Preparing – Kate and Mike

Taking a my Cat Max to Hawaii

Max our not very bright, but very enthusiastic cat made it to Hawaii.

Max just rolling around in the closet in the LA Hotel.

Just to re-cap. We went from Syracuse, NY to Hawaii with our Cat. We prepared for about 8 months to do that. Max first needed to Micro-chipped, then have a rabies vaccine. Then have another rabies vaccine, then be tested to verify that vaccine was effective. We were doing the Hawaii Kona Direct Release program, so we needed to contact a specified vet, share our paper work. Pay her. Get pre-approved for Max to come. Pre-approved is nice, and I would prefer that over the Honolulu plan. Then on travel day he would be checked over for “bad stuff”, by the vet that met Max and our plane. and directly released to us in a matter of 10-15 mins. Max was done as soon as our baggage was done.

The whole thing was pretty easy. Lots of steps and there is a timeline you have to keep. Not too early and not too late. The vet was awesome. She really loves animals and treated Max very well and made sure he was ok after the flight. VERY COOL! She is in it for the animals not just the money.

We used united Cargo. They needed our Hawaii paperwork when we dropped Max off to be shipped. This all with originals. Very scary. We decided to break up the journey, and stop in Los Angeles. We checked Max’s big pet crate as luggage. Syracuse Airport was nice enough to let it go even though it was a bit big. Max rode in the cabin. He was a perfect gentlemen the whole time. We spent two days in LA, to make sure his crate arrived and was not lost. We could take not chances. We did some site seeing in LA and went to Universal Hollywood. It was a pretty good day.

img_0515-2 — Kate with a Home Simpson sized Doughnut. It was light and easily eaten by two people.

Max then went via United Cargo, AKA PetSafe. The women that helped us at LAX was awesome. She also really did a thorough job. She took her time and really set the bar quite high. She really took care of us and made us feel comfortable leaving our cat with her. Kudos to United. I do not say that much.

On the trip back, we do the exact reverse of it. Other carriers allow pets leaving Hawaii in the cabin, but not United. So he has to go cargo back to LA. We will only spend overnight in LA. Max will ride with us in the cabin from LA to Syracuse. Max has shown he can hold it for 15 hours. He is quite a good trooper.

Max Last Vet Appointment and off to the USDA in Albany

Max had his last visit to the vet on Wednesday to clear him for travel to the UK. Max was “injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and
Selected! … every single part of him, and they was leavin’ no part untouched!” to quote Arlo Guthrie’s famous thanksgiving song Alice’s Restaurant Massacree in five-part harmony. We have omitted the “twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one“.

Here is the what we are referring to, if you have never heard the Alice’s Restaurant before.

Max lost a bit of his dignity when he had his temperature taken. Kate was surprised there isn’t a less invasive way to take a cat’s temperature.

Seriously – he got a clean bill of health – we got both of the different required health forms filled in by the vet and the European one has now been endorsed and sealed by the USDA, which required us to drive to Albany and back this morning. However, Max was able to stay home – the USDA vet just needed to see the paperwork. We thought the USDA needed to stamp and approve both health forms (the Appendix IV/European Health/Third country official vet form and the US Aphis 7001 form – but it turns out that the USDA no longer endorses/seals the Aphis form.

So now Max should be all set – next step is dropping him off at United Cargo at the crack of dawn Thursday morning.

Hawaii Itinerary

The plan for Hawaii is not quite as detailed and is not finished yet.

We plan to be home for just under a week after coming back from England. We’ll leave again on October 26th. Max will need another vet appointment to clear him for flying. On the way out we will stop in Los Angeles. Max will get to ride in the cabin to LA. He will be in the cargo hold to Hawaii. United insists that he gets a window seat on all 757-200 aircraft. This is one of the upgraded “premium service” planes with a real first class experience. With Kate being platinum, we are hoping for an upgrade. We will spend to two days in Los Angeles. We do not really have any plans, other than to break the journey up for Max.

We fly directly into Kona. We will be met by a vet in Kona. We (Kate) have already talked to her, and all of Max’s paper work is approved. Max will get scanned to verify that it is really himself and get a quick examination to check his general health. We have not book any accommodations yet, but we might stay the night night in Kona to save Max from having to hold it for so long.

Our first place we will stay in Hawaii is in Kapoho on the east coast in a place loosely known as the “Tidal Pools”. We should have that house booked in the next day or so. We will then spend the last 20-30 days some where else. We are either going to either in Volcano, Hilo, or Kea’au, Pahoa or possibly Waikoloa.

We are hoping to take a trip or two to somewhere else in the Pacific outside of Hawaii. We are also hoping to get some diving in while we are there. I am hoping to do more hiking in Hawaii. I have done some great hikes in Hawaii in the past, and looking forward to some more. There are some big mountains there that are just waiting for me.

Kate’s parents will be in Hawaii with us for the last month or so. Their flights have already been booked. I am really looking forward to sharing what I know of Hawaii with them. We do another lay over on the way back in LA, so Max can switch back to riding in the cabin.

We come back home January 11th, a little more than 5 months after we started. Kate has a conference in California almost immediately after we come back.

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.