2nd Cross Country jaunt this month proving MUCH more tedious than the first!
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2nd Cross Country jaunt this month proving MUCH more tedious than the first!
The following post is VERY long, and has nothing to do with cars of any kind, but I had to vent somewhere!
We are currently on route from Indy to CA with our two cats. We of course decided to fly this time, rather than drive like the last move we made (from Raleigh to Indy). We get tranquilizers for them to calm them down in the car/plane, because they freak out, pant, and have VERY rapid heartbeats when we don't. Well, the tranq's make them groggy, but don't knock them out. They fight the urge to sleep by meowing and moaning incessently (they are Siamese, and can have a VERY loud moan when they put their throats in to it).
We, in preparation for this trip, I upgraded us to first class for more room. My wife called yesterday to insure we had row-2 seats, as they cats have to go "underneath the seat in front of you" - bulkhead row 1 seats are not an option. Our seats were confirmed as 2A/C on the first flight, 2C/D on the second. Of course, when we check in, we have 1A/B - WTF! So they say they will tell the gate agent who will sort it out, but there was a seat in 2C she put one of us in.
At the gate there was a parallel announcement - "We are boarding first class and Premier, party of Phillips please come to the counter" - not a good sign of planning there!
They said to get on the plane and have the flight attendents figure it out - GREAT!
The flight attendents said just the same thing happened yesterday, and to take a seat and they would resolve it later.
The guy next to me (I was in 1D, he was in 1C) sneezed about 2 minutes after getting on the plane. You guessed it, he is allergic to cats! Well I ask the guy in 2D if he would switch seats with me, he quickly said "NO" and left it at that, no help whatsoever...
I tell the sneezing guy next to me that I have to move anyway, so I will be at least one more seat away, and I apologize for his symptoms. He is a nice guy, says it is not my fault, and hunkers down.
Well, a few minutes later, the flight attendant asks 2A if she would switch with me, she agrees. Then 2D guy volunteers to play along and take 2A so I can sit with my wife in 2C. The music stops, and my wife and I are seated together in 2C/D. Cats, by the way, are moaning the whole time.
A minute later, one of the gate workers (who was supposed to get our seats sorted in the first place) comes on the plane and says for safety reasons, we can't have two cats in first class. This is news to me, as the ticketing agent, seat assignment from yesterday (that apparently didn't take), and the gate agent that gave us the current seats all seemed to have no issue. Then she asks if I bought the ticket or upgraded... If it is a SAFETY problem, how does that matter? I had upgraded, and she said "Oh, well, then the flight attendent will need to make the final call, but I didn't want you to hear it from her first if you have to move"... Great! In then end, we didn't have to move, but damn, don't any of their systems talk to each other?!
About 10 mintues later (still at the gate, after getting de-iced [it was snowing in Indy]) a flight attendent tells anothee attendent that a guy in back has a Dulles ticket (we are headed to Denver), not a good mix. They scan EVERY ticket as you get on - how can they let people get on a wrong plane?!?!
So 15 minutes later they get this guy off the plan (the jetway had been moved away, and doors armed, that's why it took so long).
So now we are on our way, right?! NOT SO FAST. We do taxi away, but stop after a few mintues in an area I have not taxied to before. After another 20 minutes, the pilot comes on and announces they can't get an external communication hatch used by the ground crew closed. They need it repaired. They tried to fix it out in the taxi-way, and can't, so we go back to the gate and wait for a mechanic to show up. Oh, remember the cats? They still aren't happy... Neither is the guy in 1B, who tells the flight attendent that he can't take the noise from the cats, and wants to move to the rear. He does move (good riddence!). They were moaning, but they weren't THAT loud, and the plane was super-quiet since we are on the ground with the engines off.
Will the jetway pit-crew can't get the hatch sealed, so we get to go back to the gate. We wait longer for the mechanic to show up, have the jetway reconnected, doors opened, etc. ALL over again... You guessed it, cats still aren't happy. As a matter of fact, our male cat is gnawing on the carrier we bought, and all of a sudden there is a loud pop. I don't think anything of it, and he calms down some after that... Well, a couple minutes later he gets real loud, so I open the case to pet him and calm him down, and what do I see? He BROKE one of hist teeth off!!! He has very poor tooth health, and had the other lower fang pulled last year, but now he has a bloody mouth, and my wife and I are both a little panicked. Luckily we are at the gate, so we can use the phone. My wife calls our vet, who says there isn't much we can do, but to see a vet once we get to CA. Great, it just keeps getting better...
After about 20 minutes, the "real" mechanics use some aluminum tape to seal the hatch. Nothing like a NASCAR patch to get your commercial jet going! We are told we now need to wait for refueling. It is about 1 1/2 hours after we boarded, and I wonder about a need to de-ice again, but we finally leave the gate without it.
After taxiing for a while again, we stop, and a few planes go around us. WTF!!! Paul, if you are reading this, please, PLEASE, communicate with your passengers more than our dolt pilot did. After a LONG while he comes on and says we need new "load and balancing paperwork. It will be about 15 mintues". WTF were they doing the hour and a half at the gate?! I am sure it is due to the refueling, but hell, can't anything get done in parallel (since I work in a government regulated industry, I know the answer is no to that too...).
OK, so 2 hours AFTER we boarded the plane, we get the word that we can take off, and we do. Once the engines rev up, the cats get drowned out. They calm down some, too, and the rest of the fligt is uneventful.
Of course, now we have missed our connection... I luckily have some expired Red Carpet Lounge tickets that got us in that door. We have a vet lined up in CA to see tonight, the cats still aren't happy, but if we ignore them, they settle down some (my wife has a hard time ignoring them, but whenever she pets them, the rev up again). We now have seats in coach, not together, for our next flight. "Luckily" they are back some in the plane, so the engine noise should drown the cats out some.
WHAT A NIGHTMARE, and we are only 1/2 done...
Follow-up to come, after I get broadband access in CA, which might be a while. Might have to make a trip to Starbucks the next few days to get my AudiWorld fix!
VERY MUCH looking forward to the SoCal canyon run on Saturday, and a STIFF drink when we get to our new temporary housing tonight!
We are currently on route from Indy to CA with our two cats. We of course decided to fly this time, rather than drive like the last move we made (from Raleigh to Indy). We get tranquilizers for them to calm them down in the car/plane, because they freak out, pant, and have VERY rapid heartbeats when we don't. Well, the tranq's make them groggy, but don't knock them out. They fight the urge to sleep by meowing and moaning incessently (they are Siamese, and can have a VERY loud moan when they put their throats in to it).
We, in preparation for this trip, I upgraded us to first class for more room. My wife called yesterday to insure we had row-2 seats, as they cats have to go "underneath the seat in front of you" - bulkhead row 1 seats are not an option. Our seats were confirmed as 2A/C on the first flight, 2C/D on the second. Of course, when we check in, we have 1A/B - WTF! So they say they will tell the gate agent who will sort it out, but there was a seat in 2C she put one of us in.
At the gate there was a parallel announcement - "We are boarding first class and Premier, party of Phillips please come to the counter" - not a good sign of planning there!
They said to get on the plane and have the flight attendents figure it out - GREAT!
The flight attendents said just the same thing happened yesterday, and to take a seat and they would resolve it later.
The guy next to me (I was in 1D, he was in 1C) sneezed about 2 minutes after getting on the plane. You guessed it, he is allergic to cats! Well I ask the guy in 2D if he would switch seats with me, he quickly said "NO" and left it at that, no help whatsoever...
I tell the sneezing guy next to me that I have to move anyway, so I will be at least one more seat away, and I apologize for his symptoms. He is a nice guy, says it is not my fault, and hunkers down.
Well, a few minutes later, the flight attendant asks 2A if she would switch with me, she agrees. Then 2D guy volunteers to play along and take 2A so I can sit with my wife in 2C. The music stops, and my wife and I are seated together in 2C/D. Cats, by the way, are moaning the whole time.
A minute later, one of the gate workers (who was supposed to get our seats sorted in the first place) comes on the plane and says for safety reasons, we can't have two cats in first class. This is news to me, as the ticketing agent, seat assignment from yesterday (that apparently didn't take), and the gate agent that gave us the current seats all seemed to have no issue. Then she asks if I bought the ticket or upgraded... If it is a SAFETY problem, how does that matter? I had upgraded, and she said "Oh, well, then the flight attendent will need to make the final call, but I didn't want you to hear it from her first if you have to move"... Great! In then end, we didn't have to move, but damn, don't any of their systems talk to each other?!
About 10 mintues later (still at the gate, after getting de-iced [it was snowing in Indy]) a flight attendent tells anothee attendent that a guy in back has a Dulles ticket (we are headed to Denver), not a good mix. They scan EVERY ticket as you get on - how can they let people get on a wrong plane?!?!
So 15 minutes later they get this guy off the plan (the jetway had been moved away, and doors armed, that's why it took so long).
So now we are on our way, right?! NOT SO FAST. We do taxi away, but stop after a few mintues in an area I have not taxied to before. After another 20 minutes, the pilot comes on and announces they can't get an external communication hatch used by the ground crew closed. They need it repaired. They tried to fix it out in the taxi-way, and can't, so we go back to the gate and wait for a mechanic to show up. Oh, remember the cats? They still aren't happy... Neither is the guy in 1B, who tells the flight attendent that he can't take the noise from the cats, and wants to move to the rear. He does move (good riddence!). They were moaning, but they weren't THAT loud, and the plane was super-quiet since we are on the ground with the engines off.
Will the jetway pit-crew can't get the hatch sealed, so we get to go back to the gate. We wait longer for the mechanic to show up, have the jetway reconnected, doors opened, etc. ALL over again... You guessed it, cats still aren't happy. As a matter of fact, our male cat is gnawing on the carrier we bought, and all of a sudden there is a loud pop. I don't think anything of it, and he calms down some after that... Well, a couple minutes later he gets real loud, so I open the case to pet him and calm him down, and what do I see? He BROKE one of hist teeth off!!! He has very poor tooth health, and had the other lower fang pulled last year, but now he has a bloody mouth, and my wife and I are both a little panicked. Luckily we are at the gate, so we can use the phone. My wife calls our vet, who says there isn't much we can do, but to see a vet once we get to CA. Great, it just keeps getting better...
After about 20 minutes, the "real" mechanics use some aluminum tape to seal the hatch. Nothing like a NASCAR patch to get your commercial jet going! We are told we now need to wait for refueling. It is about 1 1/2 hours after we boarded, and I wonder about a need to de-ice again, but we finally leave the gate without it.
After taxiing for a while again, we stop, and a few planes go around us. WTF!!! Paul, if you are reading this, please, PLEASE, communicate with your passengers more than our dolt pilot did. After a LONG while he comes on and says we need new "load and balancing paperwork. It will be about 15 mintues". WTF were they doing the hour and a half at the gate?! I am sure it is due to the refueling, but hell, can't anything get done in parallel (since I work in a government regulated industry, I know the answer is no to that too...).
OK, so 2 hours AFTER we boarded the plane, we get the word that we can take off, and we do. Once the engines rev up, the cats get drowned out. They calm down some, too, and the rest of the fligt is uneventful.
Of course, now we have missed our connection... I luckily have some expired Red Carpet Lounge tickets that got us in that door. We have a vet lined up in CA to see tonight, the cats still aren't happy, but if we ignore them, they settle down some (my wife has a hard time ignoring them, but whenever she pets them, the rev up again). We now have seats in coach, not together, for our next flight. "Luckily" they are back some in the plane, so the engine noise should drown the cats out some.
WHAT A NIGHTMARE, and we are only 1/2 done...
Follow-up to come, after I get broadband access in CA, which might be a while. Might have to make a trip to Starbucks the next few days to get my AudiWorld fix!
VERY MUCH looking forward to the SoCal canyon run on Saturday, and a STIFF drink when we get to our new temporary housing tonight!
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Not much fun to travel with cats....
We've driven 180 miles with 2 cats. (not in the TT) One of them meowed, moaned, & gnawed the whole way. Never again! Another time we were transporting one of them in a cardboard carrier and he just about gnawed and clawed his way out by the time we arrived. :-) That would be a real pain on an airplane with the all-too-common delays.
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I have been owning 4 cats (3 persians, 1 siamese), none of them are noisy.
brought the persian to Singapore, he was very quite and relax without any medicine. So I guess it depends on how you raise the cat? my siamese was quite too and relax.
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OK, we have made it to the apartment. We found the tooth, and it appears to be pretty
decayed. This cat has a viral problem which leads to tooth decay. He is eating now and doesn't seem to mind the tooth loss. We went to an emergency vet, who said to just take him to a vet that can do dentistry tomorrow some time - immediate action not needed.
The second half of the trip was MUCH better, and we are all safe and sound in our new home now.
Quad ABT, every cat has a different personality. Our last cat travelled very well, these two do not. You can blame their travel problems on me all you want, without knowing me one bit, but that is WAY off base. The cats are very friendly, just don't like to travel.
The second half of the trip was MUCH better, and we are all safe and sound in our new home now.
Quad ABT, every cat has a different personality. Our last cat travelled very well, these two do not. You can blame their travel problems on me all you want, without knowing me one bit, but that is WAY off base. The cats are very friendly, just don't like to travel.
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