The last week or so that I spent in the U.S. was super hectic, frustrating and confusing. At first Bobbi and I were counting on me leaving Saturday September 14, so we had all of our vet stuff taken care of and signed by the vet, then approved by the USDA Veterinary Services, or so we thought. Bobbi had to get a pet import license from the Ministry of Environment and Water here in the UAE to bring the dogs over. They claim it is a seven minute process, you give them your application and fee, they check everything, print out your license and you go on your way. That may be true if you go to the office and do it, but the office is only open during school hours, so Bobbi couldn't go in person, but they said you can do it on their website. She thought if it's a 7 minute process in person it might take a day or two turn-around time online, but that we would still have plenty of time.
A week later when it still wasn't processed she began to frantically call the vets that deal with this and it took her days to get in touch with anyone. The person who answered was very helpful, though, and told her that the reason it was not processed yet was because they were waiting on a certificate of vaccination that had everything on it, where we had only provided the rabies certificate. So she called me and I dug through the piles of paperwork I had for the dogs and found two sheets that we thought might work, I scanned them and e-mailed them to her, and she e-mailed them to the vet, a Dr. Jeffrey if you can believe that! The next day she called Dr. Jeffrey back and he said that he processed her license, but that there was an IT issue that was keeping it from uploading. He said that that wouldn't be a problem, so she could go ahead and book the travel for the dogs. He also told her that she needs to make sure to provide the importing vet with a Certificate of Origin, and she said she would. The only problem is, she had no clue what a Certificate of Origin was or how to get it.
That day when she Skyped me I called the USDA Vet office on speaker phone and asked them about it, but they had never heard of needing a Certificate of Origin either, so they suggested we call the UAE Embassy in D.C. The embassy said that a certificate of origin isn't needed, that it just proves that the dogs come from the U.S., but Bobbi found a list on the UAE's website stating that they did in fact need the Certificate of Origin. We decided that we would rather be safe than sorry, so we opted to get them a Certificate of Origin, whatever that was. We Googled it and found that the Chamber of Commerce typically provides them, so I called and they were very helpful, but didn't have any information on what kind of proof of origin they would need for pets because they had never done one for pets, so they gave me a number for someone who works at Columbus State and consults with them regularly. I called him and left him a voicemail. I didn't get a call back, so several hours later I called him back. He answered and told me he was on the other line and would call me back. A few hours later he did call me back and informed me that all I would need would be a letter from the dogs' vet saying that they are, in fact, from the United States.
The whole time I'm making these calls I'm also making calls and sending e-mails to several different shipping companies because I need to ship the dogs and boxes of our stuff over there. After I hit several dead ends that were just way too expensive, Bobbi gave me a couple numbers to try and I had a phenomenal amount of luck! The company that were going to ship our boxes gave me a quote based on my estimates of the sizes and weights of the boxes that would ship all our boxes for the price most people wanted to ship one! I was also able to get in touch with the company that Etihad Airways contracts to do their cargo shipping and they gave me a quote that was not only doable, but $4,400 less than most other places!
While I'm making these calls and sending these e-mails I'm also running errands, because the dogs need a form filled out for their air travel within 10 days of their departure. We had it done once, but since we had to postpone my leaving it expired. I also needed to get the vet to write a letter saying that they are American. When I get the vet to write the letter and fill out the paperwork again she doesn't charge me! She just wishes me a safe trip! If anyone ever has a need for a vet I very highly recommend the Suburban Animal Clinic on Wilson Rd. near Hilliard! They have been a dream to work with through all this stuff with flying the dogs to the UAE and they are the people that helped us through the rough time when we had to put Riley to sleep and they have never faltered in their amazing customer service and sensitivity.
That afternoon I took the dogs over to hang out with their grandpa so we could all have some time together before I left.
So we finally get all this paperwork done on Monday and I have a flight booked for 8:30 pm out of Chicago O'Hare. I have a reservation to rent a car with a pick-up on Tuesday night at the Columbus Airport and a drop off at O'Hare on Wednesday. Tuesday night when I go to pick up the car at 6, they say my reservation doesn't start until 7, so I have to wait an hour or get charged a lot of money. They don't know how much money, and won't know until they charge it to me, but they think it'll be a lot. So I ask if they can change my booking from 7 pm - 7 pm to 6 pm - 6 pm instead, basically just shift the 24-hour window. They said that since the booking was pre-paid they can't change it, but suggest I call the 800 number and see if they can change it for me. So I call them and they say that they can change my reservation, but, oops, there are no cars available at my location. I ask them how that's possible since I'm scheduled to pick up a car in 45 minutes and they say that I have the last one reserved, so it's showing that none are available, and, basically, they have to make me a new booking then cancel the old one. So I ask them if, since they are threatening to charge me an undisclosed amount for an extra hour, if I will be getting a partial refund when I turn the car in early. Believe it or not, but it doesn't work that way somehow! So at 7 I get up to the counter again and try to pick up the car I have reserved (the last one, remember, how lucky for me) and they guy behind the counter offers to upgrade me from a Ford Escape to a GMC Yukon for $15! So I said sure.
After having a wonderful dinner with my family that night I went back to my brother's house where I had been staying and began packing my last-minute stuff and doing last-minute laundry so all my packed clothes would be clean. It was very difficult, but I finally managed to fit all of my stuff into a suitcase, a body bag-sized duffel bag, a gym bag carry-on and a backpack. I said my goodbyes to my brother and his wife and went to bed. I had my alarm set for 5:15 the next morning and I was going to pick my mom up at 6 because she had very kindly agreed to ride to Chicago with me and make sure everything went well then fly home. When I went to bed my head was spinning with thoughts of my trip and all the preparations I'd made and I had a really hard time falling asleep! I did not, apparently have a hard time staying asleep, because I woke up when Casey came busting into my room telling me that I was already a half an hour late picking Mom up!
To be continued....
No comments:
Post a Comment