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I’m not going to mention current events in my country.
This is a series about traveling…
Traveling in interesting ways.
The ADHD is strong in this one:
If a thing is interesting, it is ever so much more bearable.
If I were to travel, I would like to bring my pet.
I hear some of you shouting, “Why, you insufferable loon? Don’t you have enough to deal with??” (Sorry, Mom.)
For one thing, I like her company; for another, she keeps me on schedule and is really good at “body-doubling”, or hanging around to help me focus on a task. She literally holds the yarn while I crochet, and tracks the loose bits of thread when I’m sewing. Cats are supposed to be interfering, but she’s genuinely helpful.
Also… Traveling with a pet definitely makes this more interesting.
Chapter 1: pet passport
I was going to start with the effort to find a vet to make her travel certification happen. I’m not up to that right now.
Chapter 2: Trip planning
I’ve been reading up on alllllllll the aspects of this trip for a long time. Years, really, but most recently for about 3 weeks. It takes some noodling around just to find out if it’s impossible or just kinda weird.
In case it isn’t obvious, I’m okay with weird. Impossible takes a little longer.
Aspects to understand for planning a trip like this:
– The only way to get to my target continent is by air.
– Some airlines are pet-friendly.
– Some airlines that are pet-friendly for domestic flights somehow refuse to carry animals at all on international flights.
– Some airlines that are willing to carry animals on international flights, don’t allow them in the cabin. From my experiences before, I absolutely, flatly refuse to send a cat in the hold, regardless of the airline’s reputation. Never again.
– Am I overthinking/ over-explaining? I think I am.
Point is, there are all these layers and layers of information to dig through. I had to keep on digging through possibilities, then peel back the incompatible options, until everything finally got very simple.
Cats are not supposed to be in a carrier for more than about 7.5 hours. So, all I really had to do was get her from my airport to an airport less than 8 hours away; 3 to choose from. Flights within that other continent are all within that time frame, so the crossing was all that mattered.
Still with me? Good.
Flying into one of these 3 cities puts me at the heart of the high-speed rail line, something I’ve been coveting a ride on since it was first mooted roughly half a century ago.
At the other end of that high-speed rail line is a ferry ride, a 16-hour journey over one of the most adorable seas in the world, to an island that entrances me.
The total cost of the train and ferry (even with the pet) comes out to less than half the cost of another darned multi-leg plane trip *without* the pet, eating bad food, too far up to enjoy the scenery, and breathing other peoples’ air.
In short, if I were to organize such a trip, we’d have 3 modes of transport over 40 hours, lungfuls of fresh air, and moonlight on the Mediterranean to welcome me home.
I might love it. I might hate it and never want to do any of that again. Doesn’t matter from here… because it’s interesting, it’s affordable, and I want to give it a shot.