Friday, May 10, 2013

Being Prepared


Today as I was driving Diego to the groomers I was running through my schedule in my head. We will be in Tunisia for another 5 weeks and there is so much to do. Diego will have another appointment for a haircut and a health certificate to travel to Houston on July 13th. That will be a very busy day at work and I need to make sure I am allowed to leave at 3:30 in order to get Diego to his appointment by 4.

It made me think of a time in September when Barney's "mommy" and I had to leave work a bit early in order to get health certificates for the dogs to travel. We had no travel plans, but were in a situation where there was a possibility we would evacuate. We wanted to get those certificates just in case we had to leave at the last minute.
                     
                                  Diego and Barney 
                     waiting for their health certificates

So, I had the certificate and all the other paperwork needed to go to Europe and the USA, but I didn’t know if I could actually get Diego out of Tunisia. What if I was told I couldn’t take my dog on the flight? Because of Diego’s weight (8kgs including his carrier) he only has 2 options to get out of Tunisia by air…. Alitalia or Lufthansa. My anxiety was rising.

One person told us about an experience she had when people had to evacuate via military planes and leave their animals. The next day, there were people who made sure all the animals were put on flights in the hold. Well, Diego cannot ride in the hold due to his breed. Good to know, but that info didn’t calm me down.

The other option would have been to take the car on the ferry to France or Italy. I have never done that and am not sure how far in advance you would have to book. I’m not sure I would even have time to sort that out.

Luckily, we did not have to evacuate and all is well, so I cannot offer any information about the process of evacuating (just being as prepared as one can be)!

Have you ever had to evacuate with an animal or know someone who did? Please share your experiences!


No comments:

Post a Comment