Flying back home

We are flying back today.  We are at Heathrow at tad bit early because we had to drop off Max 4 hours before we take off.  Poor guy is going to have to cross his legs for over 12 hours.

Luckily we have Lounge access.  The lady that checked us in suggested that United lounge in Heathrow was better that the Luftsansa lounge.  No — I do not think so.  It is ok, and better than most, but the premium Luftanasa lounge is a bit better.

We will land in EWR mid afternoon, and then either crash in hotel near EWR or if I am awake start driving home.  The hotel we have booked will allow us to cancel up until 6pm (11pm UK time).  So we have flexibility.

We leave for Los Angeles and then on to Hawaii on Wednesday Oct 26th.

 

We are in London

We are here.  Max made it through quarantine very easily within an hour of landing. We had a bit a problem with customs.  The company we paid loads of extra money to carry Max through customs and take care of our customs paper work “forgot” we were coming.  It wasn’t until we (that mean Kate) called did they actually start – and they were 30-40 mins away from the office to even start the process.

Max is comfortably resting in the hotel room.  He seems to be getting used to this traveling thing.  He is currently very happy to be out of his cage.  He seems no worse for the wear. He is completely unphased.  We have always been amazed at how quickly Max and his two brain cells bounce back from traumatic events.

Tomorrow we will stop at the Cattery that Max will stay at while we are in Greece, to make sure our USA paper work will be sufficient for the UK regulations.  We will also have dinner with Kate brother Jonnie at a Gastro Pub in London.

 

 

We are off.

Yesterday we drove down to Newark, New Jersey. It was pretty uneventful.  I sure do love those NJ drivers.  We stopped at the New Jersey Welcome Center, and it was anything but welcoming.    It was only open 7am – 4pm.  They should take a few lessons from Moe’s on how to be more welcoming. Welcome to Moes!

We stayed at an “Extended Stay” near the airport.  I all I have to say is that I am glad I will not have to stay there an extended amount of time. We went to dinner at a Caribbean Restaurant that we have tried a year or two ago – it was not as good as it was last time, but it was still nice.

Max did fine in the car ride on the way down.  He was good. He was not happy about it.

Max was a little nervous about the hotel room, but he settled down. For a while he would not even eat his treats.  Poor guy. Once we went to bed he settled down and eventually ended up snuggling with me for a little while we slept.  He was purring the whole time.  Eventually I had to disturb him because I was restless and needed to get up.

Max is not Cargo on United. We will pick up at HARC (Heathrow Animal Reception Center).  He along with his paperwork will clear immigration and customs.  He will be in his crate about 10 hours.  They will let him out and clean up any messes he makes at HARC.  We will get the car crop out luggage off at the hotel and then go pick him up at HARC.

We are getting ready to board our flight now.

 

Europe Itinerary

So here is our itinerary.  It will be updated as we make changes and fill in the gaps. Mike and Kate – Itinerary

We are staying at pet friendly hotels, motels and airb&b houses while traveling with Max.

Our plan is to drive to Newark. Love Jersey – NOT! We will rent a car in Syracuse, drive down, and spend the night.  This will give Max time to have every opportunity to use the bathroom, before his trip to the UK. We have to have Max to the airport a few hours before the flight.  I will drop Max and Kate off to have him checked in as cargo, while I return the car.

We will fly direct to London.  No upgrade. We are sitting in the back of the bus. Max will be taken automatically through customs and immigration. We will meet him at HARC, Heathrow Animal Reception Center and Emporium.  Ok, I made up the Emporium part. We are a little nervous about fitting Max, his crate, and our luggage in our rental car in the UK.  Hopefully it will work out.  We will spend the night at an Airport hotel.  We check into an Air B&B place in the South of London, that has more greenery than buildings and concrete.  We are there for a week.

While in London we plan to visit family and get settled into our travel plans and take care of anything forgotten.  I plan to get a UK SIM card, and switch between my American and UK phone.  I am still working out that plan. Kate’s niece has a certain affection for Max. Max even got a Christmas present from her (a snowman on a string that he loved to pieces- literally). She has imagined “Taking two airplanes to Auntie Kate’s house to play with Max.”  Those were her words.  We absolutely need her to meet Max for real.

After a week there, we will drop Max off at a cattery, so that we can cruise around the Greek Islands.  We have a direct flight to Athens.  We were able to work out a ‘free’ upgrade on Aegean Airlines in one direction.  Yippie.  I love upgrades. It is not that great of an upgrade, but allows some small perks like not sitting next to anyone and getting on the plane first.

We will cruise around the Islands.  Here is the Cruise Itinerary.

We come back to London for a few days.  We then will head to Settle, UK . This will be a very productive time for Kate. I plan to quite a bit of hiking and exploring of the countryside. We will stay there until it is almost time to come back home.  We will spend a few days in London with Kate’s parents before we leave.

Max will need to see a vet before he flies home. He needs a health certificate stating he is healthy enough to fly. We fly back to the States on Oct 20th.  We are back in town for just under 6 days. We begin our journey to Hawaii on Oct 26th.

Hawaii will be the next post.

The Beginning

We are currently preparing for our trip.  Kate and I will spend time traveling while Kate is writing papers, I will be off exploring the meaning of life.  Kate and I will be posting updates, comments, stories, and pictures.  Oh yeah – Max-a-million Paddington our cat is coming with us.  He is currently going through a series of vet visits and load of paperwork that Kate is taking care of (thank goodness).

We will update what we have already done to prepare for people who are curious what it takes to bring your cat to England and Hawaii.

Max is just waiting to go on his journey of his lifetime.

Max
Max – Just looking good.