One more week, and now it really is!

Since KLM was so kind to let me know on Tuesday my sweets would not arrive this week, I decided to leave KLM behind. I do not want to wait for a last minute chance to have them travel together. I would only hear 48 hours in advance if they will travel. And I don't want to live with this uncertainty. I had the feeling KLM either does not want to carry them, or a charity organisation decided to collect a full rescue shelter to get those dogs to Holland to be adopted. I never understood why people get stray dogs to here, but... that would mean I should doubt myself to do the same with 2 cats.... ;-) I just think dogs are usualy more complicated since they carry more diseases and inherited problems. And, last but not least, have more need to be trained and socialised as youngsters than cats do, who are more independent. I personaly would never get a stray dog from afar... even if this sounds so hypocrite. I know...

So I applied for Lufthansa once more, and if I only did earlier, they would have been here now sleeping on my footend.... But destiny may have wanted it to happen this way. Now my sweets will arrive on August 28th for sure. They are booked, Lufthansa is lots more flexible than our angry blue bird... It is only a pitty my kitties will have a much longer journey now. Which I think they will be looked after much better anyway.

I can get ready for them! And not to worry about Lorelei in the meantime, because they will arrive later on the last day. And in the worse case, I leave earlier on Sunday. I just checked the common cargo schedule, and their primal travel schedule is leaving Cairo at 4.30 in the morning to Frankfurt, where they will switch planes to Amsterdam. To arrive there most likely at 14.10... Or the next flight at 17.50. So... it will mean I have to miss a bit of Lorelei, depending on how I retrieve the cats. I heard from people that the handover can either be at the airport, or at the airport shelter at Lufthansa cargo where transit cats/dogs await their connecting flight, or at Hoofddorp where long term transitions stay, as well as pets waiting to travel.

They will most likely not arrive at 22.05 as I thought, because this is the humane connection via Munchen, and all living animals enter EU or Germany via Frankfurt at all time. Now they fly with an cargo only plane. And if I only never considered using KLM, they sure would have been here now, to spend 4 whole free days with me. But as I said, it must have a reason. I know within 4 weeks I have holidays, and I am gloriously happy UK is stopping its ridicilous quarantaine restrictions from january 1st, so whenever my kitties love to travel, they will be entering the magical world of Avalon with me next year! Now only find a place where they allow my cats, because at Tor Down I am quite sure they won't. 

At last, some living soul to look after come to my life again. After this 4 months of loneliness. I know they will make me happy. Though I do have this nasty feeling about Grey. I don't know why, but I have got the feeling that especially Tiger will come here with a mission.
In a dream I had this week, she was the joyfull kitty, walking by my side. While Grey was a almost white invisible cat in the background. As if he was an angelic cat. I really hope that doesn't mean he will die. I know this can be explained in many ways. I guess he is a little more the lazy relaxed cat of the two, and that little Tiger is just the clown of them. But it doesn't make me love Grey any less. They will both get all the attention I can give (not that they need, because I simply cannot be there for them 24/7. And I am really worried and curious to how they would handle this. For Egyptian Maus are cats that are extremely loyal and commited to the one they decided to be their human... I cannot force them to choose me, and I don't know if they can handle all this time they have to spend alone, as I cannot permit them to go out during the day. But only experience will tell the truth. I know my life is fully developing and the urge to fill my life different is very strong. They will not suffer :-)

Well... we wait another week or so, and then... finally after 17 weeks, they enter my life!

HAPPY!!

4 More days and still I get no confirmation

Julie called KLM a couple of times, but she did not yet manage to confirm Thursdays journey for the cats. It really is nervewrecking to get through this. I count on my sweeties to be here this week, but time is getting closer.
I hope tomorrow will be the day I hear it will all be ok. I really do hope so! It is just so silly, they only allow to book one week ahead, so we did on Thursday and only on Monday you get a possible confirmation. And, they have to call me to check if I am really the destined owner. I wish them luck to contact me while I am at work where I am not allowed to use my phone, but as well barely have any good connection. And I have to talk to a probably bad English speaking Egyptian... Ah well, as long as my sweets will arrive Thursday I honestly don't care.

I have to think now about an alternate date to fly in case there is no place for them. I doubt I will have bad luck, but you never know. And I am doubting, wether to have them Wednesday night, Saturday night or else have them over just after I was at Lorelei next week. In all cases they have to spend so much time all alone after their arrival. I begged the Gods and Goddesses to have them fly on Thursday. While I have 3 maybe 4 days off.

Yesterday I did a ritual for them with the Egyptian Cat Goddess Bastet. To have them blessed and protected during this upcoming week. Because I think they know something is going on.
I had a dream about them yesterday night. And it worried me that I only saw Tiger being active and lovely. Grey was more in the background, with an angelic look over him. I feared that he was dead, but in spirit traveled along with Tiger. I just hope it all is just a bad dream. And that I will hug Grey as well once he is here. I know he is a different type of cat than Tiger. More prone to weight gaining and being lazy. But, I have not seen pictures of them that are more recent than May 2010. Even the picture of Tiger was when she was just 3 weeks old. How big and beautifull will she be at this moment?
I feel like being on a blind date :-) Whatever cats arrive at the airport, I will believe it is Tiger & Grey ;-)

Their room is ready for use, only the foodbowl needs to be filled. Even the litterbox is ready, in case they have high need after arrival. But probably they have to get used at the pretty pink smelly litter. I really really hope they will accept it.

How I wish I got the confirmation....

The budgy that is not happy with the situation

To take cats is one thing... but when you have a bird, you need some preparations.

Meet PhiPhi my 8 year old terror piti. I bought her to have a tame budgy. And tame she was... for a few weeks. Until she started to become very mean, bity and bitchy. It was no fun at all to have her around. Since I didn't like her company, I bought another budgy to company her. The became very close friends. I was not needed anymore. And even though the new budgy called Schetterbek (Squeakers) wanted to bond with me, PhiPhi did not allow him or me to have contact.

Like a bomber plane she flew close over me, screaming, trying to attack me. And Schetters just followed but didn't really know what to think of it. Last year when I came back from England, one of my budgies had died. It was sweet Schetterbek... Why not PhiPhi? Why do the good ones always die early?

Don't get me wrong, I do care and love PhiPhi, but she will never be the tame sweet budgy I hoped her to become. She never attempted to come to me. But ever since I 'met' Tiger and Grey she suddenly seeks contact with me. Even sitting on my arm, head, lap. She tries to bite me, she still is not very friendly but I am so amazed... Ever since I arranged a new home for her, she is contacting me. And the day to leave her is coming closer.

So every day I see her hanging in her cage, trying to be close to me. She looks at me with those droopy eyes. Yesterday she even lowered her wings, like a young bird begging for food. I believe she knows about my plans, but it is so hard... It is so agains my feelings to let an animal go. All animals die here, only one budgy that I brought out to an aviary before, because he simply was dieing living caged, since he came from an aviary. I had no choice, and out of love I did this. Since he was just sitting in his cage, never coming out, never talks, never plays. Nothing at all. But PhiPhi is lively.

I know it is better for PhiPhi in the end, to bring her to this place where she will live in an aviary, together with other birds, a rabbit and a turtle.

But it is not easy. Right now I think about it to just see how it goes.... Maybe she just wants to tell me it will work. But I know she will not be able to fly... Tiger and Grey will catch her in no time. If Tiger is really Mau typical she will make huge leaps. PhiPhi will not be safe. I just don't know....

2 more weeks...

Time goes by... quite fast! I cannot believe I can almost say next week my kitties explore their new home!

It is quite a hassle to arrange it all. Thinking a little more about my crazy plan to pick them up myself, made me realise it has no more value than just being with them sooner. I mean we are not lucky with cheap airlines that allow 2 cats in cabin. So one of them has to be in cargo. My heart says none of the kitties stays alone during the journey. So they either go both in cargo or both in cabin.

Also, I forgot about the extra costs involving this rush flight to Cairo, a (new) passport which has to be ready in time anyway since it is possible that it takes 2 or more weeks to be processed. I cannot take this risk, since I do not want to pay extra to have a speedy processing of the passport.
So I decided to not go to Cairo myself. Instead, whenever I consider another kitty (you know, Noha still touches my heart, Magdi has allready been adopted (lucky cat ;-) ) and Anoosh is likely to be attached to Grey, I may go another time maybe with another EMRO fan. So I don't have to go alone. Because for sure my short period of hoping to go to Cairo, the search for information and planning really made me eager to see it all for myself. And it is just that little dream I always had. Like a vision from the past. No Arabian country I ever wish to visit, I always said. Except the ancient parts of Egypt. Because that history fascinates me, the piramids, Basted, the Gods and Goddesses. Programs on tv I love to see about the pharaos. And who knows after all this was all the path that lead me to those kitties. I think Egypt may behold more than I can think of.

So, it was decided Tiger and Grey will come 'alone'. And I choose KLM. They may be more expensive than Lufthansa. But they arrive at a more decent time than Lufthansa, it is a direct flight, and I know they have the name to be very good with animal transport, even have special trained pet stewards who at least guide the animals from the check in to the plane and back in land of destination. And sometimes they even fly with the animals, never leaving them unattended. I hope for this one.

Julie was so kind to do a little research and found out that KLM has no option for living cargo on this flight. Which means the cats travel in the cabin with the passengers. Since they only allow 2 or maybe 4 pets per flight, I have to wait and hope it is possible to have them fly on August 19th. Julie can only call on August 12th. And even after that moment, if a passenger with cats/dogs arrives, Tiger and Grey will be put on another flight, the next possible flight. So it is a little uncertain. But I trust on it that they will fly on August 19th. At this moment there is no reservation at all. Which is good news for us.

A lucky thing is that KLM is not charging the 200 dollar per cat, but 'only' 140 same price as Lufthansa.

Well... I just keep on begging and hoping they will arrive here on August 19th. Please let it be... Everything is ready for them, and I so can't wait to finally have something to care for again!