I have at least two blog posts from the past couple of days stashed away as unfinished drafts but I thought I would go ahead and post a little bit of news.
The girls are going home on Thursday.
Yes, I'm still hanging out here in Ohio but my two cats, Mina and Lucy, are hopping on a plane Thursday night. I really wanted us to go at the same time but this is the last week that Delta is offering non-stop service from Cincinnati to London and we really didn't want to mess with any layovers. A four hour check in and an eight hour flight plus at least a couple of hours on the other end was enough - we didn't need to add in a five hour layover somewhere.
Unfortunately, the process hasn't been easy. We thought - and were advised as much in several calls to Delta - we could call three days prior to the flight date and purchase a ticket. We had even been given a cost - $650 for the first cat and $20 for the second. Turns out Delta doesn't fly animals overseas unless you go through a third party shipping service. And the $670? Customs fees. The ticket is that much more over again. And then there are the fees the shipping services charges...needless to say, it's expensive.
Yesterday Matt and I spent at least five hours on Skype and he spent most of that calling Delta a half dozen times and talking to several companies that specialize in shipping pets. Things actually got even more complicated when we did find a company to use. It doesn't tell you anywhere that there's a form that has to be stamped and signed by the USDA and that getting that stamp and signature could take several days or several weeks. Thankfully, there's an office an hour and a half from here and there was an available appointment so tomorrow, after taking the girls to the vet to finalize the passport paperwork and get them checked for ticks and fleas, I'm driving up to get what we need to get them on a plane on Thursday.
I'm worried about the stress of the trip on the little fur balls but I think it'll be worth it once they have three floors of space and lots of sunny windows to lounge in. Right now they're in the basement, poor things. Plus, you know, having Matt to shower them with affection won't be bad either.
So the cats will be there on Friday and my belongings are due to arrive next week which means everything will be in Salisbury...except me.
*Kittyspeak translation: "We're going home!"
