A lot seems to have transpired in the past four days. Not having a cell phone to blog from means this post will have no pictures. Sorry, but I figured I would warn you now. Trust me though - the story is eventful!
I wish wish wish I had a photo to show of us and all our belongings at the airport. We called a taxi from the Oakwood and specified we would need a van, or two. We had two kids, a cat, four extra large suitcases three regular sized suitcases, three small bags, two car seats, a stroller, and a child's hiking pack. Amazingly we crammed ourselves into one van. Then, somehow, we made it to check in at United..where no one wanted to assist us and the piles of baggage that followed us. It took us over an hour to check in (and there was no line). First there was the fight about what the extra bags cost, how many extra bags we were checking, and what the federal government paid for. Let me tell you friends, we get no break for moving overseas. United only allows ONE bag a person and the second bag is an extra $100. Good thing we only had two extra bags.
Then there was the cat fiasco. I had made reservations for Moya about a month in advance. I had paid for her vet visit (twice, because I didn't know it had to be done ten days before we departed) and I ensured I had the right FAA approved carrier and all the necessary paperwork (again, shout out to Kendra for getting all that done for us while we were on vacation!) Still, the United person at check in was confused and called over her supervisor. Her supervisor asked if we were military, to which I responded "no." Then he told me that because I was no military I could not bring my cat. WHAT?! Raj immediately had the United website up on his phone which clearly stated federal government could bring pets on United and I had an email from the U.S. Embassy which told me the ONLY carrier that allowed pets was United. He stood by his word for a while but eventually broke down and called someone else who said, if we were Foreign Service it was ok. Now, technically I am a civil servant going overseas on a foreign service LNA tour, but I was not about to lay those cards on the table. Instead I insisted he look at my travel orders and take those. He looked all over and said, nothing here says you are foreign service. *sigh* or rather *Brie FREAKOUT* In the end, he conceded and allowed Moya to board.
After all this we had about one hour to get through security and to our gate. So much for us being worried that we would have all sorts of time to kill. Raj is carrying around a backpack and a car seat, I have a kid, a diaper bag, and two other carry-ons, and Anya is pulling her weight with her penguin backpack filled with toys. I am already dreading the flights. Luckily the flight to Newark was a short hour and the girls were pretty well entertained, until we landed - and then sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes because we had no gate. By the time we got off the plane we had just enough time to eat dinner, get the girls changed into pajamas and have the United folks check our passports before it was board time. I credit Kathleen Diina-Feldman for her blog of her summer vacation because that gave me the idea to lug this crazy carseat on board. We were the only smart parents who did - Elia slept for about 11 hours of the 14 hour flight. Anya watched three movies and then slept for about 4 on the floor of the plane. The last three hours I switched seats with Raj so he could have the most fun :)
Arrival in New Delhi was a bit confusing. Being diplomats getting through immigration was easy - then we found our carousel and luckily retrieved all six of our checked bags. We eventually figured out the other car seat, stroller, and hiking pack arrived at another carousel and got all our belongings in about an hour. The fun part was reuniting with Moya. Noone seemed to know where she was or how we would get her. One guy told us to ask a United agent (noone was marked as being affiliated with United, because why would you?) another guy told us to go to carousel 14, another person said they will find us...really? Eventually she did come out, she was alive, and the girls were excited to see her. We quickly found our social sponsor who brought the biggest van known to man to get us so we easily fit all our belongings into it. A half hour later we were in our new home....more on that later!
I wish wish wish I had a photo to show of us and all our belongings at the airport. We called a taxi from the Oakwood and specified we would need a van, or two. We had two kids, a cat, four extra large suitcases three regular sized suitcases, three small bags, two car seats, a stroller, and a child's hiking pack. Amazingly we crammed ourselves into one van. Then, somehow, we made it to check in at United..where no one wanted to assist us and the piles of baggage that followed us. It took us over an hour to check in (and there was no line). First there was the fight about what the extra bags cost, how many extra bags we were checking, and what the federal government paid for. Let me tell you friends, we get no break for moving overseas. United only allows ONE bag a person and the second bag is an extra $100. Good thing we only had two extra bags.
Then there was the cat fiasco. I had made reservations for Moya about a month in advance. I had paid for her vet visit (twice, because I didn't know it had to be done ten days before we departed) and I ensured I had the right FAA approved carrier and all the necessary paperwork (again, shout out to Kendra for getting all that done for us while we were on vacation!) Still, the United person at check in was confused and called over her supervisor. Her supervisor asked if we were military, to which I responded "no." Then he told me that because I was no military I could not bring my cat. WHAT?! Raj immediately had the United website up on his phone which clearly stated federal government could bring pets on United and I had an email from the U.S. Embassy which told me the ONLY carrier that allowed pets was United. He stood by his word for a while but eventually broke down and called someone else who said, if we were Foreign Service it was ok. Now, technically I am a civil servant going overseas on a foreign service LNA tour, but I was not about to lay those cards on the table. Instead I insisted he look at my travel orders and take those. He looked all over and said, nothing here says you are foreign service. *sigh* or rather *Brie FREAKOUT* In the end, he conceded and allowed Moya to board.
After all this we had about one hour to get through security and to our gate. So much for us being worried that we would have all sorts of time to kill. Raj is carrying around a backpack and a car seat, I have a kid, a diaper bag, and two other carry-ons, and Anya is pulling her weight with her penguin backpack filled with toys. I am already dreading the flights. Luckily the flight to Newark was a short hour and the girls were pretty well entertained, until we landed - and then sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes because we had no gate. By the time we got off the plane we had just enough time to eat dinner, get the girls changed into pajamas and have the United folks check our passports before it was board time. I credit Kathleen Diina-Feldman for her blog of her summer vacation because that gave me the idea to lug this crazy carseat on board. We were the only smart parents who did - Elia slept for about 11 hours of the 14 hour flight. Anya watched three movies and then slept for about 4 on the floor of the plane. The last three hours I switched seats with Raj so he could have the most fun :)
Arrival in New Delhi was a bit confusing. Being diplomats getting through immigration was easy - then we found our carousel and luckily retrieved all six of our checked bags. We eventually figured out the other car seat, stroller, and hiking pack arrived at another carousel and got all our belongings in about an hour. The fun part was reuniting with Moya. Noone seemed to know where she was or how we would get her. One guy told us to ask a United agent (noone was marked as being affiliated with United, because why would you?) another guy told us to go to carousel 14, another person said they will find us...really? Eventually she did come out, she was alive, and the girls were excited to see her. We quickly found our social sponsor who brought the biggest van known to man to get us so we easily fit all our belongings into it. A half hour later we were in our new home....more on that later!
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