Sorry... We´re here!

Sorry for the delay. Things have been a bit surreal and I was REALLY tired when we arrived. But we have arrived.

The flight here was interesting. We left on Fri, Sept 18 in the evening. The cats made it through security which was actually easier than the ticket counter (which brings me to another thought: why is it that airline counter staff seem not to be trained in anything outside of issuing a standard boarding pass and luggage tag? I don´t imagine that people fly with pets every day but surely it´s a relatively common occurance. It took 3 or 4 people to get our cats ticketed).

Mister did surprisingly well on the plane. For those of you who know our cats, you know that Mister is a bit of a crybaby. But he also accepts whatever fate is handed to him and as such acted like, "Oh, I guess I´m in a carrier now! Ok!" Shady, on the other hand, is a fighter. So even though she´s technically quieter than Mister in a moving vehicle, when she gets it into her head that she is going to escape, she is GOING to escape! We had several bouts of 10-15 minute fights with the carrier on the plane. Luckily the only thing at risk were my feet which were next to her soft-shell carrier and thus her claws.

The only real traumatic moment of the whole thing (if you put aside the emotional yuckiness of saying goodbye to so many people you love) occured around 2am (which by the way is both Chilean time and EDT at the moment). I was so exhausted that I actually fell asleep pretty well on the plane. That and I traded my usual red wine with dinner for a Tanqueray & ginger ale... Anyway, I was actually asleep when suddenly I was awakened by the sensation of falling dramatically. I clamored for my seatbelt as I lifted out of the chair en route to the ceiling. I had one on but I loosened it so that I could shift around while I slept. When I opened my eyes, it turned out that indeed, we were falling! That lasted for a second or two and then suddenly we were unfalling and headed up rapidly. Then another lurch that was so bad that I felt dizzy and people screamed and the cats must´ve been pasted to the ceilings of their carriers.

Turbulence. I have never felt it so bad. Gratefully it lasted for about a minute, maybe two, and the screaming was brief. But the next thing I noticed was that Nick wasn´t in his seat. I looked up, half expecting to see him pierced into the ceiling, but he wasn´t there either. He had gone to the bathroom and had the joy of experiencing the worst turbulence either of us had ever felt (and you know we are in the air a lot!) while peeing. Here I thought it was awful for me. I won´t go into details about it but I´m sure you can use your imagination......

So we did arrive, on time and everything. Customs was surprisingly easy to deal with. 10 or 15 minutes and we were through con gatos. And so here we are! We are staying at the Las Condes house until the apartment is ready. I had taken some pictures to share but the dolt that I am forgot to pack the proper USB cord for my camera, so I guess that will have to wait. Perhaps soon I´ll have a phone that can take some photos.