Planes, Trains & Automobiles (and a Ferry)

After 3 days of travel, we finally arrived in Twyford, just in time to retrieve the keys to our rental house from the letting agent. We left Pflugerville before 9am on Tuesday, July 8th, intending to arrive 4 hours before our flight left for Boston. I had read just a couple of days earlier, that even though we had booked the dogs on the flight, if someone else arrived before us and checked in, we could lose the dogs' spots on the plane. It did take some time to get checked in and all of their paperwork approved, so it was good we arrived so early.

We walked them through security, hoping to minimise the amount of time they spent in the carriers (We were worried about Gabby overheating and Louis become too anxious.) They both seemed to enjoy the attention, and made quite a few people smile.

I'd given both their initial sedative the night before, and gave Louis the second doses right before we left for the airport. We ended up chatting with a young woman while waiting to board who ended up sitting between us. She had no objections, so we took them both out after taking off and they fell sound asleep for the entire first flight.

Waiting for the next flight

Hanging in Boston

I gave them another dose before the flight from Boston and both slept through to Dublin, only waking up a few times and falling right back to sleep. 

Customs in Dublin only took about 10 minutes since they were expecting us--the agent scanned their chips, confirmed the paperwork matched and stamped the health certificates. 

We grabbed a taxi for the short ride to the ferry terminal and waited outside so the pups could get some fresh air and sun, and drink some water. 

We had booked the faster ferry, which was really noisy, but only about 2 hours 40 minutes to Holyhead. The pups had to stay in a kennel below deck with the cars, but they seemed fine (though REALLY happy to see us) when we docked. 

A bus took us to the terminal when we picked up our luggage and expected to go through UK customs, but there was no one on duty. The border control agents said "You're fine to go through. We're not worried about dogs." When I asked if they wanted to see my passport, they said, "You've got dogs, so we know you're alright." 

The train station was just outside, and we didn't have long to wait for the train. Both were very happy to walk around a bit and sit on our laps on the ride, and both got plenty more pets and smiles. I would have loved to know what was going through their minds at this point.

At Chester, we both got off--Ian to catch another train, me to head to a hotel for the night with the dogs.
Ian continued North to stay the night with his brother and SIL. I got us settled, then headed to the hotel bar to get some dinner. When I asked where I could eat with the dogs, she pointed to a booth and said, "right here". 

They both settled on the bench on either side of me and immediately fell asleep, waking up for the chicken breast and green veggies I ordered for them.

I had an amazing mac & cheese and a double gin & tonic. They loved the green beans and garden peas, but are not fans of broccolini. Both were happy to scarf down the grilled chicken breast. I did have some dry dog food for them, but felt like they deserved a treat after being so good on the journey so far. We had a good night's sleep, other than a couple of walks in the middle of the night.

The next morning Ian drove down in the Skoda from Preston to pick up me and the pups. We picked up my car, a Mazda MX5 in Chester. Ian figures it will inspire me to master driving a manual. Interesting fact about UK driving licenses: If you take your test in a car with an automatic transmission, you aren't legally allowed to drive one with a manual transmission. 

From Chester we drove down to Twyford, taking about 5 hours due to traffic. It wasn't my first time driving on the left side of the road, but it was my first time alone in the car, so slightly stressful. We had no major mishaps, and got to Twyford in time to pick up the keys to the rental house.

It's been about a week since we've been in the rental house, and everyone seems to be settling in nicely. 
The house is even nicer than it looks in photos, and our landlady seems very nice--she left us a jar of honey from her bees, and is happy to let us replace the cat flap with a dog door. 

The dogs are now UK residents, and after traveling through the EU, are better traveled than the majority of Americans.

Cheers, y'all!

Juliette