Friday, March 6, 2015

Coming home, Part 1 :)

Yesterday was an epic marathon.  I woke up at 3 am , Diana, Ash & I left at 4 am for the airport as my plane was leaving at 6am.

4:45 am at the airport, I do not look my best lol
Diana saying goodbye to Ash
The check in at the airport was stressful, Ash was whining so I was worried about him making it for 10 more hours!  As I am checking in the cranky old man behind the desk says , he can't do that on the plane you know, referring to Ash's whining, such a jerk, would he also tell a mother to shut her baby up as it couldn't cry on the plane?
I was a mess, I couldn't find where I had put my passport, I didn't have my tickets as for some reason Diana's computer wouldn't print them, so the check in took forever.   When I got upstairs to go through security, I was at a loss again as I had never brought a dog on a plane before.  I had to be told to take him out and put his travel kennel through the scanner, I didn't know the carrier needed to be checked, people in the line up were pissed, it is true that Canadians are polite compared to the Americans.  I have alot of American friends out there but I speak the truth, come through Canadian customs and see for yourself the difference in not only the people, but the employees. HUGE difference!!!
I walked through and I set off the alarm, turns out I had forgotten my cell phone in my back pocket.  That bought me a trip off to the side where I had my hands rubbed with some white paper, I asked what he was doing and he said checking for explosives!  I said the only explosives I was going to have was my puppy having diarrhea, at least he smiled .  So I got through all that & then I went into the woman's washroom to see if Ash had to pee, I put puppy pee pads down but he wouldn't go so I put him back in his kennel.  A nice couple gave me their bottle of water so I could give him a drink, they were probably Canadian lol  Ash was still whining so I took him out and held him a bit in my arms, he liked that.

The flight was no problem, Ash was quiet and I was very happy, I sat beside a weird girl though, but that an other story

When I arrived in Phoenix I did the same thing, sat in the washroom with Ash for a bit, he enjoyed the cool floor and fell asleep.  When he woke up I put him back in his carrier and headed to the other side of the building to exchange my American money back to Canadian, when I say other side of the building I really mean it, even with those walk things it still took me a good 20 minutes to get there, now remember I was also carrying Ash and another bag, so an extra 15 pound at least.

Headed back, about 10 minutes later I realized I had dropped my jacket, so back I went to get it , ugh, by now I was so hot and sweating, after getting back to my gate I went back to the restroom to try and get Ash to pee again, nope, he wasn't going.  Then it was time to board, this time I was by the window so I had a bit more room, Ash whined a bit but was quiet for the entire 3.5 hr flight to Calgary, so happy with that!!

I was happy to be back in Canada , it was another long trek carrying Ash to get to Customs, first you go and give them your customs card that they gave me on the plane to fill out, from there they sent me to another place to show my passport , that was a huge long line , the entire passengers on my flight were there.   After I got through that line I had to go to another line, no lie.  There is where I claimed Ash, showing my health certificate etc.  Then finally I was free to go get my luggage and leave!! I collected my van, found a spot off the road for Ash to pee on and we were off!  Ash was amazing! He wasn't car sick at all and just a bit of whimpering, I stopped a couple of times and let him out, he peed right away, such a good boy!

I had to get Kort from Amanda's and Lync from Judy's before getting home, so it was a very very long day

I am positive this will be my last dog from the States, unless someone brings him for me,  it's worth it now, but I don't ever want to do it myself again .

Will post about Ash tomorrow :)


3 comments:

Unknown said...

Sorry you had so much trouble ... that would be way to stressful for me to handle alone. But you did it and made it home with him and now the fun really begins. Can't wait to see more pictures!!!

Unknown said...

yes us americans are rude, im always surprised when someone is rude to me just for the hell of it! im from the midwest, we were taught to have manners. sorry it was stressful, so glad u and little man are home, cant wait to see picks, bet lync missed u alot!

Dianne SS said...

You always have such interesting occurrences and people to encounter!! Yes, Canadians are so much more polite and tolerant--except when they are driving, hahaha! I had been thinking, in fact, that it was too bad you weren't going to be on the West Jet flight from Phoenix, because if Ash was whining, I bet they would have helped you. Anyway, you made it!!! As you know I've come to the same conclusion--I'll never get a dog from the States again--it's so stressful and worrisome, no matter how you do it. I'll never forget January 23, 2013. Ray was held up at the border because they couldn't figure out what documents Lanny needed and whether he should have had a rabies shot--umm no, he's 10 weeks old. Meanwhile I started to panic sitting waiting in Winnipeg's airport. Then getting into Edmonton with the tail end of a blizzard going on, and Lanny's crate not coming out on the conveyor belt for what seemed like an eternity, while everyone else had their luggage and were long gone. Ugh!!