I am in Paris! The flight was a breeze. I slept like a baby and was so quiet that no one even knew I was there. At least that’s what the woman who sat in front of us said as we were de-planing. (They really use that term.) More later about my documentation because there was a surprise there. I can’t go into detail now because we have a dinner reservation and don’t want to be late.
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Mission Accomplished
French Lessons
I thought it was time to spend a little time on my French so I asked the boyos to help me out. The translation books have all sorts of sections for human travelers like “at the beauty shop/barber” or “on the slopes,” but nothing for travelers like me. B and I are compiling a list. She started with “asseyez-vous!” but I put “biscuit pour chien” at the top. I am anticipating some good ones in Paris. (I may have to diet when we return. When we went to the vet in New York for my preliminary tapeworm treatment – the real thing is tomorrow morning-she said my weight is perfect but should not be an ounce more. But I can’t worry about that in Paris. Who could?)
USDA approved!
B and G driving me mad with “exposure.” We have been to restaurants (entering legally and not quite) to “practice,” on the subway, bus and just generally running around.
We took a major car trip last week to get me certified, and I am happy to report that I have been cleared by the government for travel. Our visit to the USDA office was interesting. It was very Oz-like with a woman standing at a window who opened and closed a plexi-glass panel to talk to us. We met a man taking his poodle to Croatia, which is not a problem, but he also wants to go to Serbia and that is apparently terra incognita as far as pet travel. But when the woman at the window told him she couldn’t guarantee anything he didn’t seem concerned and just put all the documents back into his leather envelope which looked very impressive. (Unlike him, B had my documents in a manila envelope with notes written all over it and which did not look impressive. Worse, she presented as nervous. She is concerned that I may need sedation for the flight but I think she might require some herself.) We also sat with a farmer from New Hampshire getting what he needed to ship eggs to France. (They are eggs that will be birds.) FYI: this office was not closed during the recent federal shutdown. As the woman at the Oz window explained, their office makes money so they were classified as essential. The stamping of all my documents cost $38.00. I think the nice eggman’s fee was a really hefty one; each of his eggs costs over three dollars each. (Goo goo goo joob.)
Finally, B, always one for multi-tasking, insisted we visit the graveyard and chapel at nearby at Holy Cross College. We had a lovely walk on the pretty campus. I was admired by some pretty girls and we saw that the deceased Jesuits there have a peaceful final resting place.
Paperwork
We started the paperwork for my pet passport this week with a visit to the vet to drop off the forms, and a good thing too. We learned that the USDA certified vet does not issue the USDA stamp. Although the form needs to be filled out by a certified vet, it has to go to a USDA office for a stamp. Have you ever seen a USDA office? I certainly haven’t. And it’s more than finding one (there is a good website listing them by state), not all of them have this stamp. But I am not complaining because at least the office is open now. At the vet we learned of a dog with plans to go to Africa last month and the government shutdown almost cancelled that. We are lucky that our vet has a terrific person in charge of this who is up on the procedures. I would recommend going to a practice that has experience with this. I ‘ll be back at the vet to pick up the forms within the 10 day window required, and we have an appointment at the USDA office to bring the completed form in to be stamped. (I don’t have to be present for that but B and G will need to bring a record of my most recent rabies vaccination with them.)
At the vet we asked if there should be any concern about the tapeworm treatment that I will have to get the morning of the flight. My doc didn’t think so. (I will get that from another vet who also has to be USDA certified. That part of the form, however, does not require the USDA official stamp.) We also talked about eating and drinking that day and she suggested that, since the flight is at 10PM, I might have my dinner very early at about 3pm. That way, by the time we arrive at the airport, I will be ready for bed. She also thinks I will be fine without water for the flight but said I will probably want a big drink when we land and can leave my bag. Those neat little bowls that fold up are on my shopping list.
We are also working on getting me accustomed to being out and about. We started by a visit to a local wine shop where our friend works. (We thought that appropriate given that Paris is our first stop.) Here I am with her co-worker Waldo who is a really sweet guy.
The perfect bag
What with all the airline luggage restrictions, I am under pressure to travel light so we have spent a good amount of time searching for the perfect travel bag for me. After much investigation, my first advice is to avoid the internet for this shopping because pet bags are more like shoes than bags: they really must be tried on. (This tip comes after return charges in an unsuccessful order. G not happy.)
I was gifted the bag in the photo on my left. It is AKC certified for airplane cabins, and it is quite nice for serious travel. It opens at the top and on the sides so I can poke my head out, there is netting all around so I can see out (and be seen) when it is zipped and it is roomy enough to be comfortable for an extended period of time. It is also quite a nice match for my coloring. (A lovely young woman G met in Washington Square Park gave this to me. She bought it for her puppy who was only able to use it once. We met him just a few days after she had carried him home in it and he had already outgrown it. Clearly she didn’t know to check out the size of his paws but, not to worry, they are very happy together and he readily jumps into a tote when they travel on the subway.) This bag is good in the car too, and we will use it when we begin that part of the adventure in Dover, England.
However, that bag is not the best for sightseeing, going to restaurants or, most important, shopping. It is unwieldy for the person carrying me because the soft construction doesn’t work well with a shoulder strap and, while the soft sides are comfy at rest, I shift around when carried.
So we purchased bag number two pictured on my right. (We bought it at a great store called Canine Styles which has several Manhattan locations and also an online store.) It looks much more like a handbag and B is considering using it as that for the airplane part of the trip. It has something of the look of the early Kate Spade bags which is her usual travel purse, and will easily hold her Kindle, knitting and needlepoint in the outside pocket, and make room in her luggage for more easily folded things. When we land she could put me in it. I really like this bag. I am right up next to B or G and prefer the eye level of this to the other one. Moreover, I think it is a more refined way to travel from the airport into Paris.
Oral history
Here’s Otis, my new friend. He was staying with his family on our road this weekend. Otis is very well travelled, and has been to France several times. He has been stateside for a bit since he has been much consumed overseeing his humans as they take care of the new baby girl, now three months old. She is a beauty and it is a big job for him. I was happy to help out yesterday and stand guard while Mom and Dad had lunch with B and G. (I don’t have a photo of the baby so you will have to take me at my word: gorgeous. And she has terrific squeak toys.)
Otis has a Pet Passport but his travelling has not been without travail. His globe-trotting originated in the heartlands once (Chicago) and there was an issue about changing planes because the airlines say some aircraft cannot accommodate our cases in the cabin. (That’s why Delta would not let me fly from Dublin. They said the aircraft they use on that route has no room for pet cases in the cabin.)
But Otis’s major travel story is about his “swim” in the Seine. They were all walking along the river and, voila, he was in the water. Thankfully, his human did the right thing and jumped in after him. They were out of view in no time but a good citoyen came running up to report that that the chien was safe. When asked about the husband, the man said he had not checked; the French have admirable priorities. All’s well that ends well after baths all around but I will be careful.
We also have the name of Otis’s French vet which is probably a good idea in case we get held up in travel and loose our window for the tapeworm into England. (G and B might want to linger in Paris.) It isn’t hard to get names and numbers of vets online and I would recommend having a few names and all your documentation of vaccines etc. Just in case.
Pet Passport
Apologies for the delay in posting but much drama chez Nuala. The paperwork on my microchip, which is critical to this trip, was “lost,” and I was overwhelmed by the search for it. One would hope better care might have been taken of something so important, but evidently not. Fortunately it has been located, and I will let the negligence go for now because I need to explain the new European pet regulations to you. The best news is that the quarantine that Ireland and the UK previously required n’existe plus, but there is special documentation required for pets travelling from the US. Within Europe we may travel with an official PET PASSPORT, but when first coming from the US, we need to enter with a different document – a document for travel from a “listed country.” That form, “official third party certificate” is called ANNEX II. It needs to have been filled out by a vet no more than ten days prior to our arrival in Europe. Once we have arrived and have been approved, we will be issued the PET PASSPORT, which is good for four months (or until our rabies vaccination expires, whichever is sooner.)There are several online companies that will sell you this form, but you can contact the country you want to visit directly and the consulate will send give you link with all the necessary information and downloads for the forms. We contacted the very helpful Special Projects Unit at Animal Health and Welfare in the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and were sent these links for information and documentation:
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/pets/requirementforentryorreentryofdogscats
andferretsfromanothereumemberstateandcertainothereuropean
countriesandterritories/
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/pets/requirementsforentryorre-entryofdogscatsandferretsintoirelandfromacountryoutsideoftheeuorcertainnon-eueuropeancountries/
You should read this all carefully but basically this is what is required:
1) a microchip;
2) a rabies vaccination AFTER the microchip;
3) ANNEX II form;
and for Ireland and the UK only:
4) tapeworm treatment.
The tapeworm requirement is tricky. Both Ireland and the UK require the treatment within 120 hours of entry. I am going to have it done at a vet in New York the morning I fly (it can be added to my ANNEX II by a vet other than the one who will fill out the main form) but I could also have it done by a vet in France , should I want to stay in Paris longer. Once I am approved in the UK, there is no need for another treatment to enter Ireland. (The tapeworm is on the continent but not in Ireland or the UK. The very thought of it is disgusting.)
I hope all this is clear. The arrangements are not necessarily onerous, but the process is a little intimidating because if all is not done correctly…well, we don’t even want to consider that scenario. (Would they leave me at the airport to go eat in Paris? As the kids say, I really don’t want to go there.)
One final note: photo optional on PET PASSPORT but of course I will have one.
After much ado
Well, to make a very long story relatively short, after much ado, I am booked on Air France flights to and from Paris. Delta initially approved me to fly in the cabin from Dublin but then called and said it would not be possible. B spoke to many people and finally got in touch with a mucky muck who was very apologetic but confirmed that an error had been made in the original booking. She assigned a nice man to take care of re-booking so as to return home from Paris, and Delta assumed all extra costs in the pricier ticket and fees for changing. That was good of them but the policy is a shame. I am glad we are traveling Air France – hope they play Gigi!
Enough about all that. Just as complicated have been the arrangements to get me from France to Ireland which is our true destination. Irish Ferries (www.irishferries.com) run a ferry from Cherbourg to Rosslare with a boat delightfully called the Oscar Wilde. (There is another route from Rosscoff to Rosslare through October.) Oscar allows pets but only in a kennel apart from everyone else with no view of “…that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky” and, given that the trip is sixteen hours long, Bunny looked for an alternative. She found one through an enterprising taxi service that takes people and pets on the car train through the channel tunnel. (Pets are not allowed on the Eurostar train and there is quite an uproar about that. If you would like to learn more, check out www.freespace.vrgin.net/passports.forpets/Eurostar.html , an organization in London that has started letter writing campaign to change the Eurostar policy. The chairwoman is Lady Mary Fretwell and she is doing well by her name for us. The wife of the former British ambassador to France, Lady Mary was the mover and shaker of the Pet Passport which allows me to take this trip without quarantine.)
So after what I am sure will be a lovely time in Paris (we already have one dinner reservation), we will make our way by train to Calais (about an hour and a half) where our new friend David from Folkestone taxi (www.folkestonetaxi.com) will have a driver waiting to whisk us off for the ferry ride and take us to our rental car in Dover.
My seafaring will continue. After a bit of time in England and Wales, we’ll take another ferry, this time on our own, from Holyhead to Dublin for another rental car. (It costs less to rent two cars than to take one from England to Ireland what with fees to do so and ferry costs for cars.)There are several ferry lines that operate on this route but only Irish Ferries allow pets with foot passengers. (You cannot book pets on the website. That can only be done at the terminal. It doesn’t appear to be a big deal but I will report back. I certainly hope I do not have to swim.)
Figuring this out, not to mention explaining it to all of you, has been exhausting and I haven’t even gotten to the medical procedures necessary for the trip. I’ll get to those after a little rest. Jake has taken over my bed but he is a very sound sleeper and I think I can sneak back in.
Is this anyway to run an airline?
Nancy Reagan said that when she left the White House the one thing she would really miss was Air Force One. I understand where she was coming from. Commercial air travel is not for the faint of heart.
To make a very long story short, think what you might about the French (don’t forget I have German roots), they are really good about pets and air travel. We can come and go to French airports at our pleasure. Ireland is another story. Although there is no longer quarantine from the United States, we cannot land in Ireland from the cabin. However, since the destination country makes the cabin decision, pets should be able to leave Ireland in the cabin because US regulations allow it and, indeed, according to Irish regulations that only prohibit the incoming cabin travel, once I am in Ireland I am free to fly home in the cabin of a plane. Here’s where the airlines are the meanies. All the airlines that fly from Ireland to the US say NO to pets in the cabin because they are not allowed to land there from the cabin.
So, we are reworking my reservation to return to the States from Paris. That’s annoying but it gives George another dinner in France. Details to follow.
Please allow me to introduce myself
Full disclosure, I am not technically a terrier. I am a miniature wire haired dachshund. According to the Westminster Kennel Club, I am a hound but my terrier genes are strong and apparent in my coat, face and stance and, so I am told, in my demeanor. Just in case you are interested, there are three varieties of dachshunds: the traditional smooth coat, long haired and wire haired. The long haired variety came about through breeding with spaniels. They have soulful eyes and are known for a gentle disposition. My sister Fiona was a beautiful long haired dachshund and, as I have been told way too many times, a gentle and elegant girl who always did the right thing. (My Aunt has compared Fiona to Jackie Kennedy and me to Cindi Lauper.) We wired hairs, with terrier roots, are a scrappy lot who can mix it up if need be. We can smell a rat a mile away. (Which is not to say that Jackie Kennedy couldn’t either.)
But I digress. This website is about my upcoming trip to Ireland, more specifically, how it has been arranged to get around some dicey regulations. Ireland no longer requires quarantine for individuals like me who want to travel from the Unites States but all is not rosy. We are absolutely forbidden in the cabin of any aircraft landing and so must travel in the hold as cargo. Of course that is totally unacceptable so I put B on the case (she is the one who wants me in Ireland for some reason) and she came up with a tricky but manageable alternative. More on how this has been arranged in my next post.
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