I'm Sorry, There is Nothing We Can Do...

In September 2020 we made the leap from Portland to Spain with 3 pets in tow because who wouldn't move halfway around the world in the middle of a pandemic? The trip itself became a combination of  seriously tense and sometimes humorous moments. Heck, we only came close to leaving one cat along the way...

It started with the drive to the airport in Seattle where road construction turned a short delay into a breakneck race to make the flight on time. Things got worse when, due to the delays, we didn’t stop to let our dog out for a "wee" along the way and she absolutely refused to have anything to do with the pet “relief” stations at the airport. Meanwhile, Paul was sprinting to drop the rental car off and while he was gone, the ticket agent said they didn’t have either of our cats showing on our reservation anymore. At that point, I just about fainted. In the end, Alaska Airlines was great and they worked it all out. We made it through our first leg of the journey: landing at JFK.

Who knew that in moving to Spain with 3 pets during a pandemic, our 75-lb. Labrador Retriever, Peaches, with her giant crate, would be the easiest? Given the challenge of traveling with pets right now, we needed as many options as possible to get the animals there. So, we got Peaches certified as an Emotional Support Animal not long before we left. This meant, that on our first leg from Seattle to JFK, she traveled in the cabin with us and pretty much napped her way across the country. Meanwhile one of the cats whined for most of the flight and the other one was 50/50 whining or sleeping. My biggest concern on that first flight was that the dog would pee on the floor because she hadn’t peed since morning, when we left.

It was late when we got to JFK and our flight to Madrid wasn’t until the next night. Thankfully, we had booked two adjoining rooms at the TWA Hotel onsite at the airport.  You should have seen us make our way to the hotel a quarter mile down the terminal with two luggage carts, all our suitcases, a giant dog crate, two cats in carriers and a dog on a leash. I still feel bad about knocking Bob’s crate off the luggage cart into the road as a taxi approached but he’s still with us, so what can you do? 

Peachy relaxes the SEA to JFK flight and later at the TWA Hotel (the beds there are good).   

If only we could have felt so relaxed during that layover! When we arrived at the hotel and checked in, the thing we probably most needed was a cocktail and some food (in that order). Due to COVID, a lot of things were closed at the hotel so while we were able to manage some food, the liquid relaxants were not to be had. But the people there were very nice, and it was a relief to just have quiet rooms (despite being at the airport, those rooms were silent as advertised).  We get everybody situated, including the cats with their crazy little portable litter box, we closed the door to the adjoining room so we didn’t have to listen to Peaches snore all night, and we pretty much passed out until the next day. 

Ah yes, the next day, when all the fun really begins! Because of the issue with Alaska Airlines telling me at the airport the cats had been cancelled from the flight (which they fixed, thankfully) I decided to contact Iberia Airlines for our JFK to Madrid leg just to make sure we won’t have any surprises. As soon as I get on the phone with them, the surprises begin and none of them are good ones.  

The good news is: the dog is confirmed. The bad news is: one of the cats has been cancelled from the flight and there is no capacity for additional pets onboard. 

Me: “But I’ve got it in writing a month ago!” Iberia agent: “I’m very sorry but someone cancelled him from the reservation.”  I spent an hour on the phone with them, asking for supervisors, cajoling, threatening, even offering to buy him a seat.  You name it, I tried it.

In the end they say there is nothing they can do and only the people at the airport in NY can possibly fix it. So off we go to the airport at 10 AM only to find out that the Iberia desk doesn’t open until 5:45, a few hours before the flight leaves.  

Next, we are back in the room and anxiously in need of a back-up plan. It hits me that I have tons of Delta miles so why note call them? They get me a KLM flight that night connecting via Amsterdam to Valencia and they tell me that cat can come along. Never mind that we have this official government paperwork that said we are traveling with two cats and if split up, we are each going to show up somewhere in Europe with only one cat and one “original” copy of the document. At about the same time, Paul suggests that maybe the airline will let us take one of the cats in the hold if there is no option for both to be onboard so he Ubers away to a PETCO in NY to buy a pet crate. It’s a mad dash of ideas and execution!

 Later that afternoon, I call KLM to ask a question about the flight.  They tell me there is no way I can bring this cat onboard (sure, he can be a bit of a jackass, but they hadn't even met him yet).  What?! The request for a pet would have needed at least 48 hours advance notice.  And, yes, they are very sorry but there is nothing they can do. 

At this point, we are pretty strung out and demoralized. What if Iberia won’t let us take the other cat on the plane, what do we do?  We had always said that due to the pandemic, we wouldn’t split up our travel plans because what it someone gets in and the other one can’t for some reason? 

And while we knew there were other flights later in the week, our pet paperwork from the USDA would expire if we didn’t arrive on the day we were scheduled. If we moved our flight by even a day, we’d be starting that process all over again, in NY, where we have no home, no vet, no relationships! So we start the conversation of “should one of us go and take the pets that can get on and the other one stay back and sort this out?” After some discussion, we agreed that if everyone couldn’t go, none of us would go - at least not that night. 

Eventually, it’s almost time for the Iberia desk to open and we are the first people there waiting for them. We explain our situation and are prepared to show them all our confirmations in writing. In less than 5 minutes of talk behind the counter, they tell us they have resolved it and all of us will be able to board. We are both relieved and exhausted and the next leg of travel hasn’t even begun. 

Paul in a quick pitstop atop the TWA Hotel before our Madrid flight. 

In the end, everybody got boarded, and we all made it to Madrid the next morning. After landing in Madrid, we still had a 4-hour drive to Valencia. We spent that time talking to each other and pointing at sights to keep one another awake. But we made it – all 5 of us!

We have a house, there is a palm tree in the yard, and the beach is 4 blocks away. We arrived with just enough time to take showers and make a quick run to the store, then get back in time for gin and tonics at sunset. Sitting in our yard on a warm evening, after all the stress and chaos of the previous 48 hours, I don’t think a cocktail has ever tasted so good. 

If you are considering traveling overseas with pets, here are a few things to keep in mind: 

1.      Get to Know the USDA APHIS Certification Requirements thoroughly.  If traveling overseas from the US, your pets will need to go through a USDA APHIS certification process to ensure they meet the health requirements of your destination country.  Don’t just trust this blog, stay on top of the latest USDA information at the USDA APHIS page here. 

2.     Plan Your Travel with the 10-Day Certification/Arrival Window in Mind. Getting your pets USDA certified and into your destination country can be tricky due to the 10-day certification/arrival window. The 10 days starts the day a USDA-certified vet (our vet had 2 of their 6 vets who can do it) examines your pet and prepares the USDA form, then the USDA needs 1-2 days to certify them, and it may take 1-3 days to travel to your new country. Note: in most cases, you will need to arrive on a business day so customs is there to review the forms and release your pet to you. 

3.     No matter when you do this APHIS process, there will always be a weekend that come in to play during your 10-day window. Plan your vet visit and travel accordingly! 

4.     Ask your USDA certified vet to prepare a draft of the certification before the actual vet exam day.  That way you can check it to make sure they use the right date formats required by the country you are traveling to and can check for any typos (especially if you have multiple pets where a vaccine code might accidentally end up under the wrong cat. 

5.     Confirm your pet reservations several times before travel. It doesn’t matter that you confirmed your pet’s reservation or got approval to have your dog onboard as an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) several weeks before the flight.  Call again the week before and a couple days before to confirm. And this is super important, when the airline representative goes over the confirmation with you, try really hard not to change anything, not even a misspelled pet breed. Even if they say your dog weighs 8.8 kilos and you think he’s more like 9.2 now just leave it.  We learned the hard way that some airlines have older technology and making minor changes to the reservation could mean that the reservation goes through a system confirmation process overnight (we’re talking about you, Iberia) and if for any reason the plane is now full with pets, your pet reservation could get denied and you won’t find out until you get to the airport or the next time you call and confirm.

Stop on the way to the airport, somewhere with actual grass like a park or similar and give you dog a chance to do their business.  Don’t count on the airport pet relief station (even if it has a fireplug in it).  Our dog was kind of freaked out by all the pee smells and was like, ain’t no way I’m doing anything here and she is not a finicky dog. 

7.     Bring a portable litter box and some litter for cats but don’t count on them using it in the airport.  The “prey instinct” in cats is very strong.  If there is a major disruption in their world (i.e. airport, carriers, a flight) they pretty much just stop having bodily functions until it’s close to over.  That doesn’t mean they won’t whine.  They just won’t pee if you want them to and may not eat, either. 

8.     Consider getting something to help your pets feel less anxious during the journey.  We asked our vet if there was something we could give them to take the edge off that was safe and wouldn’t be sedating.  Our vet gave us prescriptions for both cats and the dog for some gabapentin which is an anti-anxiety and pain relief medicine.  It’s very commonly used with cats that have anxiety when going to the vet. Make sure you test it out before the trip and see how they react to it. For one of our cats, it worked great at home but during travel it didn’t seem to do much.  In between our flights we called the vet and she said for the next day’s flight we could double his dosage. Other people swear by vet-approved homeopathic products as well. Whatever it is, do a test run with it before they travel.