! This information definitely helps and yea I going to ask about shipping pets because we have two cats and I don't really know how the process works of getting them over there. Also my dad mentioned that we might not be able to bring our car, is this true? Most importantly though I wanted to know if you guys knew about colleges over there. I am trying to get a degree in nursing and I have already taken a lot of classes over here in the U.S and I am really worried that my credits won't transfer or that the degree I get over there won't be any good when I come back to the states. What colleges are available in that area and how does it work? Thanks again

My ladies made some good points but I just wanted to clarify something to you..
basically there are three bases here. Lakenheath is the main one, it has the big commissary, the hospital, the larger of the BX's with electronics clothing etc its a jet base then there is Mildenhal.l It'is smaller its where the cargo planes fly from. The BX there is tiny and mainly has toys, pet stuff and garden stuff its maybe 3 miles from lakenheath. Finally there is Feltwell base. It is about 8miles from lakenheath in the opposite direction to mildenhall. No one is actually stationed there it is just an attachment of Lakenheath. The only reason to go to that base is for the furniture store, base housing or ALS ( or to get to my office lol)
I am bias but I try to encourage everyone to live on the economy. You get a lot more house for your BAH and there are some very pretty villages. Go to www.rightmove.co.uk and you can look at the rental places with a certain mile radius of the base. Hockwold, West Row, Tuddenham, Lakenheath Village, Feltwell Village are all nice....depending on how far you want to travel I know a lot of military live in Red Lodge and Littleport but thats like a 35 - 45 minute drive. Also I would avoid Mildenhall Village and Brandon if possible. Whatever you do make sure you NEVER take a house with Economy 7 Heating...it blows!!
I leave in June and your welcome to have my house lol we love it and the landlord accepts pets..it even has a pet door so they can get out by themselves lol.
As for getting pets over here they have to be in quarantine for 6months before coming here as England is a rabies free island...but you can have them flown independently through continental I believe....EOD is the one to ask about that as she had a close friend recently bring her dogs over...this is super long so any more questions please feel free to ask

OKAY! So Pet Quarantine information... ready?! I hope you see this, it's what I sent my mother who is quarantining our dog for us. THIS is the official site and information they HAVE to do. Now, you can ship them here and do it here, which I hear the place that is approved nearby allows you to visit every day if you'd like, but I would much rather him be at home with my mother. You can start it RIGHT now. First is the microchip THEN the rabies, then three weeks later i believe you do the blood work. NOW, doing it on a military base is cheaper, FYI. I'd also print out these links to make sure they do it right, the ARMY base I went to didn't do it correctly .

Here's the email I sent to my mom
Here are the documents. I'll break down what each page consists of.

Here is a break down of what each dog has to go through and the order it has to be done. Duke has gotten his microchip and rabies on the 1st of October. Proof is in the green folder. He now needs his blood work done and sent to an approved lab.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel/pets/procedures/owners.htm

Here is an entire page about the blood test that has to be done. You can print this out to make sure they understand how important it is and exactly what needs to be tested.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel/pets/procedures/support-info/blood.htm

Here is a list of approved labs. I think there's only one in USA and it's in Texas. Print this out so they KNOW they HAVE to send it to this lab.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel/pets/procedures/support-info/labs.htm


The last thing he'll need to do is get a tapeworm and tick test 24-48 hrs before he boards the plane.

Let me know if there's anymore questions, but all the answers are in the defra site


ALSO, the animal has to fly through certain airliners too! I know delta is one of them.





Also, you mentioned cars. You can have your car shipped, the link is www.whereismypov.com. We shipped from Charleston, but there's on in Atlanta ect. It took almost two months to arrive fyi, so you will need a rental. Also, USAA is the best insurance carrier for England (the only other one is Gieco) So if you can switch before hand, it might be simpler.

My husband was stationed at Kirtland, AFB in New Mexico for 8 years. We then got an assignment and move to RAF Lakenheath in August. So far its been a great experience! =) They have great spouse support system over here. What squadron will he be assigned to?

Hi,

  My name is Shery, i have a lot of question, we found out the we moving to Lakenheath AFB now in November and is been really stressful about moving my pet with me. I already start the proces about the Rabies Test, and by the time we move the already have the 6 months period complete, but what is really confusing me is the i saw in the internet that when i arrive in England i need to paid some extra money for get my dogs out of the Airport, i saw the was like $500.00 some for 1 dog and like $40.00 for the second dog.  I want to know if is true or not, becuase i been trying to call Enland airport my call cant go through. 

   I will appreciated if somebody can explain me that, because i been calling in here all Air Company looking for prices to ship my kids (dogs) and they really $$$$$ for then to pay $600.00 more just to get them out of the Airport.

  My dogs they good and everything and have everything done except the 2 last certificate becuase In base they recomend it to get then done couple days before move.

Thanks

It's six months from the date you sent the blood work to the Texas agency who is allowed to do the famine testing.

I called the Heathrow airport animal centre and they stated all fees are paid from the airliner.


You need to get in touch with the airliners in your area that either are a direct hub or can layover to a hub that is allowed. I am NC and CLT is not an approved route, so my dog will have to go to ATL or Newark to be able to come into the UK. Many places will ask you to use a pet shipping company, but you do not have to.

If you ship them the same day you fly, know that the animal centre takes a while and you are not allowed to pick them up until they pass, which takes 2-4 hours upon landing. Also, the shuttle (which is only at Heathrow, not Gatwick) might allow pets, but I don't know the rules and regulations.

It will most likely be best if you can have a friend/family member to send the dog a day/week or so later and you pick them up yourselves.

My husband and I are moving to Lakenheath in March! I have so many concerns!!!

What about the electrical outlets? Are they different? Do the converters work? I Have heard that the converters dont really work...

They won't woj in english sockets at aall and will blow up. Base housing has both English and American socets in it so you can use them if you live there. If you do live off base you can buy/rent transformers from the BX that will convert the power from 110v to 220v (or the other way around..I can never remember) so your appliances will work. Transformers are pretty heavy though so get enough so that you don't have to carry them around the house.

I will add more a little later .. so far good info has been given out ..

Cassadra if you get US base housing your stuff will work but honestly honey if you are going to be living off base, put your microwave in storage, matter fact go ahead and put it in storage anyway because you can borrow one from FMO. You will be able to use transformers, but they pull a good bit of power. There is so much to know and a lot of stuff when you get here outside of the facts and what you NEED to know you will see and judge what will work for you.

But being as though FMO will give you for example a microwave just put it in storage. Things like that ..

I didnt read all the responses but you can go to rightmove.co.uk to look at off base housing. East Anglia area.
Whatever you do do not take a house in Lords walk. A lot of break in have been happening there since they moved it off base.
Liberty village (new housing) on lakenheath you will be on a long wait list. You can accept houses on either RAF Mildenhall or RAF Feltwell. Both have decent sized houses.

Beware living off base, your utility bills can get very high. We lived in an off base for 2 yrs and our landlady was horrible. She never came over to do proper maintenance (bleeding the radiators/checking the heating unit) We froze our butts off the second year. Your bills will go on 3 month intervals.
If you can help it no matter what base says DO NOT DO NOT go with BT. Go with Sky or some other company for Internet and phone and TV. Dont give them your account info, Ive had many many friends let the british company's take their payment from their accounts and they would either take it way early or take way more then agreed. Just beware of that too.

Don't let anyone fool you if you have 2 or more kids base housing is worth it. They aren't as big as US houses but base is a lot better IMHO. Ive had a bad experience with our off base house.

I agree with not going with BT we used the Post Office for our internet and phone but the best thing for you to get is probably a Skype house phone. That way you can call home for free, Skype is a lifesaver!!
If you do live off base make sure you do not get a house with Economy 7 heating, it is old and it sucks. Our first house had it and it was freezing and cost a fortune. As long as you are careful your bills should easily be covered by your utility allowance. We never paid out of pocket for it (other than cable and internet).

Hey everyone,

My husband has orders and we will be coming over in April 2011. I am so overwhelmed because I am the type of person that likes to know what is going on. I have read all of your posts and you guys gave good advice but I still have some questions.

Do you have cell phones or just home phones?

My car has dark tint(we are from Oklahoma, and a chip in the winshield on the drivers side) I want to know how difficult the inspectors are and if you think we need to try to get these things fixed before we go. Otherwise the car is in great shape and is newer.

How is the cost of living over there is there anything that is partifularly expensive I could stock up on and ship with my household goods or is it not worth the trouble.

Did the Air Force pay for you to have a sotrage unit back in the states for things you don't want to bring. (my husband heard they did but he has been wrong with most things lol)

I also have a cat I am bringing, he is being quarantened here in the U.S. and I have one form with his rabies clearance. Was it hard to get the pets over there and are the plane tickets expensive?

They are not giving my husband much support with this move which is making it even more stressful.

I appreciate any responses it might help ease my mind if I have more advice.

Thanks so much Ladies!

Sorry should have clarified we will be stationed in Lakenheath AFB.

Hi. I'm at Mildenhall but it's all the same

I have a cell phone but I wish I would have just got a pay as you go. If you have a phone you like, you can try and jailbreak it and use the sim card and pay monthly top ups.

I have a phone through Vonage, only for our family to have a local number to call, instead of international. You can get international calling for like 5GBP a month added onto you home phone.

You must have a UK home phone to have internet. BT and SKy are the monopolies in a way in internet/cable.

I had my pet shipped here. There's another forum under Euro Cincs with more information and details It was easy and about 1300 for airfare and customs through continental.

We came here for our first base. I don't know about storage but I know many people have talked about it on our main facebook page. It's called "In and Around England" if you want to look it up. You'll have to contact your FMO office that is handling your shipment on storage. If not there are storage facilities here for $35 a month.

My friend came from Florida and has black out limo paint and has had it MOT'd twice and no issues.

Oh, and there's a lot of things that are 'more expensive' here ut nothing you can really stock up on. The most expensive thing is bottled water and milk! It's like $8-10 for a 24 pack!

I meant to also say in my PM to you (I cannot find it) that you will get DLA (dislocation allowance) for your move once your file all of your travel vouchers. We received 1877 and that was for Nov 2009. We used that to ship over our dog.