I packed a box!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

I managed to pack a box today. One whole box! And I sold my cat tower. For more than what was paid for it, so that goes in to the travel fund. Everything I sell on Facebook will go into the travel fund, to be converted to Euros. Exciting when I think about it like that.

So let’s talk about transporting Shiva, since that’s the major hiccup so far. After talking to American and the rep telling me that I have to call Finnair, I decided to pursue whether or not I could rebook my flights to keep me in the US and/or flying AA planes. Unfortunately, even though she checked flights from September 7 to September 30, there was nothing available in First Class Award travel for those dates. So, back on the phone to Finnair to see if I might get a different answer than what I got yesterday. I spent an hour on hold listening to Finnair music before the call was answered.

The short answer is that she cannot fly in the cabin of the airplane. No way, no how. Don’t allow it. If you have a service dog of any sort and you want to fly — book a different route/different airline. Or put your pooch in the cargo hold.

So at this point, I figure I am going to have to bite the bullet and ship her through cargo. I hate the thought of it, but hundreds, if not thousands, of pets go cargo safely. It’s just those few that don’t that we hear about. I just don’t want her to be that rare statistic. But I ask anyway. Up to 50kg, and that weight has to include the carrier, the cost is $400. That’s just the Finnair portion. Goodness knows what the USAirways portion will be. And they don’t rent the crates, I need to buy one. Those are around $70 on Amazon, so not too outrageous.

I’ve also emailed a couple of companies that specialize in transporting pets, to get a quote for their services. Probably three times as expensive, but at least I will have something to compare everything else to. Why does this have to be so complicated?? *whine*

Now on to some triumph. I managed to pack one box to go to North Carolina. It’s a mix-up of stuff, but I’ll deal with it when I get to NC. Mostly stuff to go to Finland (assuming I can fit it in one suitcase, which I can’t, but a gal can dream…), so I even marked the box “NC-FIN” so I would know.

I am so organized.

I find that I want to organize/pack useless things. Like pantry food. Or bathroom supplies. I need to really get after the big stuff, but I let myself get distracted by things like the kitchen junk drawer. The dishes. WTF? Of course, any little thing I do is something I don’t have to do later, but I still realize that it is terribly inefficient. Ellen is coming over tomorrow, and maybe she can set me straight. I think my plan for tomorrow is to take pictures of the things I need to sell on Facebook. The more stuff I sell, the less I have to move around. Yes, that sounds like such a great idea.

Anyway, time to go to sleep soon. I need to quit going to bed at 6pm because then I wake up at 3am…and not pack. And stress about not packing. And play Farm Heroes while trying to convince myself to pack. Grrrr, such a vicious cycle.

/collapses.

P.S. I told a friend that I was writing a blog in diary-style and he made a comment that made me reply that it would be like “Today I saw Henry Jenkins. He’s sooooo cute. Someday I am going to marry him. Mrs. Henry Jenkins. Swoon.” He told me that has to go in my blog. So here it is.