day one

Getting on the plane was filled with excitement. When Kootenay and I
got to the airport it turned out that our instructions for getting the
dog to Germany were messed up. She had been booked as cargo, but she
was supposed to go on the plane as checked baggage with me. Luckily
after three or four frantic calls we were able to get her on the
flight with me.

Thank goodness that dad took me to the airport. And thank goodness
for his cell phone.

Travelling with the dog seems so complicated, but it seems to be
easier that one would think. She is kinda like a roomie who eats your
food, doesn't pay her rent, and thinks her personality and love should
be enough for you to keep her around.

So after 8 hours in the air, we landed in Frankfurt. This was where I
thought we would have the biggest problems. I was concerned with the
papers for the dog, and as her microchip had never been scanned I was
nervous about it working. All the potential problems were playing out
in my mind. Included in my concerns were the difficulties of
travelling in a country where you don't know a word of the country's
language.

These concerns turned out to be for nothing. There she was in special
baggage sitting in her crate waiting for me to claim her. The
security supervisor went in search of a Vet to do her inspection.
While he was searching for the Vet I went and got the rest of my
luggage and came back. The supervisor couldn't find a vet so he took
a cursory look at our papers and send us on our way. It was
disturbingly easy. I guess that it was just to give me a break
because the hard work was just about to start.

Now I had the dog, two heavy suitcases, a carryon bag, and my computer
and camera bag, as well as the dog kennel to get to my hotel. The
first two cabs dismissed me with a sneer. There was an odd man smoking
a cigarette offered to take us in some sort of non-cab cab. We
stuffed all my crap in his Golf and he programmed my hotel into his
navigation system and off we went.

When we got to the hotel he evened helped me take everything up to our
hotel room. Kootenay hung out with the hotel staff, behind their
reception desk during this. So in the end I pay 35 euros for a 10
euro cab ride and was happy with the return on the "dollar".
Especially as it was about 4am by my body clock and I had only slept
fitfully on the plane.

Here we were the first leg of the journey completed.

Now we just need to go for a walk, have a nap and find food. How hard
could that be?

--
treena and kootenay
adogabroadayear.blogspot.com