Cololgne Quality of Life
 

Maybe I just missed it...is there any info about quality of life in Cologne. My wife wants to go there, but I am afraid that after a year there, the allure of living in Germany will wear off, and we all know how the saying goes about a "happy wife".

Appreciate any advise. PM is fine too.

Av8r

Some love it, others not so much. I know one guy that just went back after his required stay back in Memphis. No kids and over there with his wife. Another guy I know took the whole family over. Family moved back after two years and he commuted a year.

You will find many different answers. I personally think the trips are the ugliest we have and living in Germany no matter how cool does not make up for it.

Thanks. I was unaware.

If you have been to Germany and lived there before (perhaps with US military), you'll probably like it. Personally I love Germany (I'm not CGN FDA based). However, you're not going to live under the protection of the US military.

You'll have to deal directly with Germany bureaucracy and socialism. We take a lot of things for granted in the USA, things that are absolutely painful in Germany.

If you have kids, private school is expensive. Very very expensive.

I have a friend who is there with his wife and kids. They love it. They travel every week he is off and Europe has some amazing places to visit.

Rumor from our chief pilot is that the 767 is going to CGN soon. Widebody pay would be extremely helpful in CGN. Our union allowed narrowbody pay. Don't get me started on that ..

It would be a challenge to choose the FDAs as a new hire because there is so little information available on them. For example, what happens if your spouse decides after a year that CGN is terrible and moves back to the US. Do you lose your housing allowance or other benefits? I imagine once you're hired and meet people who know folks in the FDAs and their experiences, you could get a better picture of what to expect.

Absolutely. Or risk getting fired. It's happened more than once.

Kudos once again to our union, by the way, for warning everybody of this.....It's like the firings never happened.....

I heard 767 will be SIBA. So, no WB pay for CGN.

Aint that the truth!

Av8r,

We absolutely loved our 2 years there, as many other families have. Not solely because of Germany, but because of our ability to travel around Europe on weeks off. We were under our housing allowance, and lived there with no cars, and we were traveling constantly. Also, my wife (we) made some good German/French friends in Köln, and with other FedEx families too. That made being on the road easy for me.

The flying is similar to the 757 flying found in the MEM bidpack, but there's no Tel Aviv, nor Barcelona-like destinations out of Memphis :). Also, the feeling of a small domicile, where you know most everyone on a personal level, is hard to beat.

I would highly recommend the experience there.

Sailor

Thsnks! Encouraging news.