New Here!

Hello everyone!

I met my boyfriend online in May of last year. We have now been dating for almost a year and have managed five visits so far! Stumbling across this site has been amazing. I keep finding interesting things to read. So good to know that there are people in the same situation! Moving to the UK is a distinct possibility down the road, although whereabouts is in question, as he is in the RAF and gets moved around every few years.

Thanks for all the information you loyal posters write on here, it's made my day!

Mo

Welcome to the forum, Mo .

Feel free to nose around and ask any questions you'd like - we're happy to answer them .

Moving to the UK is a distinct possibility down the road, although whereabouts is in question, as he is in the RAF and gets moved around every few years.

Cool - what does he do in the RAF? I'm a civilian, but I work on RAF bases... we're generally stationed permanently at one base, but while I do have a permanent posting, I've worked temporarily at a number of RAF bases both in the UK and overseas.

He's an engineer.. He's currently on a deployment in the Falkland Islands (which has been a bit rough for both of us).

What bases in the UK have you worked at?

He's an engineer for the RAF, working primarily with radars. He's currently on a deployment in the Falkland Islands (which has been a bit rough for both of us).

What bases in the UK have you worked at?

Ah, cool .

In the UK, I'm based at Waddington, but I've worked at Coningsby, Cranwell, Linton-on-Ouse and Shawbury. I've also done two tours in the Falklands (9 months in total), one tour on Ascension Island (3 months), and I'm off to Gibraltar for 4 months in October.

Funny enough, 2 of my friends and colleagues are in the Falklands right now too. It is tough being down there, mostly due to the lack of good internet - I only managed to Skype with my parents once a month when I was there last .

Is the Falklands as miserable as my bf's been saying? Sounds like terrible weather and very little entertainment options.

The lack of good internet has been very annoying! We've only Skyped twice since April because of it. Have to rely on him buying sim cards preloaded with minutes to voice chat through Whatsapp.

Next station will be Henlow in the fall. Have you heard anything about it?

Is the Falklands as miserable as my bf's been saying? Sounds like terrible weather and very little entertainment options.

It kind of depends when you go - the winter months aren't so great because there's not so much to do, but the summer is nicer. It's very windy there, but it's also sunnier than the UK (I'm a meteorologist, and we forecast the weather for the pilots, the ships, and the public/radio in the Falklands).

However, it does also depend on your options for getting out and about and your willingness to get out and do things. A lot of people who think it's terrible don't actually make an effort - they just sit in their rooms playing games or watching movies or they go to the mess/bar, but they don't get out and see any of the wildlife or experience the islands.

Our office leases a Land Rover from Stanley, which means it isn't subject to military vehicle restrictions and we can take it off-base whenever we like. But if you only have access to military vehicles, you have to get a chit to go off-base and are more restricted in what you can do.

Next station will be Henlow in the fall. Have you heard anything about it?

I don't know anything about Henlow, I'm afraid. We only have offices on bases with operational flying, or with flying training, so I don't really know much about the others.

Hi Mo, welcome!