US2UK - The Day in Pictures - Feb. 27 & 28, 2012

The Big Day in Pictures!


Thankfully, we all landed safe and sound.  Rosco seems to have shrugged off the flight and its affects but River is showing signs of jet lag.  Last night, sleepless at 2:00 a.m., I got up.  Now, one of us getting up in the middle of the night is nothing new to The Noses, but at home, River wouldn't even bother to open her eyes.  So you can imagine my surprise last night when she bounded up after me into the sitting area, grabbed a toy and tossed it in the air.  


Her excitement didn't last long and we were all back in bed ten minutes later.


Unfortunately, the area we are in seems to be quite dog unfriendly.  The lovely Barkston Garden Park that sits across the street (and the main reason I selected this apartment) is a private park:  You must have a key to gain access.  Just like the park a quarter of a mile in the opposite direction.  Also, there are very few trees along the sidewalks so you can imagine we are having some issues in the dog-relieving area.


However, a delightful one-mile walk (one way) gains us access to Kensington Gardens Park which, unbelievably, is entirely off leash.  They have some fenced areas that say, "Dogs must be leashed in this area," but that is all!  Wide open fields and happy dogs everywhere.  Our new dog heaven (and good for the humans too as the walk sure did us good last night.) 


So back to adjusting to jet lag - it takes me three days every single time and I'm sure this time will be no different.


-K


P.S.  Also in the pictures is a shot of our baggage.  Alan did an amazing (or amazingly crazy) job of classifying what was in every bag.  No kidding, we have a spreadsheet on it--no one at Sage is even surprised, I'm sure.  Complete with color coded rope.  But it all came in handy when we landed at Heathrow:  All the pink colored bags came with us, the rest went into the on-site long term bag storage (fantastic find.)

US2UK - The Day Itself - Feb. 27, 2012

Today I am living the definition of surreal; I just can’t believe this is all really happening. 

I woke early this morning and figured I might as well start getting adjusted to the time change so I got up at 6:00 and took the dogs out for their morning constitutional.   I returned via the Club Floor of the Sheraton for some coffee and a bagel then joined Alan back in the room.  Around 8:00 I took The Noses out for a nice long walk.  We walked along JFK Boulevard to the Houston International Airport where they have at least a mile of nice, flat, grass on which to ramble.  I thought the noise of the airplanes and trucks would be a good experience for the dogs, so we took our time and got a nice work-out in.

Back to the room, Alan and I fit in an hour of yoga before hitting the showers and packing up.  We had to have the dogs to British Air World Cargo by 12:30 for our 4:30 flight.  I was thankful that the drop location was not the same as the [human] traveler’s check-in.  It was a separate building at the other side of the airport and, although busy in its own right, not nearly as frantic as an international airport terminal full of humans.  (Having spent many hours in airports in my previous life, I can safely say that humans are not at their best when flying.)

The dog check-in was lengthy:  While Alan assembled the crates, I filled out the final paperwork, had the health certificates checked, and paid the bill (over $2,700 for the two dogs!)  Once the crates were completed, they were taken, empty, to be x-ray’d.  Then the dogs were measured and had their pictures taken in front of the crates to prove that they are the correct size.  You know The Noses, they were not shy about having their picture taken—particularly Rosco who was thrilled to do anything that involved not getting into the crate.   After weighing the dogs we gave them a cheery “Crate!” command and they made us proud by jumping right in.  Well, Rosco made one attempt to lunge out the office door, but after that he jumped right in.

I didn’t even cry.

Alan dropped me at the British Airways check-in area with our ten (yes, 10!) giant suitcases and while he was unloading them from Snowball, I hailed a porter.  Sometimes it is just worth it to spend the extra money and this was definitely one of those times.  The porter and I went to check in while Alan returned Snowball to Hertz.    

The seemingly endless loading of bags at the check-in counter elicited a, “Just how many bags do you have?” question from the clerk.  “Eight to check in, two to carry on”, I replied to which he countered,  “You are only allowed to check six bags.”  I admitted to knowing the facts but told him we did the best we could and we will just have to pay for the extra ones.  $280 for our two additional bags—I was spending money like crazy and hadn’t even made it to Paris yet.

After the joys of U.S. security, we walked into the British Airways lounge where we were greeted with a, “Mr. and Mrs. Bryant, I am so sorry”, my heart stopped; was the flight cancelled?  Good lord!  The health certificates were only good until today! Panic! But the clerk continued, “This is the coach lounge, the first class lounge is just out the door and down to the left.”  I’m not even sure this last part registered with me I was still in such a panic, I just followed Alan out the door.

A few yards down the hallway we entered the first class lounge and were immediately greeted with, “You must be the Bryants, welcome.”  Good lord, I had forgotten just how wonderful good service is.  We dropped our bags and headed directly to the Veuve, hot soup, and shortbread cookies.

It is now 3:30 p.m. in Houston, in about 25 minutes we’ll be boarding the plane and changing into our First pajamas while the Veuve is poured again. 

Cheers!

-K

Musings – On Crate Training the Noses for the Flight

Nothing but Nose pictures here.

For those of you who know Rosco, you probably know he picked up a deep aversion to crates and airplanes during the six months that Alaska Airlines made me put him in cargo rather than under my seat.  (If you know this story, then you also know that I fought and won the right to have him under my seat for good . . . but alas, that was only for Alaska.)  Couple Rosco’s aversion with the fact that when River was a puppy, I put her in a crate and she howled and threw herself against the wall until it fell over, you can imagine my excitement over crate training them for the US2UK flight.

We bought the crates a little late, only ten days or so before our departure which didn’t help as I’m sure The Noses could sense my desperation.  But they were curious right from the start and even Rosco was quick to jump in for a cookie—as long as the door was not attached.    

The first night went very well, with both dogs sleeping in their door-less crates; River didn’t even try to bully Rosco out of one but stayed in her first choice all night.  The second night, however, I tried to get fancy and shut the doors.  River was unimpressed and went right to sleep.  Rosco, on the other hand, was deeply impressed and not in a good way.  He immediately began his panting routine (remember his cold weather panting?  It’s baaaaa-aaack!)  but I persevered and he eventually fell asleep.  For an hour.  Then the panting started again.  Then another hour of sleep.  Then more panting.  So around 3:00 a.m., I finally got up and let him out.  Undoubtedly one of Rosco's more frustrating times trying to train a human, but he persevered.  From that night on, he opted to sleep under our bed rather than get anywhere near the crate. 

With the travel day just around the corner, I was starting some panting of my own at the thought of Rosco not being able to last through the flight.  I decided to bring the crates out to the living room and put the dogs inside while Alan and I worked out.  This way Rosco’s panting wouldn’t keep me awake and maybe he would get over it.  True to form, he did start panting almost immediately but then, lo and behold!  He curled up and went to sleep.   River, always up for a good nap, went to sleep immediately. 

I decided to stop while ahead.  Our final two nights are at the Sheraton near the Houston International Airport, where Rosco is luxuriating on a heavenly dog bed and River, well, she basically sleeps wherever she wants.  But clearly she doesn’t want the heavenly dog bed otherwise she would not hesitate to whine at Rosco until he moved.

-K

Musings – On Crossing the Pond

When we were preparing for this trip last summer, a friend of ours wrote on our Facebook page, “You are fortunate to have the time, money and courage to undertake such an adventure.”  Undoubtedly we are fortunate in the time and money category, but right now I am more thankful for the courage than anything else.

As exciting as it all is, there is a hint of terror as well.  Thinking about being so far from everything that is familiar sends a little stab of adrenalin right to my heart.  I am thankful that we warmed up with a few months in the U.S. first as we have adapted to being out of our comfort zone with experiences like always shopping in an unfamiliar grocery store (more frustrating than you might imagine), not knowing the perfect bakery for that monthly piece of double-chocolate cake and relying almost constantly on a GPS system.  Gone are the days when I would drive home from work, arriving in my driveway with little knowledge of having made the drive at all.

As wonderful as it has been to be staying in Clark’s condo for (double yikes!) two months, I miss the homey feel of Salt, she is small, but she is ours and after four months on the road, she is home.  Sadly, right now she and Pepper are sitting on the dock in Galveston awaiting their turn at loading onto the Chesapeake Highway 12 freighter.

In years past, we have traveled around various parts of Europe and it is all wonderful until about day 10 when you find yourself exhausted with trying to figure out a different language.  It will be interesting to see how we combat that as we (darn well better) make it more than ten days!

-K

US2UK – Transporting Salt & Pepper (Tow Vehicle & Travel Trailer)

Please note that the information provided here are the steps we took to bring our vehicle and trailer over for a visit.  If you are intending to remain in the U.K. or Europe, there will undoubtedly be more items on your checklist.  But to bring a vehicle over temporarily, it is quite simple.  Also, this posting does not cover the steps we took to get Salt’s systems to work in the U.K. and Europe – that will be coming soon (or soon after we get over there and figure it all out.)

When it comes down to it, there are very few items that need to be done in order to transport your vehicle and trailer to the UK.  (But then again, maybe I think this because Alan has done the lion’s share of the work.)  But timing is very important, so start the process early.

First, you should get comfortable with the Roll on/Roll off (RORO) type of transportation.  RORO requires that someone drive your vehicle and trailer onto the vessel where it is strapped down but not put in a cargo container.  Given our love for the Salt & Pepper, we were not thrilled about the prospect of having someone driving them on and off (and on and off – there will likely be at least one vessel change in the journey) but sometimes you simply have no choice.  Once you are comfortable with that part, set about hiring a freight forwarder.

For the freight forwarder, Alan received bids from five different firms, two of which came via uship.com, a freight forwarding bidding site.  A couple of items to look for:  Do they include Marine Insurance in your bid?  Do they provide agents on each end of the trip to guide you through customs and the export/import requirements?  Being new to this, we also wanted someone with whom it was easy to communicate—not only language-wise but also the method of communication (email, telephone, etc.)  We opted for a firm based in the U.K. (Hill Shipping), they were not the cheapest nor the most expensive, but we put a premium on having the firm located in the country where we would be passing through customs (figuring this would be the trickiest, and most difficult set of requirements to understand, we wanted to be able to rely on local knowledge.)

Once the selection was made the lists began anew:  News to us was that we could not pack anything inside of Salt (we had asked this to many of the forwarders before and the answers varied from “sure as long as it is strapped down” to “no.”  Hill’s answer was closer to “no.”)  Basically, both vehicles need to be able to be opened at will by a customs agent, which is understandable.  The risk of theft is, apparently, high on the open seas so the shipping companies make it a point of stating that they will not accept anything packed inside either vehicle.  (This left us with a ton of checked baggage, but that is yet another posting.)  And to top it off, marine insurance will not cover theft.  None the less, when the final packing came we did leave some items inside of Salt:  Dishes, pots, pans and linens; but all items that we would not be heartbroken to see stolen.

Also not allowed onto the vessel:  LP Tanks unless they have been purged and certified (costly to have performed at $50-$100/tank, so we opted to just buy new ones when we arrive in the U.K.) and no more than a quarter of a tank of gas in the tow vehicle.

We had to ship the Pepper’s title (actual title) over to the freight forwarder who will apparently return it to us on the other end (Salt’s title was not required as it is not considered a moving vehicle.)  Speaking of the other end, you must have secured international vehicle insurance for both vehicles prior to driving them away in the U.K.   We selected THUM Insurance as an agent for this, they are located in the U.S. and can provide the needed coverage and the “green card” required for driving overseas.

As I mentioned before, timing is the biggest concern.  These RORO vessels do not leave every day nor even every week.  From Galveston, they seemed to leave once a month.  Indeed, all the bids we received mentioned the same sailing date out of Galveston so clearly the forwarders are all using the same vessel.  The actual shipping date is likely to vary by a few days, but you still need to have your vehicles at the dock up to ten days prior to loading (the freight forwarder will give you the exact date.)  Couple these ten days with two more port stops, a two week crossing, a change of vessel in Europe and it quickly adds up to over six weeks before you will see your rig again.  That is hard to take.  So plan ahead!  Missing one boat means adding another four weeks to your itinerary.

After the weeks and weeks of preparation, the actual dropping of Salt & Pepper was anticlimactic (if you leave out the heartache and indigestion.)  We were given driving directions to the Port and had to be escorted onto the dock by the local agent.  He drove us to the parking area where we removed the license plates (easily stolen so it is highly recommended to remove them before loading) unplugged Salt from the Pepper (but left them hitched), took a few pictures, received two flimsy pieces of paper in exchange for our beloved rig and walked away. 

It will really be something when we see them arrive in Southampton!

-K

US2UK - The Time Has Come!

With apologies to our dear friends and relatives on the eastern seaboard, we are skipping out earlier than planned for Europe.  We aren't really sure what has provided the impetus to leave early, but now that we are working on it, something has become quite evident:  It is a good thing we didn't wait until May or June to attempt an arrival into London.  Hello?  Olympic year!

For those of you placing bets on when the Real Alan & Kit would show up in all this, you will be happy to hear they made multiple appearances while booking the logistics of getting from Houston to Heathrow and living without Salt & Pepper for close to six weeks.  


The Plan:  
February 13:  Drop off Salt & Pepper at the docks in Galveston, Texas, renting a Cadillac Escalade (hey, we needed something BIG) for our transportation.  
February 14:  Hopefully Kit is in line at the US Passport office in Houston getting a new passport issued.
February 17:  The Noses have their 10-day health certificates prepared in Ingleside.
February 18-25:  Who knows?  Free time - back to fishing?
February 26:  Everyone drives to Houston.
February 27:  The Noses are dropped at British Air World Cargo at noon; we check-in at 2:30; board the plane at 3:30; immediately change into our First pajamas; allow them to hand us champagne and settle into our little cocoons.  I don't think B.A. First will ever have looked so good.  (By the way, we used credit card points for the airline tickets -- we haven't gone completely off the deep end!)


We have arranged to stay in London for six nights (three to recover, three to Make A Plan) and selected the Presidential Apartments in Kensington.  Not only do they have fully furnished, gorgeous apartments, but they allow dogs and, get this, are located across the street from Barkston Park. 

Since Salt & Pepper will not arrive into South Hampton until March 24, we are planning on renting an RV and touring the UK and some of the islands while we wait. 


Now I am off to look, for the hundreth time, absolutely everywhere for my passport.


-K

US2UK - Transporting The Noses (Dogs)

Since we struggled and struggled for well over a year to learn everything that needed to be known (or so we hope) about transporting pets, trailers, cars and people from the U.S. to the U.K., I thought I would create a few posts that might be helpful to others thinking of doing the same.  


This one is for dogs (obviously) - there will be another one for Cars and Trailers, but, alas, nothing for people as you all know what there is to know about that.  However, I would advise not losing your passport three weeks before your flight and having your Certificate of Naturalization locked away in a safety deposit box in California when you are in Texas; but other than that, I don't think we have anything special to share.


Basics on Dogs - Preparation Steps:
1) In 2012 getting dogs into the U.K. from the U.S. became much easier, so forget all the horror stories you have heard about quarantine and learn the new stuff.


2) Bookmark the DEFRA website - Traveling with Pets, specifically the Pet Travel Scheme, read all the documentation, including the actual form (and notes) for the Third Country Veterinary form.


3) Bookmark the APHIS/USDA website - Importing/Exporting Animals and read everything relating to exporting dogs from the U.S.


4) Make sure you are flying on an approved carrier and on an approved route (we did British Air out of Houston.)


5) Find a nice, helpful Vet, preferably one with exporting knowledge.


Definitely read all you can from each website multiple times, sometimes the language is very difficult to follow, although they clearly did a better job in 2012 than 2003.


Basics on Dogs - The Required Steps:
For getting into the U.K. from the U.S., it has become quite simple (this is offered as an introduction -- be sure you understand and follow the guidelines from the websites above):


1) Get your dog micro-chipped - must be with an international chip as some chips used the U.S. are not readable by the European devices.


2)  After micro-chipping, get it vaccinated for rabies - very important!  This must happen after the micro-chipping.  


3)  Get a signed letter from your Vet stating the date of the micro-chipping, the date of the vaccination and all pertinent vaccination information required by the Third Country Veterinary Form. Make sure the letter states the dogs' micro-chip number.


4) Ten (10) days before departure, get a Third Country Veterinary Form and an International Health Certificate filled out by a Vet--it doesn't have to be the same vet who performed the micro-chipping and rabies vaccination.  The Vet will need originals of the letter mentioned above and the certificate of rabies vaccination.


5)  Five (5) or fewer days before departure get your dog treated for Tapeworm.  Must be administered by the vet--be sure the treatment includes the active ingredient listed in the Third Country Veterinary Form.


6) Get your documents certified by APHIS/USDA:  The Third Country Veterinary form, the International Health Certificate form, the letter from your vet stating the date of the micro-chipping, and a signed rabies vaccination certificate must be mailed to the local ASPHIS/USDA office for a certification stamp.  The vet who prepared the forms should send this out for you overnight with tracking, including the fees and a return overnight label.


As I mentioned, we are flying on British Air.  They have you drop your dogs at BA World Cargo four hours before your flight.  The dogs do fly on the same plane as you, but are handled by the World Cargo staff.  More information about traveling with pets on British Air can be found here on their website.


Hopefully our preparation will pay off and all four of us will be landing in Heathrow (and be able to leave) on February 28!


-K


UPDATE:  Getting the Pet Passports completed in London turned out to be a great idea.  They were required when we boarded the ferry to France and, now in other countries, many campgrounds require them as well.