Books, DVDs and CDs chiefly, at least those stacked up in the living room -- there were other stacks of boxes for my clothes etc. in the other rooms (see, e.g., the right photo in the second row).
Actually, moving my *stuff* overseas wasn't so much more of a big deal than moving within a country (or continent, for that matter) -- the moving company did an excellent job, and when I unpacked my things in Germany I found that less items were broken than I'd experienced in "in-country" moves before. But for the kitties it was a big deal, of course. I decided not to have them travel inside the plane's cargo rooms, so my mom, my petsitter and I ended up with one carrier bag containing one (tranquilized) cat on our laps each! :)
Gypsy and Tiger did exceptionally well ... only with Holly the tranquilizer wore off before we'd reached Frankfurt, so during the last hour or so of the flight our row was the cat equivalent of a passenger row containing a family with a small baby ...
Even Holly recovered really quickly, though, once we'd finally reached home and she was able to leave her carrier bag. And I was left with a renewed sense of wonder at what cats will endure for love of their humans ...
7 years ago
I later read in one of your posts that two (?) of these kitties have now passed on. It's so hard when that happens, but it's wonderful that you have pictures like these by which to remember them, and celebrate the joy they brought to you.
They've all three of them crossed the rainbow bridge now -- Gypsy (the black male) in 2008, Tiger (the short haired tabby) in 2012, and Holly at Christmas 2016, almost a year ago. I still miss all of them every single day, but yes, photos like these sure help remembering the good times!
I literally spent months in advance of the trip investigating all the options. Not every airline would have allowed the cats inside the cabin, but Lufthansa did, and when I found out about that, my only remaining enquiry was about the price of a third ticket (for my petsitter). When I learned that that price was less than any pro pet transportation would have asked for shipping my babies inside a plane's cargo hold, all my questions had somehow resolved themselves in a flash!
I think German customs and immigration regulations at the time would have been stricter if it hadn't been the U.S. (or Canada, or Western Europe) from where we were bringing the cats. But with them coming in from a country deemed sufficiently "animal health conscious," immigration really was a cinch -- the customs officers barely looked inside the carrier bags; by and large this was one of the fastest and least complicated immigration experiences I ever had (and certainly *nothing* like I had feared it was going to be).
When my cousin's family brought their cat to Germany when returning from a 3-year expat stint in China, though, not only did the poor boy have to travel in the cargo hold; he also had to be quarantained for 2 weeks before they were allowed to pick him up. :(
Boris and Christmas had to be quarantined for 30 days on arrival. Visits were allowed 2x a week, on specific days. Like any well run prison. :[ But I will say, in the facilities defence, that once they got to recognise us, they had no problem with letting us visit as often as we liked and to bring things that would feel familiar to the cats - and each of my kitties had a lot of space both indoors and outdoors to move around in. They were still pissed at me, but at least they were pissed in comfort. :P
Yeah, I know, Australia has by far the strictest quarantaine laws. :( No wonder your cats were unhappy; never mind all the space they had.
OTOH, my cousin and family would absolutely not have gotten away with visiting more frequently than their allotted quota (which I think was twice weekly, too). *If* Germans make a law to be overseen by a branch of the executive, you can be sure said executive branch will be absolutely inflexible about enforcing it ...
7 years ago
I'm so sorry. I know how they impact our lives and how much they mean to us.
Aww your kitties are beautiful. I've got a senior orange and white lady cat, and I don't like to think what its gonna do to me when she goes (she's 13, so I figure I've got at least a couple years left).
LOVE LOVE LOVE the kitties! And are ALL of those boxes filled with books?
Actually, moving my *stuff* overseas wasn't so much more of a big deal than moving within a country (or continent, for that matter) -- the moving company did an excellent job, and when I unpacked my things in Germany I found that less items were broken than I'd experienced in "in-country" moves before. But for the kitties it was a big deal, of course. I decided not to have them travel inside the plane's cargo rooms, so my mom, my petsitter and I ended up with one carrier bag containing one (tranquilized) cat on our laps each! :)
Gypsy and Tiger did exceptionally well ... only with Holly the tranquilizer wore off before we'd reached Frankfurt, so during the last hour or so of the flight our row was the cat equivalent of a passenger row containing a family with a small baby ...
Even Holly recovered really quickly, though, once we'd finally reached home and she was able to leave her carrier bag. And I was left with a renewed sense of wonder at what cats will endure for love of their humans ...
I think German customs and immigration regulations at the time would have been stricter if it hadn't been the U.S. (or Canada, or Western Europe) from where we were bringing the cats. But with them coming in from a country deemed sufficiently "animal health conscious," immigration really was a cinch -- the customs officers barely looked inside the carrier bags; by and large this was one of the fastest and least complicated immigration experiences I ever had (and certainly *nothing* like I had feared it was going to be).
When my cousin's family brought their cat to Germany when returning from a 3-year expat stint in China, though, not only did the poor boy have to travel in the cargo hold; he also had to be quarantained for 2 weeks before they were allowed to pick him up. :(
OTOH, my cousin and family would absolutely not have gotten away with visiting more frequently than their allotted quota (which I think was twice weekly, too). *If* Germans make a law to be overseen by a branch of the executive, you can be sure said executive branch will be absolutely inflexible about enforcing it ...
So is the first one, though.