So, you’re moving and you want to take you’re pet with you? No problem. There are people who can arrange that for you. Just be warned. You don’t get the full picture until you go to pick up your furry friend.
We chose to go with a company called extrordinair and the guy we were dealing with was outstanding. I really mean that.
Do you have any concerns about the trip? He’ll help alleviate those.
Are you worried about how your cat will be shipped? He’ll take your animals size and create a custom-fit cage for the journey.
Did your animal get removed from the flight for no reason? He’ll sleep overnight in the office with them.
Honestly, the guy was brilliant. I cannot recommend them enough.
Anyway, to be brief, depending on the airline (ours was KLM/Delta), your pet will spend an overnight in a different country to, you know, soak in the culture (I guess). They get put up in a pet hotel, keeping the whole trip as stress free as an international voyage can possibly be for an animal that has no clue what’s going on.
The UK/European side of things is brilliant.
It’s when you get to the US that things become a pain in the arse.
I’ll not put this down to a lack of information. Maybe I should, but Extrordinair were so accommodating and helpful in general I don’t think this should be on them. But I was not prepared for the fun and games that awaited me at the airport.
Not at all.
So it begins with not knowing where to collect your pet from. I mean I know that it isn’t normal baggage claims, but have no specifics on where it’s actually from. So I walk up to the Delta desk and ask. Collections are at Delta Cargo on such and such street.
Two miles (by foot) from the airport.
So I walk the two miles, no big deal. Just a stroll along side a freeway. Wearing a jacket (because it was raining when I left the house) in 70 degree heat. Fun.
Then I arrive, but I can’t pick up my wee fella because I’m waiting on forms returning from the CDC. He’d been there for an hour or so at this point so I thought that was a bit strange, but fair enough.
The forms come back, “Can I have my cat now?”.
“No, sir. You’ll need to take these forms to customs and get them stamped before we can release him.”
“Where’s customs?”
Well customs just happened to be down the hill I’d climbed to get to cargo and then up a bigger hill for a mile and a half or so. Fine. I can do that no problem. Especially wearing this jacket in this heat. I’m ready for anything.
So off I toddle up this hill to customs, who were very efficient by the way, and I’m good to go. Stamped forms under my arm, I make a move back to cargo and the wee furry chap screaming when he hears my voice from behind the desk, when I realise my battery is at 10%.
Now for those of you who don’t know, Seattle has less taxis than Airdrie (a town with a population of 40,000), so unless you’re at the main airport terminal two miles away. Uber is your saviour. 10% battery means I’m now in a fight to get my cat and then an Uber before my phone dies. Even better. I feel like Jack f**king Bauer.
I make it back to customs, battery now at 8%, and deal with all the paperwork and I’m finally reunited with a rather rattled and spooked cat, who’s taken to shouting at anything that moves near his massive cage.
Then my phone dies meaning, you guessed it, I need to walk the two miles back to the terminal. Carrying a cage the size of a fridge with a screaming cat inside.
Anyway, to cut a long story short. After a $50 cab ride I get home and release him into his new habitat. And we all lived happily ever after.
Now the moral of this story, boys and girls, is that if you’re picking up your pet from the airport, bring a car. Or at least a phone with battery in it. Otherwise, that’s your day. Anyway, that’s it. I mean it can be pricey doing the international move, I think we were around a grand or so, but if you want your pet there with you, I guess you think it’s worth it.
As always, like, share and follow and if you’ve any more questions surrounding this sort of stuff then hit me up in the comments or via the contact page.
Have a good day guys and take it easy…
The Kilted Wanderer 