Karma of ill repute

Stuck between a rock and a hard stressful place

As a continuation of my last post, I should say my day started off pretty well, before taking a sharp turn south to O'Crapville.

I called the Metro office first thing in the morning, and to my relief, someone had turned in my license plate and documents. An hour later, I attended a weekly meeting where nearly everyone was wearing a tie in honor of Tie-Tuesday, a totally random fad of which I am the only female advocate for at work. Sweet!

But mid-morning, I received a large helping of stress, with a few near-tears on the side. What could be so bad? Let me give you a numerical list in chronological order:

1. My friend who's giving me a ride across town for my USDA appointment tomorrow morning  (required to bring the cats to Germany) told me he might not be able to give me a ride back due to a scheduling conflict at work. No biggie I though, I can take the bus or cab worst cast. Getting there on time was, after all, the most important thing. And I really should mention that he has been absolutely awesome in constantly helping me out/putting up with me these past few weeks.
2. Twenty minutes later, the guy who bought my car last night emailed me complaining about "some noise the car was making." What noise?!? I emailed him back and explained that when I handed him the keys last night, the car was running fine. Plus, it's had two clean inspections in the past month and half. His response, "I'll look into it and let you know what the problem is." Great. I hate to sound callous, but it's really not my problem now. The car was fine; he took it over, and supposedly now it's not. Plus, I've been super nice to this guy. He got the car for a couple thousand below blue book, I put up with his continual tardiness and, because he's new to the U.S., I explained (several times) how the registration process works. Can't wait for his next email...insert eye roll here.
3. Five minutes later, my vet called. They mixed up the cats' microchip numbers on the paperwork yesterday, and they needed me to come back in to get new forms -- a big problem because I was now car-less, the vet's a 45-minute drive from my work and my I needed the papers for my USDA appointment TOMORROW morning. Fortunately, they called the USDA office and learned they could fax the corrected papers. Whew...I think. Let's see what happens when I show up tomorrow morning for the endorsement appointment.
4. Two minutes later, as I was telling a co-worker friend of events 1-3 when my phone rang. It was my credit card company. Long story short, my card number was compromised, and I had several fradulent transactions trying to post to my account. Because the credit card company had to now close the account, the representative told me they'd send me a new card "within the next week or so." But, I won't be here for another "week or so." I more or less explained my relocation to the rep, and he promised to overnight the cards to me at work. So here's to hoping they arrive tomorrow as promised. 

A short while later Thomas called me. I'd forgotten to let him know how the car sale had gone. And then he received a message about fraudulent credit card activity so he began to worry that something terrible had happened to me. Oops! After I assured him as I was still alive, I explained events 1-4. Funny thing is that before I spoke to him, I seriously felt like breaking down into a sopping pile of tears at work. But just hearing his voice again made me feel like everything would be OK...as improbable as that notion seemed just moments before.

As we neared the end of our conversation, he asked if I would call our moving company to check the status of our shipment. I decided that based on my luck today, I'd be better off calling tomorrow. At the rate I was going, calling now would probably end in the words, "What?? We're moving to Munich, not Monaco!!"

Finding that "just right" airline-approved cat carrier

Since we’re moving to Germany with cats, I’ve had to do a lot of research on flying with pets. There’s also a lot of paperwork, vaccinations and specific microchipping rules, but that’s another post.

Some airlines won’t let fly pets in the cargo hold during peak summer and winter months, as the area is not adequately temperature controlled. And most vets strongly discourage the use of tranquilizers (and some airlines forbid it) as the mixture of drugs and changes in air pressure could be fatal for your furry friend.

Depending on the size of the pet, there are two flight options: accompanied cargo and in-cabin (a third option is to ship Fido or Fluffy separately (AKA “unaccompanied”), but I don’t know much about that).

Specific travel requirements may vary, so it’s best to call the airline fist. But here’s what we were told for our Chicago-Munich Lufthansa  flight.

Accompanied Cargo 

Cargo carriers, like the ones we ordered must:

• Meet IATA regulations.
• Be hard-shelled and held together with bolts (not plastic flaps).
• Be tall enough for the animal to stand, with a few inches to spare.
• Have an attachable water bowl and plenty of bedding for comfort and to help soak up…accidents.

In-cabin

You’re allowed one pet per passenger. But airlines often limit the total number of in-cabin pets to just a few. It seems the best way to book a flight with a pet, whether in cargo or under the seat, is to call the airline directly and mention the number of animals you need to transport and how. This typically costs a bit more than booking online. But you reduce the the risk of being turned away when you get to the airport.

Under-the-seat carriers must:

• Be no larger than 55cm x 40cm x 20cm.
• Weigh less than 8 kg (pet and carrier combined).

On a personal note, I’m a little nervous about travelling with my cat Momo in-cabin (Thomas calls him the Red Devil). He’s a loud meower…something Thomas says is karma catching up with me for all the times I complained about crying kids on flights. Plus he’s a skilled carrier destroyer.  But we got a Teafco Argo carrier as a wedding gift from friends last year, and so far he’s only managed to snag the wire mesh. We’ll see how it holds up after the 9-hour flight. Lufthansa also supplies carriers, maybe I should get one as a backup…

All paws on deck...to Munich

We just booked our flights to Munich! [BIG exhale] Even if we get nothing else done, at least we have somewhere to go come mid-November when our apartment lease here ends. ;)

Booking two airline tickets might not sound like much, but traveling with cats complicates matters a bit.

We decided to fly with Lufthansa as they seem to have a more pet-friendly policy than many other airlines. But we'll still have to divide them between in-cabin and cargo hold. Having heard numerous horror stories of pets not making it on connection flights, we knew flying direct was the only option that would keep me slightly above nervous-wreck status. Because it may be inconvenient when airlines misplace your luggage, but devastating if it's your pet that's MIA. I also learned it's good to avoid connections in London as animal quarantine regulations apply in England.

So we priced everything out (trying to steer clear of Thanksgiving, one of the busiest, most expensive flying times in the U.S.) and had numerous back-up travel dates planned since many airlines, Lufthansa included, strictly limit the number of pets that can travel in the cabin.

After several hours, we were ready. I had to call Lufthansa to book the flight since they have to make sure there's space on the plane for the cats. Nothing would be worse than showing up at the airport, cats in tow, and then finding out they can't fly.

I have to say the Lufthansa representative that took my call was very helpful and very patient as I bombarded him with questions. Thirty minutes (and about $2,500) later we had (all) our reservations. And in eight weeks, all paws (human and feline) will touch down in Munich, our new home!