I am quite pleased with myself that I didn't have a major anxiety attack in the hustle and bustle it took to get two adults, two dogs, five suitcases, and four carry ons to India. We had an absolutely wonderful time on our trek from Texas to New Jersey and are really grateful for the chance to visit with friends and family and wished we had more time to visit those that we missed this time around. We headed out from Richmond early Monday morning. Thank goodness it was Memorial Day as this meant very minimal traffic. We actually didn't hit any the entire way there.
We had a bit of a scare on the way there. At 9:30 Eastern time (7:00 pm New Delhi time), Stewart called the airline to make sure that the dogs still had their reservations and were good to go on the flight with us. It was at this moment when they decided to tell Stewart about the "last" step. We had submitted all the required paperwork and even had documentation from the Indian government stating that the dogs were allowed to come into the country. However, the final word still had to come from the customs agent in India. We're still unclear on if it was an email, phone call, or fax. It didn't even matter that we had official documentation, we needed someone's approval. Stewart was informed that the dogs could not travel until this was received and the customs office in New Delhi would be closing in 3 hours. Cue Kari panicking...what do we do if the dogs don't make this flight? What if we never get approval? Who will come all the way to Newark Airport to get them? Stewart called back every 30-45 minutes to check on the status. We had until 12:30pm to get the acceptance. At 12:10pm, Stewart called a contact to let them know that we would most likely be changing our flight. Then at 12:12, we got a phone call saying final acceptance had been received. Talk about a close call!
We made it to Newark Airport at 1:30, plenty of time before our 8:30 flight. I don't think either of us expected it would take two hours to get all of our stuff to where the dogs needed to get checked in and return the rental car. Between the two of us, we had three luggage carts. Thankfully, it was Stewart who got to push two. It was interesting getting through the airport. We had to go down one elevator, walk across a street, and then up another elevator to get to the train platform. This meant that I would ride in the elevator with the luggage cart that had Bella, send the elevator back up to Stewart who would put the suitcases cart on and send it down, grab the cart off the elevator, send back, and then Stewart would come with the luggage cart with Scout. The train was another fun obstacle. The cars were very small and we had to split up into two different ones which meant waiting until an emptyish train came along for us to get on. I had a slight moment of panic when we got to our terminal and I couldn't get the cart off! Bella's kennel had snagged the doorway. There was a girl in the car with us, and I was very thankful she helped us get off. I looked over to see that Scout's had done the same thing too. Stewart was able to free it by himself. We got to do the elevator game again only to find out that we needed to take another elevator up a level. This is when I learned just how rude people are in the airport. We managed to get Stewart on with two carts thinking I would get on the next elevator seeing as how it was just a line of people waiting for the elevator. Nope, apparently since I didn't fit, I had to go to the back of the line and wait for my turn to come up again. When we got to the petsafe drop off, Stewart trekked out to our rental car so he could return it. He got back and we headed in to check in the dogs. The Newark Airport has a little pet area nearby so we were able to walk the dogs one final time. I'm very glad we did. The people at the counter were super friendly and helpful too. I had a slight breakdown when it was time for us to head to our check in because Bella started crying and pawing at the kennel door when Stewart stepped out to make a phone call.
Our check in went incredibly smooth. We had a super friendly airline representative help us check in and give us turn by turn directions to our gate. The line at security was incredibly short so we sailed through that too. We did find out that our flight was delayed two hours (there was a medical emergency that caused them to be diverted to Cleveland). We hung out and made last minute phone calls to family. Boarding the airplane was another story. Directions didn't seem to mean anything. People were trying to board when it wasn't their group and the people at the gate kept making announcements about what everyone was supposed to be doing. Stewart and I were able to get on quickly and settle into our seats. The flight was really smooth. We were able to get a couple of hours of sleep after they served us dinner. We watched the movie In Time together and then I watched The Vow. After that we still had 1.5 hours before we landed.
To be continued .....
We had a bit of a scare on the way there. At 9:30 Eastern time (7:00 pm New Delhi time), Stewart called the airline to make sure that the dogs still had their reservations and were good to go on the flight with us. It was at this moment when they decided to tell Stewart about the "last" step. We had submitted all the required paperwork and even had documentation from the Indian government stating that the dogs were allowed to come into the country. However, the final word still had to come from the customs agent in India. We're still unclear on if it was an email, phone call, or fax. It didn't even matter that we had official documentation, we needed someone's approval. Stewart was informed that the dogs could not travel until this was received and the customs office in New Delhi would be closing in 3 hours. Cue Kari panicking...what do we do if the dogs don't make this flight? What if we never get approval? Who will come all the way to Newark Airport to get them? Stewart called back every 30-45 minutes to check on the status. We had until 12:30pm to get the acceptance. At 12:10pm, Stewart called a contact to let them know that we would most likely be changing our flight. Then at 12:12, we got a phone call saying final acceptance had been received. Talk about a close call!
We made it to Newark Airport at 1:30, plenty of time before our 8:30 flight. I don't think either of us expected it would take two hours to get all of our stuff to where the dogs needed to get checked in and return the rental car. Between the two of us, we had three luggage carts. Thankfully, it was Stewart who got to push two. It was interesting getting through the airport. We had to go down one elevator, walk across a street, and then up another elevator to get to the train platform. This meant that I would ride in the elevator with the luggage cart that had Bella, send the elevator back up to Stewart who would put the suitcases cart on and send it down, grab the cart off the elevator, send back, and then Stewart would come with the luggage cart with Scout. The train was another fun obstacle. The cars were very small and we had to split up into two different ones which meant waiting until an emptyish train came along for us to get on. I had a slight moment of panic when we got to our terminal and I couldn't get the cart off! Bella's kennel had snagged the doorway. There was a girl in the car with us, and I was very thankful she helped us get off. I looked over to see that Scout's had done the same thing too. Stewart was able to free it by himself. We got to do the elevator game again only to find out that we needed to take another elevator up a level. This is when I learned just how rude people are in the airport. We managed to get Stewart on with two carts thinking I would get on the next elevator seeing as how it was just a line of people waiting for the elevator. Nope, apparently since I didn't fit, I had to go to the back of the line and wait for my turn to come up again. When we got to the petsafe drop off, Stewart trekked out to our rental car so he could return it. He got back and we headed in to check in the dogs. The Newark Airport has a little pet area nearby so we were able to walk the dogs one final time. I'm very glad we did. The people at the counter were super friendly and helpful too. I had a slight breakdown when it was time for us to head to our check in because Bella started crying and pawing at the kennel door when Stewart stepped out to make a phone call.
Our check in went incredibly smooth. We had a super friendly airline representative help us check in and give us turn by turn directions to our gate. The line at security was incredibly short so we sailed through that too. We did find out that our flight was delayed two hours (there was a medical emergency that caused them to be diverted to Cleveland). We hung out and made last minute phone calls to family. Boarding the airplane was another story. Directions didn't seem to mean anything. People were trying to board when it wasn't their group and the people at the gate kept making announcements about what everyone was supposed to be doing. Stewart and I were able to get on quickly and settle into our seats. The flight was really smooth. We were able to get a couple of hours of sleep after they served us dinner. We watched the movie In Time together and then I watched The Vow. After that we still had 1.5 hours before we landed.
To be continued .....
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