American Friends in Portugal facebook group is an amazing resource that has made it possible for who knows how many to relocate to Portugal. There is no way we could have done it without them.
It's become a tradition - after all the questions, the doubts, the requests for info, the "You can do this!" cheerleading, the milestones (we got our D7s!) - to post a photo from the airport showing people, pets, and blue bags to announce "We made it!" Here's ours:
I wouldn’t let myself believe it until I was actually standing in Portugal, but here we are! Four humans, two dogs, two cats (second cat is in a carrier behind the red bag on the left). Those last couple of weeks – and especially the last couple of days – were insanely hectic. The final stretch of coping with the belongings of two households, the vet visit, the list of last-minute practicalities which seemed never finished, the long drive to Dallas for the first of four flights. We were lucky to have the support of friends and family helping us get it all done and seeing us off.To get to the East coast we flew JSX, the only airline we could find that is currently flying pets in the US. JSX is a semi-private jet service and therefore more expensive than mainstream airline flights. However, we found this a great compromise to the high cost of charter pet flights, because for us the cost was approximately the same as renting something like a suburban or van to drive all of us, our pets, and belongings cross country plus several nights’ accommodation along the way and was of course much faster and less squished. (To be fair, this was the most expensive leg of our journey).
Our pets traveled in the cabin with us and were able to get used to the idea of air travel with us before travelling in the hold on their next flights. Bonus that the flights on JSX were very comfortable, I imagine like flying first class with your pets, and much less stressful most airport experiences.
We had our USDA paperwork mailed to a family member in New York. This turned out to be a savior for us as our paperwork was delayed and ended up being delivered the day of our flight out of JFK. Lesson here is to ask your vet to check the status of the certification paperwork if the FedEx tracking isn’t updating. Luckily, they were able to make a correction on our paperwork and still have it arrive on time. I am so thankful I selected morning delivery for our FedEx priority overnight return shipping label.
We flew SATA Azores Airlines out of JFK because of their shorter flight times, large dog policy, and less busy vet experience. We also took advantage of the free stopover in Ponta Delgada. We took four days to rest after the last-minute stress of everything involved with wrapping up our lives in the US, and to see some of the beautiful island of São Miguel, before jumping into our new lives in Portugal. If it works for you, we highly recommended this. The vet, Frank, at the Ponta Delgada Airport was super nice and helpful. Our animals were waiting for us at baggage by the time we made it through the passport check. When Frank saw us greet them, he came over and started scanning their microchips and processing their paperwork, so that we could exit the airport as quickly as possible and let the dogs check out the closest grass patch.
We’ve felt completely inspired and encouraged by American Friends and everyone who wrote files, those who made posts, those who added helpful comments, and the amazing admins who hold it all together and keep the site alive, encouraging all of us do it yourselfers. Special shout out to Sally Sparks who helped ease my concerns about getting our large dog and her carrier through The SATA crate size requirement seem to switch height and width and I could not find a crate that would meet their requirements.
How could we have gotten four animals to Portugal without y’all? And yet here they are. And here we are.
This community helped us not feel panicked and answered many questions along the way. Like when I discovered that we old people sometimes have fingerprints that don’t register on fingerprint scanners. Or when the notary refused to notarize our passport copies. Not to mention the FILES, and the checklists, timelines, tips, and most of all, the attitude of “You can do this!” When we watched the FedEx truck arrive – it was our turn to think OMG, D7!!!! We’re really going! We’ll do another post on our D7 story to help keep the info flowing.
Photo above by Nuno Miranda Alves, who we were SO happy to see at the Lisbon Airport. On the way across the Vasco de Gama bridge, he told us all about the amazing cat rescue on the bridge of the day before, about the flamingos spotted by the youngest of the family and the storks on the tall electric towers, helped me with my questions about Portuguese, told us the stories of his rescue cats. As we passed though the Alentejo, we discussed how the land there is and isn’t like Texas. And finally helped us haul all that stuff up the flight of stairs to our apartment. Thanks, Nuno!
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