Not to hi-jack the thread but I was wondering if Laura25 would share where she stays since I will be there in 3-4 weeks. Is the place along the bus route (we have kids)? Furnished?

Thanks.

highyellow- Trust me, you will want a car if you live as far out as I do. If you don't have a car look for something closer. I'm in the high rise area on the way to the E-mart. I would hook up with a real estate agent when you arrive. They are free for you and will help you find just the right place to fit your needs. I would recomend Kay at Happy Reality. Hope that helps.

Oooh, if those are the same high rises I've been in before , they're wonderful! You would definitely need a car, but they're so nice inside!

Innosville? Or the other ones out that way?

Dee :)

Laura25 - we'll have a car and hopefully get approved to get a second (since I heard thet're doing that b/c of the housing situtation). I was just asking if its along the bus route for the kids that go to the DoDDs school, we'll have kids going to school. Additionally, are they furnished?

For you all that are there already, would you recommend living on base versus living off base. I like the idea of being on and have quick access to facilities but also like to try to get the most of the culture living off base. Thanks!

I'm not sure about the bus route, my son is not yet 2. My place is unfurnished. You would have to check with a realtor about getting a furnished place. I like living off base but then again I was never given a choice.

Thanks for the info, I'll be over there in a few weeks.

Well, my husband spoke with the housing office yesterday... The man he talked to was very nice but he was Korean and Dee was right it was harder to have our questions understood. But here's what we found out...

1) We are arriving at a good time... April-May? We won't know for sure until he gets official orders.

2) We deffinately will get a 4 bedroom because of the kids ages .

3) We should be able to move right in, which is good but it looks like we won't have an option of living off base.

4) We will deffinately be in a highrise , I'm just hoping for something close to the ground floor for the dogs!

We hopefully will be able to store things, the TMO here hasn't delt with anyone going to Korea Command Sponsered so they are absolutely NO help We will be loosing about 800sf plus a garage, so I hope storage of some household items wil be on his orders! Good news is that we will be gaining a bedroom. The girls are thrilled!!! Our oldest daughter has been asking for her own room for the past several years, but it just so happens that everytime we move there are no 4 bedrooms available. Not so this time though. The new appts are only 3 or 4 bedrooms.

The guy at housing wasn't able to give us a floorplan because they aren't complete yet... Which is odd because my husband was able to get the unclassified blueprint off the secure web page for their housing office... so at least we know what we are going to get.

I really appreciate all the help and information everyone has given me. This site is really great! Thanks to everyone! I'll keep you updated.

Heather

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Heather

Junebug - I'm going Command Sponsored as well and will be over at Osan by 25 Oct and here's what I know based on me doing the same.

You will be able to ship unaccompanied baggage - this is suppose to arrive at Osan in 30 days, you get XX lbs for each person on orders. To give you an idea, I have a wife and three kids and we'll get 1825 lbs. This is to be used for clothes, kitchenware, etc--nothing to big; you can ship a TV but there's a size limit.

ProGear - For the military member and does not count against your weight limit (TMO will give you details), for awards/plaques, books, 1 cpu w/ monitor that is all needed for the military member to do their job.

Standard HHG (don't know the AF term)- the rest of you household goods you want to ship.

Storage Goods - Anything that you want to ship, be advise that your total weight limit is figured by adding Unaccompanied, Standard, and storage. All of these added up must be under your allowance or you'll have to pay. ProGear does not count against your weight limit.

One other note - you should do Unaccomp first, that way if something is missed you can send in you shipment. Next do your regular shipment and than whatever is left over can be sent to storage.

Heather,

Awesome! I'm glad you got such good news from the housing office!

April-May is a *really* beautiful time of year for arriving, the landscaping here is lovely during the spring.. it was my favorite season of the year we've been here. I wasn't aware of it, but one of my son's teachers pointed out to me that there's a "staggered" blooming amongst the trees in the landscaping. Due to the different varieties that were planted, a different one blooms every month.. and it's just.. really nice.

I'm not surprised about the high rise housing, towers are the norm here, but I'm sure you can find some exercise time for your furbabies! :) As I've mentioned before, the vet clinic here is *very* good,and they might know of some ways, some resources for the tower-bound pet that I'm not aware of. The librarian at the Elementary School is also *phenomenal*, she's a volunteer at the vet clinic, and she'd be another good person to talk to about finding your doggies some good work out time. :)

As for TMO, I think that's the biggest challenge I hear people, CS, *and* NCS speak about. For CS folks, it's really not surprising, because until recently, such a small percentage of folks here *were* accompanied, so I think it really wasn't an issue that the TMO guys had worked a lot, and weren't as familiar with.. we have friends here CS (our neighbors from our last base) and they had the same problems getting TMO, for the same reasons..the TMO office there had never dealt with anyone being command sponsored.

Hopefully ,as the level of command sponsorship increases, the problem will correct itself....but wouldn't it be nice to have a handy dandy notebook with everything all there for you? :)

Dee :)

P.S. Highyellow...thank you so much for that info, that's going to be very helpful to a lot of folks! :)

Do you know what size limit there is on shipping the TV? And is that restriction for Unacompanied baggage or for Household goods too? We are currently getting rid of everything that will not be going ie: trampoline, kids outdoor toys, lawnmower etc. (since it will be snowing by this weekend- gotta love Alaska)

Are you authorized concurrent or non-concurrent travel? We are arriving after the new highrises open and my husband is now hoping for concurrent travel due to the difficulty of traveling with pets and 3 children. We also think it may be easier to travel concurrent due to the fact that they won't leave us in Alaska since it's considered overseas. I would have to make it back to the lower 48 then to Korea with the pets and kids... I'd rather drop the pets off in Korea and travel to my parents with just the kids. But we'll see.

Thanks so much for all the info. It helped alot. Please let me know how things go after you arrive.

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Heather