PCSing to RAF Alconbury

mely116

We will be PCSing to Alconbury around my week 20 so I am freaking out of not knowing a lot of things. Is anybody in Alconbury? I think I will have to go to Lakenheath for the OB but I am not sure, and I also want to plan to go to classes. This is also my first PCS so I am confused about the whole process! Any suggestions?

emylos

Hey We're actually stationed at RAF Alconbury and I'm due in June.  We LOVE it here and wish we could stay permanently (obviously that won't happen!!).  For the OB situation you have a couple of choices.  You can get a NHS (national health - british system) number and just go to your local surgery (doctor's office) and have everything done locally.  Or you can have all your appts at RAF Upwood (the clinic that serves Alconbury & Molesworth) and deliver at either Lakenheath or Hinchingbrooke hospital.  Hinchingbrooke is the local hospital and in the british system midwives are standard and it's much more like a birthing center over a traditional american L&D ward.  If you choose to deliver at Lakenheath, they have the standard automatic monitors and IVs as soon as your admitted.  I'm choosing to deliver at Hinchingbrooke mostly for location (it's 10 minutes down the road versus 40 mins at best without traffic) given that's it's my 3rd and my husband will be deployed, plus I had a c-section with my 2nd and Lakenheath won't even consider doing a VBAC.  All the childbirth/breastfeeding/parenting classes are held at Lakenheath but you can attend those regardless of where you deliver.

 If you have any other questions about alconbury or the area, let me know!  I'm happy to help! 

mely116

I am due May 31st so we are pretty close! I have like a million questions regarding everything, we knew we were going but everything is just going so fast that I feel overwhelmed but very excited!  Do you live on base? We are going to live off base but we have not seen any houses we like.

emylos

We live off base in a town called St Ives.  We looked at houses on rightmove.co.uk before we arrived but it is REALLY difficult to get an idea of what will work for you before you're here.  Houses here are laid out very differently and just overall are typically smaller than what you get in the states and until you see what can work it's hard to know beforehand.  Also check out the houses on ahrn.com - typically those are the ones that you'll see through the housing office when you arrive.  Whereabouts off base have you been looking?   

mely116

Yes, we figured it is better to wait until we can see the houses. We have been looking around brampton or ellington. My husband will have to go to Molesworth too, so we are trying to find a place where it would be an easy ride to both bases.

emylos

If you're anywhere around the A14/a141 interchange then you should be fine with getting to both molesworth & alconbury.  People tend to worry about being east of that interchange because traffic on the a14 can be a nightmare if there is a broken down vehicle or accident.  My husband rarely has to go to molesworth so it wasn't so much of a concern for us, but that said, we also know people who work at molesworth and live all the way out in cambridge!!  So if you're worried about traffic, basically stay anywhere but due east on the a14  

Emilia0101

We were at Alconbury from 2003-2006. Check out the board www.afcrossroads.com it is an AF forum tons of people either at Alconbury or there before. We lived in Huntington. Base housing was nice, but we chose to live off base. It is a small base, but it was a great time. Anyways check out crossroads.