It's hard to know where to start with this series as a lot hits you all at once when you arrive in a new place. Add a global pandemic to the mix and it's an even bigger adventure! So, after some consideration, it makes sense to start with Petra, who probably had an adventure much greater than ours - if only we could have installed a kitty go pro camera to capture it all!
First, the basics. We decided to move back to the US from Bristol, England for a variety of reasons and combined this with Brian's 'retirement' from Epic. I have to put that in quotes as neither of us can really believe it's traditional retirement so suffice to say, he's currently unemployed and we'll leave it at that. We settled on the Seattle area as we've always wanted to live out here and determined a few years ago that after Abu Dhabi and England, Wisconsin would just be too cold for us. So, here we are getting our bearings.
And of course, where we go, our cats go. We lost our lovely Rogue in April so were arranging just for Petra this time around. Petra joined the family in Abu Dhabi so she's been through this once before. We both have, but that doesn't make it much easier - pet shipping is not for the faint of heart.
The biggest challenge was getting a date secured. When we first started planning - this needs to start about 6 months out to ensure you have accommodated any vaccination protocols - the airlines weren't booking any animal flights more than 2 weeks in advance and with the pandemic rules changing so frequently in England, we couldn't nail down anything definite. In early October, we started to agree dates. We were flying Dec 12 so wanted Petra to fly Dec 13 which looked possible. British Airways was the only carrier flying pets out of the UK so we were completely at their mercy.
A quick side note about why we didn't fly together. Pets out of the UK must fly as cargo. We could have found some way to get to France where she could fly with us in the cabin, but if you own cats, and especially a vocal one (like Petra!) you quickly realize this is a really bad idea. In addition, we were flying Delta due to some perks of being frequent flyer members so we also used different airlines.
In early November, England went back into lockdown and as a result, BA limited their animal flights to once per week on Wednesdays. However, since the lockdown was scheduled to end on Dec 2, we thought we might still be able to make the Dec 13 plan. Then, there were some airport strikes at Heathrow to consider . . . Suffice to say, we didn't really know when she would fly until we received notice she was on the plane, but we planned for Wednesday Dec 16th and in the end, that's the date that worked.
Drop off was easy - our pet shipper (highly recommend using a pet shipper) picked her up in Bristol and drove her to the cattery in Windsor (yes, that Windsor - we joke that she probably had tea with the Queen and her corgis!) where she stayed until her flight. She was checked out by their vet who provided her 'fit to fly' certificate and then she was off.
This shipper builds a custom crate for each animal which is a really sturdy wooden box with heavy mesh on either end for air circulation and visibility. It has a really thick and comfy carpet-like mat inside which will also absorb any urine during the journey and has a water cup that can be refilled from the outside. Not bad accommodation - economy class for sure, but I'm guessing the in flight entertainment was pretty good.
We collected her at the SeaTac cargo office. Lots of paperwork, a collection fee and an anxious wait in the cargo warehouse imaging how scared she must be with all the movement and noise. And then she arrived on a forklift with 3 other pet carriers.
We took her home and when we opened the crate, she came out confidently (cussing us the whole time) and immediately started to explore. After about an hour of ensuring she had sniffed and explored every inch of the one bedroom apartment, she had a little food and used the litter box. She seems to have adapted extremely well and was back to her sassy self in about a day. The only residual effect is that her internal clock is still on UK time so we're treated to pretty incessant meowing each morning around 3am. But I'll take it.
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