European adventure – We made it!
The Kayler-Popper Crew has just arrived in France to start their European adventure and will be guest blogging during their trip.
How do you get two large dogs across the Atlantic?
The number one question we were asked when telling friends and family in the US that we were planning a 2-year journey in France was: "What are you going to do with your dogs?" It was a fair question, but to us the answer was a no-brainer — they were coming with us!
We were under no illusion that bringing our dogs to France would be easy on them; they are "pandemic puppies" who have spent the majority of their time in our presence, and we knew we'd have to fly them over in the hold of the plane. In an effort to make it a bit easier we planned a cross-country road trip from CA to NYC so that they could have a shorter flight over to Paris.
When departing from JFK in NYC, I was pleasantly surprised by the reception we had. Before attempting to check in, while we were putting together Lefty and Midnight's crates, we were approached by two Air France employees gushing over our doggies and asking to take a pic with them. They then went above and beyond to make our check-in process smooth and ease our anxiety about the dogs.
I wish I could say the dogs had an easy-peasy trip. But once seated on the flight, we could hear our Lefty Lou barking anxiously below. Over the course of the flight he seemed to calm down, but I'm sure he was quite stressed out. (As an aside, I love Air France — they are so kind, polite and serve you wine with dinner!)
Upon landing, we made our way through customs anxiously expecting to see our dogs awaiting us in baggage claim. They were not there when we arrived, and the delivery of the dogs on the CDG side was frankly HARSH! All of a sudden I saw a crate slide down the ramp with nothing to stop it but the metal bar at the end. I ran to cushion the stop and immediately had to catch the second crate before it ran into the first! A kind stranger helped me turn the crates, tear the zip ties off, and set our confused, disoriented pups free!
Our reunion was not quite what I imagined. Were they happy? Yes! But also very nervous, skittish and confused. And shortly after getting them out of the crate, Lefty could hold it in no longer, and pooped right there in baggage claim! It was clear that the trip was traumatising and they didn't want to be far from our sides for the first few days.
But I am happy to say that after only 2 weeks, they seem to have fully rebounded and are adjusting quite well to their new home on wheels!