It’s me and my Doggo… Vacation Style!

My Lovelies! Isabelle here,

It’s so great to be back. Now, if you’ve been paying close attention to our blog, you’ll note that on our past post Athena gave you guys HER perspective on what it was like traveling with the family overseas for the first time. Now, as promised, I’m here to give the first-time pawrent perspective, on what it was like traveling with a fur little one. Without further delay, let’s get started!

Now, to begin, I have to say I’d hear horror stories about how “complicated” it was to travel with a pet overseas and how the whole process took up so much time and energy. I can’t say I wasn’t a little hesitant to make the decision to take Thena with us; however, there was also no doubt in my mind and my family’s that she was going to join us… whatever that meant.

Now, I can’t say it was necessarily a walk in the park either; however, I did not see it as more than taking a few more steps to make sure we had everything she needed so that she could legally leave and re-enter the country (equating to us having a valid boarding pass and passport). Now, I can’t give you the rules and regulations for each country, please please please, I reiterate this many times, please check with your airline and your country of destination BEFOREHAND to see what they require from you to avoid any issues with your little one. I am not trained in what every country in the world needs; however, I can tell you what I needed exactly to enter my country of destination which was Colombia in South America (and traveling from the USA).

My airline, COPA, was VERY helpful in guiding me in the right direction with this. The first step was making sure that the date was available for Athena to be able to ride with us. Our airline has restricted space on the amount of pets they can take per-flight and fortunately both our departure and return dates did not have more than the allotted amount of pets registered to join their “hoomans”. Once my pass was secured, they were able to notate that I would be traveling with a fur-baby and reserved one of the few spaces under her name. All I had to do was pay for her spot on the flights which, for round-trip, was approximately $300 USD. After that, I was directed to a section of their website which led me to the regulations of my destination country. I found out that I had pretty much everything I needed for Athena which were her vaccinations (especially her rabies vaccination) and her being micro-chipped. The only other requirement was a visit with a vet to get the official health certificate for international travel which would officially let Colombia know that she was healthy enough to fly and that she would not carry any diseases into the country. I found out that not just any vet can do this process as it has to be a VCA vet. These are vets that are versed and knowledgeable on the paperwork that is needed to transport pets in and out of the country following both country of origin and destination. If they do not know what the particular requirements are, they are versed in finding them and knowing how to follow them and meet them.

My vet was able to confirm that I had approximately 80% of what I needed. At the visit, all that was left to do was give her one more vaccine, which I did not realize she was missing, and pay for her paperwork to be filled out after her routine physical. After all checked out, her records were updated and we were sent her certificate via e-mail 24 hours later (*please note that not all countries accept electronic health certificates. Colombia is one of the few that does; however, even though that was the case, I still made sure to bring physical copies with me on the trip). This whole process with the vet cost me approximately $500 USD (this included her medication – Trazadone – to help her anxiety on the flight, her vaccine, her flea and de-worming medication, her physical – since she was a new patient at the hospital, and her health certificate.

With all the paperwork in hand and up to date, the process the day of the trip went very smoothly! We were able to get through check-in and TSA without any issues whatsoever and Athena was the “goodest girl” throughout the entire flight. I am such a proud and happy fur-momma for that! My big girl did it! Sniff sniff Athena!! Mommy says no more growing up!!

To all the fur-parents out there who are planning to travel with your fur-babies I have to say this: do not fear. If you can take them with you, please do so! Yes, I’m not going to sugarcoat that there are steps to follow and some hoops to jump through to make sure everything runs smoothly the day of; however, it was more than worth it! To know that your fur-baby is going to be making memories with you abroad or, like me, to know that they can meet the extended family who is waiting for them heart and hands wide-open makes every single second of the process worth it! Would I do it again? MOST DEFINITELY! If given the chance to and having the means to do so I absolutely would! My Thena is part of the family and all I can quote here is Lilo & Stitch… “Ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind.” Don’t be scared to do the do and give your little one(s) the chance of a lifetime to explore new places and see new people! They’re little lives are so short, make sure they make the most of it if you can!  Safe travels everyone and love and hugs to all the fur-babies going abroad!!

XOXO Isabelle 💋❤️ XOXO