Just a quick note to let you all know that I made it to England with DH, Macbeth, Brownie and Goldie. All is well and I am huting for a place to live. (not easy with three pets)
The trip over was terrible. It started the day before we flew out. During her vet exam to fly our vet found a growth on Brownies tongue. She went ahead and did the biopsy which ment the Brownie spent her last night in the states in the animal hospital.
Very early on Thursday morning my sister woke me up to tell me she didn't think Heathrow would be open for us to fly into! I will not go through the many renditions of if...why...and/or how we would fly. The biggest issue was repacking our carryones to not have any liquid or computer or anything else that may cause a problem. Just when you think you are packed.... I ran and picked up Brownie that morning and we shipped her in hopes the biopsy would come back OK. The pet folks picked her and the others up at 1300 for a 1700hr flight on Briish Airlines. My DH and I were flying American (American is not approved by the Brits for animals) and we left at 1500 for a 1930 flight. When we got to the airport the line for check-in was huge...it took over 2 hours to get to the desk. During that time there were rumors about cancelled flights, new restrictions, you name it! The excitement really started when I got to security carrying my medicine (preloaded syringes)...this was only the second time I was stopped by airport security in about a dozen flights. It took a while but I got through. We landed in Heathrow only about 30 minutes late. We thought it wouldn't be too bad. We spoke too soon.
If you can ever avoid bringing and animal to the UK do it at all accounts. It was hell. First the pets were about 5 hours late in landing. Then the date on the top of the letter from the Vet in Georgia was different from the date on his signature (he started the paperwork the day before the save time when we got the rabies shots!) We had to wait until the vet's office in the US opened and he faxed a letter saying it was a mistake not an attempt to defraud! Needless to say we didn't leave the animal holding area until almost 1700 local time and didn't get to our hotel until 1900...too late for the cattery so the all the animals stayed with us that night! (The owners of the hotel have been really nice.)
Exhuasted doesn't even come close to how we felt the next few days! I've only just gotten enough energy to start seriously looking for a place to stay. So far the three we've seen have been really disappointing. Wish me luck.
I did find a sewing and quilting store that works on Vikings! A little bit of progress. I have to admit to being very homesick.
