The power was gone until Saturday around 2pm. In the end it was a blackout of about 14 hours. Not too funny particularly for the stuff in the fridge...
Speaking of which, on Friday the fridge we sent out from Córdoba arrived at P.'s sister's place. Gina was the happiest dog in the world to meet "her" fridge again. Nevertheless the fridge was empty. Gina expected cooked chicken to be inside. And she checked on a regular basis (like every 5 minutes), if the fridge was really (like really really) empty or if she could find at least the smallest piece of leftover chicken inside it. She was very disappointed...
At around the actual t-48h I started getting really nervous about the flight. What's the problem? We are flying out together with the dog (and lots of luggage... :) ...):
Gina is gonna be in the cabin with us. For dogs to be allowed inside the cabin, they have to be caged in a carrier with maximum measures 55cm x 40cm x 23 cm. The overall weight of Gina and carrier is allowed to be 8kg. Dogs have to stay inside the carrier "under the seat in front of you" for the whole flight. The carrier has to stay closed through the whole flight. No exceptions
As all of you know, we got that nifty little nylon pet transport bag from Germany. The measures are 55cm x 30cm x 30cm. This is correct according to IATA regulations for cabin luggage (overall edge length not exceeding 115cm). But it is not exactly according to Lufthansa regulations for animal carriers in the cabin.
Furthermore, Gina herself was... say... a little overweight. She now weighs 8.5kg, when we are weighing her inside the nylon bag (as per the old analogue fishing scale we are using; and we do not have a clue, if this scale has ever been calibrated). That would be tolerated if it was just your average piece of cabin luggage. But it s not exactly according to Lufthansa regulations for animals in the cabin.
We were talking to Lufthansa Service as well as Lufthansa Ezeiza Offices numerous times now for them to confirm, that we will be allowed to take Gina to the cabin under the given circumstances. But of course there was no answer like: "Yes, you definitely will be permitted to take Gina to the cabin". The were all pretty positive, but if worse comes to worst they will just point out, that their regulations are different and we have to leave Gina at home.
So as of now, we do not even have a clue if we are admitted to take Gina to the cabin. For the worst case, P.'s sister is joining us on our way to the airport. If Gina is not allowed inside the cabin, we will have to leave her in Buenos Aires and P.'s sister has to sent her inside a cage (that has yet to be bought) as part of the cargo in the freight room of one of the next planes from Buenos Aires to Germany. Not funny at all...
If she is not allowed to stay with us in the cabin, there is the option to leave her with the cargo on the same plane we are taking. But to do so, you have to have a proper cage, which we don't (remember that my credit card has been blocked?). The nylon bag is not sufficient. We will not be able to organize a cage before boarding. Not an alternative...
So we can only hope, that Gina is permitted aboard. If she is allowed to get into the cabin with us, we will have to see, if we have to drug her, so that she can stand the (fairly tough) 13h flight.
And on arrival we are entering the European Union with a foreign dog, which means you have to provide lots of papers, that officially declare, that Gina is identified by a subcutaneos chip, she is properly vaccinated against rabies, her whole vaccination history, and you need the "Veterinary certificate to the EU for non-commercial movement of five or less dogs, cats or ferrets" (no joke!). We actually spent weeks to get all these papers. But a slightly insecure feeling of having missed something is always with us.
Anyway, that's what's gonna happen pretty soon... :)
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