a birthday party, a headache, and taking the slow road

This past Wednesday was my mom's birthday. She planned to celebrate at her boyfriend's house in Live Oak, FL this past Friday, so I decided to drive up and join in. I brought Mochi with me, and left poor Charlie at home. (Apparently Charlie spent the entire 24 hours that we were gone loudly voicing her displeasure at being left behind. I need to harness-train her and start bringing her along on these adventures!)

Mochi and I in Live Oak
F gives mom a birthday cake

He also got her a metal detector, which is something she has wanted for ages.
Here she discovers a rusty nail.
Mochi, who always relishes being able to race around off the leash had a great time, and totally wore himself out.
Unfortunately, I had started getting a headache on the way up, and had somehow neglected to pack any excedrin. Unfortunately, it developed into one of the worst headaches I've had in a while. F had baby aspirin and Tylenol PM, and that was it. I took three baby aspirin, but they did nothing. I eventually gave in and took two Tylenol PM, which totally knocked me out. Yeah, I drove three hours and ended up being pretty lame company. C'est la vie.
The drive from Orlando to Live Oak took three hours. It also cost me about $10 in tolls to get out of O-town. There's also the fact that driving on the interstate is boring. I've been up and down that stretch of I-75 so many times in my life that there isn't anything remotely new to be seen. And hell, even if it were my first time driving that route, there wouldn't be much of interest to be found. I had just finished John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley the day before I left on this short road trip, and I kept thinking of his comment, "When we get these thruways across the whole country, as we will and must, it will be possible to drive from New York to California without seeing a single thing." So very true. 
For the trip back, I decided to set my GPS to avoid not only toll roads, but also interstates. The estimated travel time was four hours (as opposed to three) but after I stopped for breakfast (I had a biscuit, Mochi got a Hardee's sausage), various scenic spots, and a state park, the trip ended up taking six hours. And yet it was MUCH more enjoyable than the drive up. From here on out, unless I have a very limited amount of time, I'm avoiding the interstates.
Old gas station on County Road 49 between Live Oak and Fort White
Fantastic old overgrown sign, somewhere between High Springs and Archer
Just north of Leesburg, I spotted signs for the Lake Griffin State Park, and decided to pop in. Unfortunately, the park was a tad disappointing. It was a nice park, for what it had, but it was very small. Also, unless you had brought or rented a boat, there was no access to Lake Griffin itself. (There was a stagnant body of water, accurately named the Dead River which could connect boaters to the lake; those of us on foot were out of luck.) There was a very short nature trail, which could hardly be termed a 'hiking' trail, that brought us to the Mammoth Oak - allegedly the fifth largest living oak tree in the state of Florida.
Mammoth Oak
This brought me to another Steinbeck moment. There's a section in Travels with Charley in which Steinbeck introduces his dog (Charley) to a California redwood. Steinbeck expects that the tree is totally going to blow Charley's mind. After all, Charley has been peeing on trees all across North America at this point, and the redwood will most certainly dwarf anything in his canine experience. Charley, to Steinbeck's surprise, was not at all interested in the redwood. Likewise, Mochi was not at all interested in the Mammoth Oak. Encouragements of "C'mon, buddy, pee on the tree!" yielded nothing.
With Mochi, in front of the Mammoth Oak
Pretty flowers of some sort
We walked around the campground, where we spotted this lovely Charlie-type kitty, who most unfortunately wanted nothing at all to do with us. She skeedaddled into the brush the instant after I shot this.
Having exhausted the few options offered by the Lake Griffin State Park, and feeling a tad cheated by the lack of lake, Mochi and I got back on the road. Just a few minutes south of the State Park, we stumbled upon a public boat ramp, with a nice view of the lake. And no entrance fee. Sigh.
Lake Griffin
Lake Griffin
By this point, little shortlegs here was getting pretty tired, so I made this our last stop of the day.

A quick trip to Florida

Mochi I spent Monday through Friday this past week down in Florida. Viktor (the ginormous pit bull) stayed at my mom’s house, and mom popped over to my house regularly to feed Charlie.

The first part of my trip was to Orlando (the reason I was in need of a pet friendly Orlando hotel room). No, I wasn’t there to go to any of the amusement parks (yuck!) – instead, my trip was pure business. My first goal was to meet with my advisor (for grad school, starting in August), to discuss my program of study, my assistantship, what I’m looking to get out of the program, and what will be expected of me. That part of the trip went without a hitch.

The second part of my trip was really frustrating. My goal was to find an apartment that I could start renting some time this summer, so that I could be all settled in by the time classes began. I wanted to make sure well in advance that I’d secured a place to live – and while I was successful, it was a very frustrating process. Trust me, you don’t want to hear the details. The last time I rented an apartment in the US was back in 2004, and it was MUCH simpler. However, despite all the frustration, I did manage to secure a fairly large one bedroom apartment, which I will be able to take possession of in early June.

This is the floorplan of my new apartment.
My entire Seoul apartment could fit in the living room of this place.

While in Orlando, I did do a little exploring (mainly for the purposes of walking Mochi), who quite enjoyed walking around lakes and looking at wild birds, although he always seemed quite disappointed when they didn’t want to play with him.

Taking Mochi for a walk.

Mallards

Immature Ibis

After two nights in Orlando, I headed over to Tampa to visit my father and his family. It was a pretty relaxing time, and we didn’t do much but visit… although poor Mochi had to stay out on the porch, which made him very unhappy. He even stopped eating :-( We did, however, go on some nice walks while in Tampa, discovering more birds and some beautiful flowers.

Mochi in his room on the porch.

Red passionflower?? I thought they only came in purple.

There are a bunch of ducklings at the lake near my dad's house.
My dad rescued an injured duckling last year... and as a result, he now has a pet duck.

Poor Charlie, meanwhile, was very stressed out to have been left behind. Granted, she would have absolutely HATED the trip, but she was apparently quite unhappy to be home alone. Mom said that whenever she arrived to feed her, Charlie would run to the door meowing when she arrived, only to run and hide in a panic as soon as she realized that it wasn’t me at the door.

Viktor, in contrast, had a pretty good time. I had taken him over to mom’s before I left. The idea was that he would stay in the 10x10 dog pen at her place while I was gone. Now, mom has eight other dogs, two of which are pit bulls (like Viktor). We had worried about what might happen, were we to let Viktor out in the yard with the others, and initially, mom hadn’t planned to do so…. But, she felt bad, seeing him cooped up in the pen, and let him out – and he got along great with everyone. Except Brin, but he's a house dog. It seems that Viktor will be staying at mom’s and enjoying the backyard doggy paradise.

Mochi, too, is thrilled to be home – and he and Charlie were incredibly excited to see one another. And last night I slept tightly sandwiched in between a loudly purring Charlie and a contentedly sound asleep Mochi :-)

Traveling with pets? Hotels.com FYI

I'm spending the week in Central Florida - two nights in Orlando (in a hotel) and two nights in Tampa (at my dad's). Viktor (the girnormous pit bull) is in the dog pen at my mom's house. My mom will be popping over to my house periodically to refill Charlie's food and water... and Mochi has come with me.

Before I left, I searched online for pet-friendly hotels. I was pleased to discover that Hotels.com offered a 'pet friendly hotel' search function and booking service, and was able (or so I thought) to book what I was assured was a pet friendly room at a hotel in the area of Orlando where I needed to be. Unfortunately, I got here and discovered that while they had a reservation for me, it was NOT for a pet friendly room. The desk clerk said that this has happened quite a few times with Hotels.com specifically, and recommended booking directly through the hotel, not via Hotels.com to ensure that I had indeed booked a pet friendly room. Luckily, the hotel did have one pet friendly room available (although it was a size larger, and I had to pay the difference). I also had to pay an extra $25/day pet fee that was not mentioned on Hotels.com.

There's apparently some sort of convention in the area, and apparently all the hotels in north Orlando are slammed right now, so I was lucky to get a pet friendly room in the area. I have learned my lesson. While it's great that Hotels.com enables vacationers to see which hotels offer pet friendly rooms, I'd advise against booking via their service. You might find a cheaper rate on their website, but you'll be likely to arrive at your vacation destination to discover that there's no place for your pet.

Days Inn offers pet friendly rooms with tile floors and clean but pet-worn furniture.

The Journey Home

I am still jet-lagged, tired, and ridiculously sore from carting the critters and all my crap across a couple of continents, but I figured I should post to update those of you who aren't my facebook friends.

Two of my former co-workers, HM and JY, went with me to the airport. It makes carting all your critters and crap around much easier when you have two dudes who are more than willing to do it for you. If only they'd been around for my layover, when I had to maneuver it all through Customs and Immigration under my own steam. Ahh well. Anyhow, the check-in procedure went really smoothly. There were no problems with the reservations for the critters (despite the booking nightmare), although I was very disturbed to learn that the free checked luggage limit is now one bag instead of two. As such, I had to pay not only for Charlie and Mochi to travel ($200 each), but I had to pay $75 for my second suitcase. Oh well.

JY, holding Charlie in her bag, and me - Incheon International Airport
Mochi getting checked in.
Me and Mochi at check-in

Mochi was really, really terrified when we got to the airport - he was shaking like a leaf and looked completely miserable. Charlie, in contrast, was just pissed off. Mochi calmed down when HM bought him some beef and squid jerky, but I was really concerned about how he would react once he was loaded onto the plane. Charlie got to travel in the cabin with me, but Mochi was below with the baggage. I worried about him the entire flight. He came through unscathed though, and was totally thrilled to see me on the other side.

Charlie bit me going through security in Seoul. If you're carrying a pet in the cabin with you, you have to take it out of its travel bag, and carry it through the metal detector while its bag runs through the x-ray machine. Charlie was both pissed off and scared, and they took FOREVER to scan her bag. Finally, when they pushed it out, and it came thump-thump-thumping down the rollers, she panicked and went into full-feral-fight-and-flight mode. I held on for dear life, even when she sunk her teeth into my thumb. Then, after shoving her back into her bag, I calmly stuffed my thumb into my pocket and pretended it wasn't bleeding. Wasn't so sure they'd allow a bitey beast onto the plane. Other than that, Charlie was good. She didn't pee in her bag until just one hour out from our final destination. (I was really worried that there might be a cat-pee incident midway across the Pacific, but no.)

I totally lucked out on the airplane. Not only did I get a window seat, but the seat next to me was empty. I was able to curl up and go to sleep for a few hours, and I could stretch out when I was awake. I haven't had that much room on an international flight since 2000. It was fantastic.

We're home now, and I'm trying to kick my ass into overcoming jet-lag, although flying from Korea to the US is always rough.

Charlie and Mochi on their new bed :-)

Pet Travel Papers!

There's something absolutely wonderful about lying in bed, sandwiched between a cat on one side and a dog on the other, listening to the rain pound against the window, and knowing that you don't have to get up and go to work... that is, it was wonderful until I became fully conscious enough to realize that the weather was utter shite on the day I needed to make two different trips to Itaewon with my critters to finalize their travel paperwork. Yuck. 

By around 11:30, the rain had stopped (although it never cleared; the entire day was cold, dreary, and blanketed in thick fog), so I shoved Charlie into her bag and hopped the subway for Itaewon to go to the Chungwha Animal Hospital. Even though there are plenty of vets in the Hongdae area where I live, including one right around the corner from my apartment, Chungwha had been highly recommended to me as a place where the vets and staff spoke English, and where they were experienced with the paperwork needed for overseas travel with pets. I'd been there once before, right after I got Mochi (and it's where I bought his crate), and I was definitely impressed. I'd also read the sign about how they were closed for lunch from 12-1. Which I forgot. Yep, Charlie and I walked in right as they all went on their lunch break. I figure it's good practice for Saturday, when she's going to have to be in her bag for a good 24 hours. Or at least that's what I told her (and myself) at the time. Once their lunch break ended, I was able to get Charlie's health check, health certificate, and rabies certificate quickly and painlessly before heading back home.

Chungwha Animal Hospital lobby

Charlie, waiting to see the vet.

Then came the more challenging part. In theory you're not supposed to take animals on the subway, but I've seen plenty of people with tiny dogs and the occasional cat-in-a-bag on there. As long as you can pop it into a bag and pretend you don't have an animal, there doesn't seem to be any problem. Mochi, while not a big dog by any stretch of the imagination, is too large to pop into a bag. I'd also discovered on my previous trip to Chunghwa with Mochi that a lot of taxi drivers will speed off the instant they noticed I had a dog with me. Obviously I was going to have to take a taxi to Itaewon... so...

I wrapped Mochi in a hooded sweater, with the hood over his head, and held him on my hip with his little paws around my neck. I should have gotten someone to take a picture, because it totally looked like I was carrying a toddler, bundled up against the weather (the people at the vet clinic agreed). I got a taxi both there and back with no problems, although both drivers seemed quite surprised about halfway to the destination when they discovered that my child had four legs and was covered with fur. 

Mochi - who had been so shy and terrified on his first trip to the vet was wagging his tail and playing with everyone. It's so wonderful to see how much his personality has developed, now that he's become confident.  And speaking of his development - it's a good thing that he has learned to love going for walks. On the taxi ride back, I made it just past Sangsu (one subway stop from Hongdae), when I knew I needed to get out ASAP or I was going to be violently ill. Stupid car sickness. Could have been avoided if I had sat in the front, but that would have given the whole dog-in-a-sweater trick away right at the get go. Anyway, Mochi and I had a nice long walk through Hongdae proper to get home. Tuesday afternoons aren't the busiest time for Hongdae by far, but there were still plenty of people for Mochi to show off for. He totally struts.

Mochi at the vet, where he got his health check, health certificate, and rabies certificate.

Traveling From Korea With Pets: Booking Update

If you've read my depiction of my horrific experience booking Charlie and Mochi on my flight home, you're aware that the last Delta representative I spoke with told me that there was no way that Delta could provide me with written/emailed confirmation that my animals were booked for the flight. I just had to take his word for it. This morning, I logged into my account on delta.com... and whaddyaknow:

Thank goodness they're both listed for both legs of the trip... but seriously "There is no way for us to give you written confirmation"? It's on delta.com! Sheesh. 

Traveling From Korea With Pets: My Logistical Booking Nightmare

As you know, Charlie, Mochi, and I will be leaving Korea for the US on March 10th. This isn't my first time flying internationally with an animal - this isn't even my first time flying from Korea with an animal. However, while previous trips were arranged with minimum difficulty, this was a horrific logistical nightmare that had me reduced to tears several times, and that makes me  unwilling to fly Delta ever again. (However as both Aeroflot and Korean Air are partners with Delta, it seems pretty unlikely that I'll be able to boycott them, considering that Korea and the former Soviet Union are my most common destinations!)

The madness started about a month ago. This was before Mochi came into my life. I called Delta (foolishly thinking it would be easier to avoid the language barrier and to speak to the carrier that would be covering the second leg of my trip), and reserved a flight for me and Charlie. The woman I spoke with was very friendly and promised me that everything was taken care of, and that Charlie and I were booked to travel on 3/10, and that Charlie was approved to travel in the cabin with me. (I gave this woman all the information on Charlie's species, breed, carrier size, and weight.)

On 1/19, when I decided that Mochi was coming home with us, I called Delta. Again, I spoke with a Delta representative who was very friendly, and who promised me that everything was taken care of, and that Charlie, Mochi, and I were booked to travel on 3/10. In addition to Charlie in the cabin, Mochi would be in the cargo hold. (I gave this woman all the information on Mochi's species, breed, carrier size, and weight.) She then told me that she was unable to tell me how much it would cost to travel with Mochi, and that I should call Korean Air to confirm this.

I called Korean Air. The KA rep was very polite, but I was told that KA had no record of a request to travel with Charlie, and that they were missing about half of the information needed to book Mochi.

I called Delta. Yet another polite representative, but one who kept having to put me on hold while she verified various things. She was probably new. Her conclusion was that everything had been submitted to Korean Air, and that perhaps the KA representative had made a mistake because "this is very confusing."

I called Korean Air. Another KA rep told me exactly what the previous one had told me. I asked what specific information was needed from Delta. Some of the information I was able to provide to KA (Mochi's species, breed, carrier size, weight), but the main things that KA required were A) the fact that I was traveling with Charlie (because it was ticketed through Delta, I was told that Delta had to be the one to add the cat... even though I had been told the cat was booked when I bought my ticket at the beginning of January!) and B) confirmation from Delta that the animals were booked for the second leg of my trip. I was told that they couldn't finalize the confirmation until they received that information, and that the animals couldn't get on the first plane unless KA had confirmation that they were booked for the second one.

At this point, I was starting to get upset, although I was mostly angry-upset, not crying-upset. Also, this had taken about two and a half hours by this point. I had naively thought that I could add Mochi to my ticket before dinner, so I was doing it all on an empty stomach.

I called Delta. This time, I got a Really Bitchy Woman. For starters, she kept cutting me off while I was trying to explain the situation. Finally, she snaps, "Look, we've submitted two dogs in checked baggage twice. Korean Air has this information." OMFG. Two dogs? Both in cargo? WTF? When I (without profanity, amazingly) responded, "No! One cat in the cabin, one dog in cargo!" She said, 'Please hold,' and left me on hold for about 15 minutes.

When she returned, she was just as bitchy, although she then stated that they had the record for the dog and the cat, and that Korean Air did, too. At this point, I brought up topic 2 - Korean Air needed confirmation that the animals were booked on the second (Delta operated) leg of the flight. The Delta agent got even bitchier. She literally said, "That is none of their business! That flight is operated by Delta, and Korean Air does not need to have any information regarding it." I patiently explained several times that Korean Air would not let my animals on the plane unless they had approval from their SkyTeam Partner, Delta, that the animals were confirmed for the second leg of the trip. Each time I said this, the woman grew bitchier.

Finally she said, "I think you need to call the Consulate to determine what the problem is. Let me give you their number." At this point, I lost it. Any American who has traveled extensively knows that the Consulate can do very little of anything to help you when you're overseas. If you need documents, or you need to register a birth, death, or marriage - they're great. If you need anything else - that's not their problem. This woman was seriously telling me to call the Consulate????

I said (or tried to say, I started crying hysterically in the middle of what would have otherwise been a fairly scathing utterance), "I will go to a Korean Air office here in Seoul tomorrow morning. If they do not have the necessary information to allow me and my animals to fly, I will have no choice but to cancel this ticket and fly with a different carrier."

I don't know if it was my hysterical sobbing or the threat to fly another carrier, but at this point, the woman turned from Really Bitchy Woman into Super Sugary Sweet Nice & Helpful Woman. (Note to Delta: your representatives should be friendly and helpful even when your customers aren't crying hysterically and threatening to take their business elsewhere.) The suddenly nice representative uttered a bunch of pointless soothing things then said, 'Let me call Korean Air right now and find out what's going on.' Wow, what a brilliant idea. That would have been a far better thing to say compared to 'it's none of Korean Air's business' and 'you should call the Consulate.' Sheesh.

Again, I was on hold for about 15 minutes. When the rep came back online she told me that she had just spoken with a Korean Air rep, and that everything was confirmed, the animals were booked on both Delta and Korean Air. I asked if there was any way we could have a three-way conversation so I could hear confirmation from KA, but was told no, I'd just have to take her word for it.

Arrrrrrgh.

And the sad thing is, this doesn't conclude the story.

The days after this incident were the Seolnal Lunar New Year holiday. I figured I would delay contacting Korean Air again until after the holidays were over. And besides, I was stressed out to the point that I was literally sick. It was horrible.

Luckily, Sofia (the woman who arranged for me to get Mochi in the first place) introduced me to Maya Shin from www.petairline.co.kr - Maya (who can be reached at maya@petairline.co.kr if you need her) was absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, Maya had to deal with the exact same nonsense I had to deal with. Korean Air told her they didn't have all of the info they needed from Delta (including species, breed, carrier size, etc), and that they needed confirmation for the second leg of the trip. Thank the gods for Maya, because I really couldn't have dealt with it.

In the middle of the week and a half that Maya spent working on this, my mother called Delta - they told her that everything was confirmed on their end and on the Korean Air end, nothing to worry about. The next day, Korean Air told Maya they still hadn't received all of the information from Delta. Yeah.

Finally, as of today, both Korean Air and Delta have told both Maya and me that everything is confirmed. Whew. Unfortunately, they are unable (?!) to email confirmation of the animals' booking, so I don't have it in writing. I'm going to be stressing about this until we're all on board the plane.

If you are planning to travel from Korea with your pets, here's my advice:

1. Do NOT book with Delta.

2. Try very hard to only fly one carrier. It seems that 'partner airlines' don't exactly communicate very well. If I'd known what a nightmare this was going to be, I would have booked the first leg through Korean Air, then rented a car and driven home from there. It would have been simpler and far less stressful.

3. If you need ANY assistance, contact Maya from petairline.co.kr, because she is WONDERFUL.

http://www.petairline.co.kr/