Graduation?

[Pearl Harbor MA]

How many of you plan  on or have gone to graduation? It is a long distance for us , my husband has not flown since he was a teenager  and I'm not sure I could get him on a plane anyway!  We are from a small town  so  city traffic seems intimidating to me though my husband is a truck driver. (He HATES traffic,too)  Our son doesn't go to boot camp until Feb 23 ( his 21st birthday!) but I am trying to work this whole thing out in my head. I have look at airfare/hotel/car pkgs and about choked!

[drpepper]

Have you checked out the Navy Lodge for 65.00 per night and no taxes We get good airfare thru AirTran  Good Luck we have our PIR in March

[navy nana]

Our grandson graduates on March 11,11 and he left on 1/11/11 also....I was wondering do the recruits get Sunday's off and can attend church services?   No one has ever answered that for us....We also got rooms at Quality INN in  Waukegan for $55.00 a night with Navy discounts and free buffet breakfast.  I thought that was pretty good.  Will get rental car w Navy discount also.  Also, if we decide not to rent a car, there is a shuttle with Navy discount, from Mid Way airport and for 4 people round trip the cost is $190.  Depending on the weather, we may not want to drive the 50 miles to the Quality Inn. 

[Pearl Harbor MA]

We were told they get 5 hours off on Sundays  to write letters, go to church or whatever...

[navy nana]

Thank you so much.  Sailor's Nana

[JessicaB-Sailor Mom]

Sailor's nana here is the link to your PIR group http://www.navyformoms.com/group/pir31111

[Gulf Coast Mom]

Sailors nana - yes they can attend church.  Alot do, if for no other reason than to get out of the "ships". My son said it helped him make it through the next week.  You will also be allowed to attend church with them on Sunday.  All the sailors still in RTC have to sit downstairs - the ones that have graduated sit upstairs in a balconey with their families.  I really enjoyed going with him.

[navy nana]

Gulf Coast Mom...thank you so much for that information.  We may be neighbors...we are 10 miles inland from the Gulf Of Mexico.  To be able to attend mass with our SR on Sunday would be the icing on the cake at Great Lakes. 

[navymomPSL]

Really, really try to go...I have convinced my husband to fly to PIR with much pushing!!  I found flights for decent prices on Southwest Airlines for just over $100 per person each way (go directly to their site, they have "web only" flights) and got hotel at the Navy Lodge for $65 per night and there is a little kitchenette in the rooms.  There are also rental car deals for $25 per day.  It's not too bad for one of the biggest days in you and your sons' life.  If you really try to raise some extra money like having a yard sale, maybe getting a few odd jobs like babysitting peoples kids, and cutting back to the bare minimum for just a few months, you might be able to swing it.  Just a few suggestions, hope they help you!!

[navy nana]

Reminder if you book with Southwest.  The "wanna get away fares" which are the cheapest...are not refundable.  They are, credited to you and you can fly anywhere you want within a year of purchase.  That happened to us last year. We used the canceled credit to fly to Seattle. 

[crmom]

I did go to my son's graduation and am so glad that I didn't miss it.  It was probably one of the proudest moments of my life as his mom.  The cheapest way that I found to travel was with Southwest Airlines, (about $400 round trip),  because they didn't charge for checked in bags and all of the other airlines did.  The cheapest place that I found to stay was the Navy Lodge and it's very close to the base.  You have to register under your son's name to stay there, but it was only $65.00 per night and they don't charge any taxes.  It was very clean and a nice place to stay.  They have little bags in the lobby for breakfast each morning which contains o.j., bagels, cream cheese, and a granola bar, so that can save money.  I highly recommend that you rent a car because you can take your son outside of boot camp as soon as he gets liberty after the PIR ceremony.  You might want to check the airline prices to O'hare and Midway Airports.  We flew into Midway and it was not huge and overwhelming.  I hope that you get a chance to go and share that day with him.  My husband is a truck driver too and he hated the thought of driving up there.  My sister went with me and she loved it too.  I wish you and your family the best. 

[SusanW]

I'm from a southern suburb of Milwaukee.  If you are going to rent a car, consider flying into Milwaukee if the fares are similar. The trip from Mitchell International Airport to Great Lakes is a little less than hour. It is an easy drive which doesn't require any city driving at all - just hop on I-94 at the airport and go south until you get to Hwy 41 to the base.  Very little traffic on most days. 

[momclf (ship03 div 018)]

My son graduated on 12/3 and we drove from PA, the flights were actually pretty reasonable, but for 4 people (husband, 2 girls, and me) it would have been way out of our budget.  I understand the cost thing totally, but what we did was put money away as soon as he left for boot camp and added a little bit each week so that it wasnt such a hard hit to the wallet.  I don't want to make you feel guilty if you cannot make it, but I want to say that I would not have missed it for the world.  In addition to being so very proud of my son for his accomplishment, I was just so desperate to see him after 8 weeks away with very little contact.  We also ordered the DVD and I was extremely dissapointed in it.  We saw our son walk by the camera for a total of 5 seconds and then we never saw him again on it.  His division was at the end of the hall so the camera didnt show them hardly at all.  I should have taped it myself.  Maybe if you can find some mom on here who could video tape your son's division during graduation and make you a copy that would be nice.  Well whatever your decision, best of luck to you and your family.