como chegamos aqui

We didn’t know it yet, but our adventure began to take shape in January.

Brett sent me a text one morning while we were both at work and asked, “Hey, wanna move to Brazil for 6 months?” I immediately shot a text back that said something like.. “DUH!” I think I actually sent that text and simultaneously began searching Google using the keywords ‘moving two dogs to Brazil’.

Initially, Brett’s company ended up sending someone else. We were pretty sad, but started to move on with our plans to keep improving our house (we have a verrrry long to-do list).  Fast forward to March- I get another text from Brett: “Brazil may be back on the table.”

We had to hammer out a lot of details to make the trip work. First, Brett needed to confirm with his company that it was okay that I went with him. If I didn’t, he’d get to fly back to see me once a month for close to six months. Stay in Kansas while he gets to live it up in Brazil’s capital city? Not if I could help it.

Next, we needed to make absolutely certain that the dogs could come with us. Since we didn’t want to tell his company (lest they think we were more trouble than we were worth), that left us with the task of finding our own apartment. I didn’t want to risk corporate housing being, essentially, a hotel room (and not pet friendly). So we looked around and finally found a site that could work for us. Airbnb.com has an amazing user interface and makes everyone (landlords and renters) go through a verification process before booking or making a listing. This was definitely a plus. Also- you can pay online with your credit card (also a plus! No leases for us) which worked perfectly. We were able to use the site to communicate with several different people who had apartments for rent that fit our criteria. We found that people were very eager to help us out, even if we weren’t renting from them.

After we got the go-ahead from Brett’s company, we were ready to book our flights. I think we ended up booking them three weeks in advance. Thanks to Brett’s company, we were able to score first (business) class tickets. We also confirmed with Delta that we were flying with dogs, that their crate measurements would be accepted (always good to double check against what a company says on their website), and what their weight limits would be. We initially had Penny (our 93-lb lab mix) on a diet, but found out she could max out at 150 lbs with the crate. That was a relief.

As soon as the tickets were booked, it meant we had a definite deadline. We had a lot we wanted to accomplish to get our house to where we wanted it to be. We were in the middle of changing out all of the main floor doors (cutting hinge notches, holes, painting, and installing). We had also started painting our wood trim a crisp white, but had only gotten so far as the back bedroom, the guest bath, and the main hallway. That still left our bedroom, Brett’s office, our living room, and entry/stairway. We had painted the main hallway a lighter shade as well, so we wanted to carry that throughout the living room and entry/stairway. We definitely had a lot on our plates.

Not to mention the packing, cleaning (Brett’s brother is staying in our house while we are gone, so we wanted to leave it in good shape), and the eventual madness of getting all of the necessary documentation for the dogs to go with us.

I’m proud to say that we completed nearly everything on our to-do list. I’m happy with where we left things, and I only say nearly because we left a few small things that are easily doable when we return. So, in the three weeks before we left we painted the trim in our bedroom, painted the trim in Brett’s office, painted the living room and the living room trim, painted the entry/stairway and the trim, spray painted three picture frames and actually hung them on the wall, hung a painting in the living room, painted and installed three doors, spray painted the hardware for said doors, packed to live abroad for six months, cleaned the basement and rearranged all of my “rescued” pieces of furniture (thanks Mom! She did most of the work), and cleaned the house.

A lot of the things on that list happened within the last few hours of us leaving the house because I work best under pressure (Brett hates it). I feel like I have a decent excuse this time though.

If you’ve ever wanted to fly with your dog abroad- don’t. Unless you’re moving permanently. I don’t regret doing it by any means, but I think I sent Brett a text that Friday before we left that said something like “it would have been easier to get pregnant, give birth to a baby, get it a passport, and fly it to Brazil than to get these dogs down there.” Not pregnant, not wanting to get pregnant, just putting that in perspective. If you still want to fly your dog abroad, become a celebrity and make your personal assistant handle it. I think that’s how Tom Felton does it.

Dogs (all pets, actually) need to be seen by a vet within 10 days of departure, have an examination (don’t ask me how much it cost- but I left with five or six pill bottles), and have an international health certificate filled out. Once you have that filled out (this part depends on your state), you get to have it faxed to the USDA Veterinary office and approved. They’ll send it back six or seven times because I think it’s some sort of power trip. After the form is approved and signed (IMPORTANT) by your vet, you get to drive it to the USDA Vet’s office. And of course, the nearest USDA Veterinary office will be one hour away from where you live. This is important- before you leave check and make sure that every signature box HAS A SIGNATURE IN IT. Or be like me and get all the way there only to be sent packing for another one-hour trip home. Also- this was on the day before we left.

We had everything finally wrapped up with the dogs, but still ended up staying up until around 1 am completing everything else. We had a 5:30 am wake up call the next morning to begin our road trip. 15 hours, two dogs, two people, six bags, two crates, and one minivan later. we made it to Atlanta. The dogs were great. Desmond slept for most of the trip and Penny was sedated but perfectly happy to sit between our seats and “drive” (stare out over Brett’s shoulder). We stopped only to get gas or switch drivers. Or to get a speeding ticket (it was me- I confess).

Penny was feeling realllllly relaxed after two sedatives.

Family photo! Penny is still high.

Desmond woke up for a minute for me to take this picture.

We stayed near the airport that night. After receiving two prank calls (I stupidly told my parents where we were staying) and nearly having the cops called to the entire hotel complex, we all were exhausted and fell asleep. The next day would be entirely ours to waste in Atlanta. Challenge one (driving with the dogs to Atlanta) was complete.