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This isn’t so much a tip at all, just a reminder of a cool thing I was reminded of. Now-retiring U/S Burns spoke to my area studies class yesterday and was telling some retirement stories. He reminded us of the Frontline Diplomacy project run by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training with the Library of Congress. A lot of the interviews are available on the LOC website. These can be really fascinating and inspiring (yes, I just wretched a little saying that, but it’s true). Browsing the collection by author is the best way to find the retiree, though both websites are a little hard to navigate. NPR occasionally runs exceprts and talks about the project, as well. It’s a good supplement to the new FSI course, “Diplomatic History”, that U/S Burns pushed to create.
A friend asked me how many days she was entitled to take off for her pack-out to post. Post was itching to get her there, and apparently couldn’t spare the two days she wanted to make sure the movers didn’t put the kitchen sink in HHE. Sadly, the answer is zero. Pack-out days are not/not an entitlement. They are taken as administrative (paid) leave approved by your supervisor. According to 3 FAH-1 H-3465, your supervisor can approve up to two days for pack-out and one day for unpacking (with extensions available). The silver lining for her? While at FSI, your supervisor is unlikely to be your supervisor at post. If you’re in long-term language, your Language Training Supervisor or CDO is usually your supervisor of record, and they’ll tend to give you the time. Your milage may vary–and it’s probably best not to piss off your boss before you even get to post–but I find it hard to believe that two days is a deal breaker in the vast majority of cases. We’ve all been through packouts and having that day can be the difference between keeping your sanity and finding your minor child crated and shipped to post.
Nell asks if miles for a US carrier can be used to upgrade on codeshare flights operated by the foreign carrier. As John Dinkelman liked to say, “it depends.” Nell specifically asked about using Delta miles on Air France, and the answer is “yeah, if you book last year.” Sadly, the loophole that let you use Delta miles to upgrade on CDG-bound AF flights closed in 2007. Delta operates two flights out of ATL to CDG (I think they’re DL 22/23) that can be upgraded. The only international partner that Delta upgrades with is Singapore Airlines (due to an earlier agreement). Many airlines have bilateral agreements to allow each other’s upgrades on codeshares, so you’ll have to check the rules or do a search on the FlyerTalk boards for your specific pair.
I don’t get why people even use e-Phone. Apart from being accessible only from OpenNet computers, it sends you an annoying email every time you use it and uses the worst font ever made. I’m always surprised that people don’t seem to know about EmployeeExpress.gov. Though the Department doesn’t make full use of its features, it allows you to login from any internet connection. Their Earnings & Leave statements (which are better formatted than e-Phone) have the same data and W-2s are up there as soon as they’re available. You can also change some of your mailing address info, but a lot of TSP stuff must still be done by submitting paper through HR.
It’s particularly helpful to have digital copies of this stuff available on-demand when you’re at home doing your DC taxes at the last minute and need to calculate partial-year earnings. Not like that’s what I’m doing right now, or anything.
John said there was no reason I should know this, and he was right, but I was curious enough to look it up. We know that there are funds you can get for moving to a foreign post, but what about transferring back to the US? Well, it’s not so easy. The Home Service Transfer Advance (HSTA) works pretty much like the FTA discussed previously. Instead of that DS-240 for the FTA, you’ll use the DS-250 and its magic to figure your allowances on the SF-1190. While there’s no advance of pay loan, the HSTA can provide you with a lot more money if you need it. Here’s how: Read more on this Article!
I guess this is more of a general expat tip than an FS-specific one, but I hope you’ll find it useful. I plan to do a couple of expat/FS tech posts in the coming week or two.
There are plenty of websites that require a US IP address to use: going to get your free, annual credit report; watching the latest Lost episode on ABC.com; checking in on Heroes on NBC’s Hulu; or streaming that rented movie from Netflix. Heck, even using iTunes’s USD store often requires a US IP address.
Obviously, a lot of this stuff is not work-appropriate. Uncle Sam has a ligitimate complaint when you’re using his bandwidth to watch the Sound of Music, even if it is off work hours. So you have to do this from home. But how do you get around it?
Hotspot Shield has installers for both Mac and Windows. Basically, it creates a VPN to a U.S.-based proxy. This not only provides increased security, it makes it look like you’re in the US. Some sites may have it registered as a proxy and will block it, but you’ll have more sites available than you would have. Note: you need to have a pretty hefty connection speed. Expect it to be about 50% slower than your normal connection…plan accordingly.
There’s also the Vidalia Project, which essentially does the same thing but has servers all over the place, so if you needed a UK-specific IP, you could get that, too.
Finally, if you’re really hard pressed, you could set up your own VPN. This requires a loving friend in the US to host your computer, but has the benefit of letting you hook up a slingbox, too. I’ll cover this more in a different post.
NOTE: I am currently in the US and have not tried these solutions (I had different work-arounds at post). Also note that the Department blocks access to these sites on OpenNet as part of their no-proxies policy. You’ll have to look from your private computer.
There are several transfer allowances that you might be eligible for when you’re heading off to post, but I’m going to focus on the two (and a half) allowances that are most used and most versatile: the Advance of Pay allowance (aka interest-free loan) and the Foreign Transfer Allowance (FTA or free money). These can save you a ton of money as you spend thousands getting overseas, or can give you a little extra cash if you play your cards right. See how after the jump.
My A-100 class is up for tenure right now, and our board started meeting about a month ago. This prompted a flurry of emails from people asking when the results would be out. A quick search of “CTB” (Commissioning and Tenure Board) on the ALDACs site shows three cables for each tenure cycle. The first contains the list of names of people up for tenure on that board. This is to let posts know they need to get stuff in. It happens ~60 before the board meets. The next is the announcement that the board has convened and contains the names of the review board. Then, roughly two months later, they announce the results of the board. You can use that email to congratulate all of your colleagues who got tenured. Of course, if you’re feeling a bit slimier, you can compare it to the first cable in the cycle to see who missed out.
Tony P. came up to me and asked me if there was a way to fly from the Caribbean to India on a foreign carrier, as flying BA would take only 1.5 days and flying United would take 3 days. I gave him some long and convoluted answer about upgrades and cost constructing and everything and he walked away confused. Then he comes back to me later that day telling me I gave him bad info. Apparently, Fly America doesn’t apply due to the origin and destination both being foreign. Turns out, I knew that, as I flew Avianca from Bogota to Buenos Aires even though an AA flight through Miami would have been cheaper on the contract fares. I’m an idiot.
[Update]: I was thinking about it again and thinking that something still smelled fishy. Turns out, I was only kinda right. Fly America doesn’t apply on foreign-to-foreign flights if it would cause a trip that is 6 hours (or more) longer than a Fly America flight. For all intents and purposes, it’s pretty much the same. See this page for more information on the exceptions from the Act. There are some exceptions for US travel when it would cause a delay of 24 hours or more, as well.
I was a local hire and then went to post, where all of my travel vouchers were handled by FSNs. Imagine my horror when I had to navigate the voucher system all by my lonesome upon coming back to FSI for long-term language training. I would have killed to have this info before, so to prevent homicide I give you the following how-to: Read more on this Article!