Sunday, May 10th
What can I say about the emotions and adrenaline of these 2 days? Don’t know… don’t know…
Sunday morning, the alarm clock went off early, as James, the driver (of course, what other name could a Chinese driver have?) was coming to pick us up at 9:30. But then, as soon as Joel and I got up, Carlota heard us and came out of her box and then… her eyes… what had happened to her eyes??? One was more or less normal, but the other was definitely weird, kind of half opened half closed. The part that was opened, was not ok. Instead of showing her entire eye, it showed half white half black with some bits that usually are not visible… very strange! Carlota was looking at us with a “help me” kind of look! She was still happy and bouncing after one of the Appels kids, but for sure not herself. I then gave her breakfast. She ate it and 5 minutes later, vomits it all! Oh Lord, did we really need that?
After many calls to the vet (our vet was out, of course, so we were talking to a different vet), we decided to change the plans:
- I would go to the vet with Carlota by taxi
- Joel would go to the airport with James and the many pieces of our luggage
- Angela, the lady from Aeropet who was doing Carlota’s exportation, was to meet us at the vet and then take us to the airport in her car.
Funny, how life is… I spent 9 years avoiding at all costs taking Carlota on a taxi ride just because it would be a pain having to hold her not going for the driver the whole ride. Then, what does life reserve for my very last hour in HK? A taxi ride with Carlota!
I got to the clinic, (that opened 1.30 hour earlier than they usually do on Sundays) and the doctor was already there as well as Angela. He examined Carlota, who of course by then had her eyes partially better, and calmly, explained me that Carlota had an allergy and conjunctivitis. He then went on to say he was giving her an antihistamine injection and some eye drops. When he said the word “antihistamine” I panicked because Carlota was not being sedated for both flights on purpose and antihistamine does make us very sleepy. I then was doing my very best (but probably failed) to question the vet, if Carlota should really take that injection, due to her travelling status in a few hours. He very kindly and VERY patiently, explained me that sedating a dog and giving an antihistamine injection were two different things and that the injection was what Carlota was needing in that moment. So injection it was!
Angela, Carlota and I got the airport to meet Joel who had already started doing our check in. Carlota already in her box, barking her lungs off to make sure everybody knew she was cruelly locked in there. Check in took much longer than we anticipated and after paying excess luggage and sending Carlota off, Joel and I were totally, completely and absolutely exhausted, emotionally drained and ready to board and fall into our seats.
In the midst of all the confusion and barking during check in, I spotted Lufthansa’s crew that was flying us to FRAnkfurt and out of the blue had a thought and went for it.
While Joel was checking us in, I was at the other end of the aisle, checking Carlota in, when I looked up and saw the crew, grouped together waiting for something. I Left Carlota and Angela behind for a second, and walked towards them and stopped by a male crew member, who had some stripes on his sleeve and said:
Odila: good morning, I presume you are the crew heading to Frankfurt in an hour, right?
Male crew: good morning. Yes, sure, we are.
Odila: ok, so I would like to ask you something.
Male crew with a smile: go ahead.
Odila: besides my husband and I, you will also be taking a very precious cargo, our dog. Can you hear her barking?
Male crew smiling: yes, I can
Odila: so there you are, she is very precious and so I would like to tell you that we have chosen to fly Lufthansa because we heard the animal center in FRA was amazing and that we knew the Germans do it best but for all that, I have to ask you to please not shake the plane at all during the flight.
By this time, I had the entire crew listening to the conversation, which was my aim. One of them had to be the captain I thought and I wanted to be sure he knew she was on board too, just to avoid, may be who knows, him forgetting to turn on the right conditions for the animal down below, LOL!
Anyway, after my absurd request, we got into a quick and funny conversation about plane shaking and a female crew member joined in to say that I was not to worry, because everything was going to be ok and that she had been flying for over 20 years and had never heard of anything going wrong for animals flying on their wings. Good good, that is what I needed to hear. By now we were all old childhood friends, therefore, life was beautiful.
A few minutes later, Joel and I were greeted by them in the plane as old friends and that was a relaxing sensation. During the flight, that same female crew member came to tell us that the captain had sent us a message: “Carlota was the only animal on board, therefore we could choose a good temperature for her.” That was the best! Just before landing in FRA, we received a telex from their ground staff with the location where we were to meet Carlota. She was VERY happy to see us again and of course, barked all the way until we got outside and took her out. We had 1 hour for a walk, pee, clean her box, give her water and re-check her in and so it was!
When Joel and I were getting settled in our seats for the second leg, the stewardess came to let us know our dog was already on board. Amen!
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