Something always goes wrong, usually at the least convenient time

This is the very first post of my new blog, documenting our move from the Austin, Texas area to Berkshire, UK.

We are sitting in the house we have rented back from the buyer. All of our belongings are in a container on the way to Houston where they will be loaded on a ship and hopefully arrive some time this summer at our UK rental house. We're each down to one suitcase, one backpack and a dog each. The whole process started about a year ago, with us getting two houses ready for sale, by selling, donating and throwing away lots of belongings. We decluttered, painted and finished incompleted projects. Once both houses were in contract, I applied for my spouse visa and started the process for getting all the paperwork getting our belongings, including five motorcycles and two dogs to the UK. The most complicated part of our move is without a doubt, getting the dogs over. You can hired companies to do any of all of this, including getting all paperwork arranged and physically getting the dogs to the UK. We opted to take them with us.
They've irradicated rabies in the UK, so are very careful about how animals come in. They no longer require pets to be quarantined, but they are limited to how they are transported. The options are:

• Pets travel in cargo on a commercial flight
• Pets travel in cabin on a private jet
• Pets arrive via boat (from the US, the only options is the Queen Mary II, from Europe it can be a ferry)

With Gabby being a Pug, no airline would allow her in the hold (and neither would I), and Louis would probably have a nervous breakdown. Despite our very posh circle of friends, we sadly do not know anyone with a private jet, and the charter services are $8000 per person + pet ticket. We did consider the trans-Atlantic cruise on the Queen Mary II, but that is also pricey and more importantly, kennels are booked 18 months in advance. This left us with the last option: traveling by way of EU. We decided a direct flight from Austin to EU would be too long for the dogs, even in the cabin, so we planned to fly to the East coast, then over to Dublin, Ireland from there. From Dublin, we'll take a ferry to Holyhead in Wales (UK). To take the dogs over, we'd need two sets of health certificates: one each for EU and UK. These require a USDA certified vet to declare the dogs healthy, and confirm they had recent rabies vaccines. This form needs to be sent to the USDA and endorsed within 10 days of our arrival. For EU they also need a tapeworm treatment within 5 days arrival in Dublin. With all the recent cuts to government agencies, I was nervous this timing would be difficult.
I had many conversations back and forth with the vet, who in turn spoke to her contact at the USDA. We had a plan that seemed solid, in spite of the July 4th holiday right in the middle of when the forms needed to be endorsed and our arrive in the UK. The last appointment was set for July 5th, the Saturday before we planned to fly out. Everything was planned aroud us leaving on the 7th: ferry tickets, train tickets, picking up our two new (to us) cars, and picking up the keys to our rental house. The pups got their last checkup, and the tapeworm medication was given. The vet told me we should receive the endorsed health certificates that day. I asked at the front desk which address they were sent to, and she confirmed "Great Basin". We waited all day, worried that if we left we'd miss the delivery. Around 2pm I called the vet's office and left a message, asking someone to call me back with the tracking number, but the office was already closed. Not only could I not track down the package, but I couldn't confirm how it was sent on the off chance it would be delivered first thing on Monday. I also emailed the vet, but got no reply. We spend all of Sunday morning changing tickets. We were lucky to get on the same flight a day later since there were only a few seats left. Changing ferry tickets and one of the train tickets costs us some money. I had to change my hotel in Chester to the next day, and extend the rental car here in Texas by a day (EXPENSIVE!). Contacted the letting agent to push back the day we pick up the keys. Finally, I tried to move out delieveries to the rental house that we were expecting with some luck. Hopefully the things I wasn't able to delay are still there when we arrive. By 7:30 Monday morning, I hadn't heard back from anyone even though the vet opened at 7am. I called a couple of times, but got a recording that everyone was in a team meeting. By 8:30 I still hadn't heard back and now was losing any faith that we'd ever get the documents. I headed over to the vet office. When I was almost there I finally got a call from the office manager. I told him I was close by and would be there soon.
When I arrived he had a shipping label printed out. He asked me to step into the back and explained that the service who prints out their shipping labels had transposed the numbers of our address, and the package had been delivered on Saturday. The were able to get hold of the owner of that house who was out of town. She said the package was likely still on her porch, or one of her neighbors may have picked it up.
I called Ian, and he headed down the street to look for the package. We both arrived at the house at the same time and found the package. Slightly damp, but otherwise okay. We will head to the Austin airport tomorrow morning to check in 4 hours before our flight (apparently whoever shows up first gets the "pet spots" on the plane. We are not taking ANY chances at this point. Barring any (more) catastrophes, my next post will be from the other side of the pond. Cheers!
Juliette