Cats On a Plane

Before we begin today, let’s have a little poll: What is more fun? A) Your own epic mountain wedding with all your favorite people, or B) Taking cats on a plane? If you are not sure, please continue reading to discover the answer.

After gathering our wedding outfits (now featuring a relaxed, “lived-in” look), extra maple syrup favors (anybody missing one? I have 30…) and hugs from dear family and friends, we waved goodbye to the Whiteface Lodge and headed back to the Haven. There, amidst happy recollections and post-wedding blues, we finished packing Our Packs. “Our Packs” deserves to be in capitals, because it is not just any pack. It is The Pack that will carry us through our circa-5-month backpacking honeymoon. This means <enter drumroll>: one 70-liter pack per person to contain clothing and supplies for 10 countries, 4 seasons and a multitude of climates. Cold, dry and windy on a glacier? Sunny and hot on a tropical beach? Drizzly trek in the highlands? Warm and humid in a rice paddy? Early winter snow in the Alps? You got it! It’s in there. It’s magic.

Actually, update, it’s not magic. It is instead John literally sitting on top of my Pack, utilizing his full body weight to close it (I have a premonition of this happening many times on our journey…)  In addition to this, I have with me an extra bag of shoes, GF snacks, and Cat Things.

…Because I just remembered what this post was supposed to be about: Cats on a Plane! If you don’t know them already, John and I have two beautiful Siberian cats, both boys. They are basically our children and we love them very much. They have become an integral part of our daily lives. Things Link is good at and enjoys: being brushed while sitting upright with his feet in the air like a floppy human, eating minimum 3 meals a day and curling his 16 lb body of fluff on top of us in the morning while purring and kneading his paws. Things Ember is good at and enjoys: play-hunting, sprinting around like a lightening bolt, purring like a tractor, chewing everything in sight, and sleeping on my lap like a piece of melted taffy during car rides. Things neither of them enjoy: Going On Planes.

Long story short, Ember and Link didn’t mind the wait for the plane too much, thanks to a pinch of very safe, veterinarian-prescribed sleepy-time medication <eyes emoji>. However, neither of them enjoyed the take-off or landing (luckily it was a short flight to Florida, only 2.5 hours!) There may have been one teensy near-miss when Link pretended he was all relaxed; then, just when we least expected it, proceeded to LAUNCH himself out of the top of his crate onto the headrest of the seat behind us, yowling with pride at his brilliantly masterminded escape. Ember temporarily joined the yowling when he realized his brother was on the loose (trust me, the young couple with the new baby next to us were quieter) but then cut his losses and quickly fell back asleep (I explained to him that a plane is just a big, flying car). Link did well the rest of the ride with John’s arm permanently installed inside his crate through the top window so that Link could rest his head on his arm and fall asleep relaxed. John’s arm probably fell asleep itself after a while, but he is an amazing cat-dad and remained in position regardless, the whole rest of the ride. If John is anywhere near as close to how good of a cat-dad he is now to our future children, I couldn’t be luckier.

Cut scene to: The Sunshine State. Florida was a wonderful way to wind down after the wedding weekend and prepare for our round-the-world trip. There is something marvelously relaxing about visiting John’s parents in the Villages. Maybe it’s that everyone who lives there is retired, stress levels are at zero, and the only decision of the day is to play golf or not. Maybe it’s that their modern, simple yet spacious home never has any clutter- you know that immediately relaxed feeling of entering a hotel suite, where everything is visually serene? Maybe it’s that “the girls” are always crooning through the speakers at the perfect volume (and by girls, I mean Patsy Cline, Etta James, Brenda Lee and the rest of the 50s-60s country crew). Or, who am I kidding, maybe it’s that the clock is perpetually set to wine-thirty- who can’t be relaxed with a chilled drink in your right hand and canasta cards in your left? Not to mention, John’s parents are terrific themselves: Mr. L with his wise advice and calm nature, Mrs. L always ready for a laugh with a twinkle in her eye. We are so grateful to them both for watching our cats, thus enabling us to travel!

Since this post is getting long and I haven’t even said what we did in Florida, here we go at rapid fire!!! It was 100 degrees and sunny. We went to Busch Gardens and rode on all the roller-coasters 12 times. We played golf. We played a lot of canasta. We went bowling. We practiced being retired. We cooked delicious dinners. We helped Link and Ember settle in over the week and decorated John’s parents house with a cat tower, cat toys, cat litter boxes, cat fountains- basically all things cat. They embraced it wholeheartedly, with smiles, and John’s mom even pet Link and played with Ember with a laser light and verbalized that she liked both of them (don’t worry, John’s dad is a true cat lover! 🙂 ) We are very appreciative- we know our kitties are in good hands. After crying hysterically (well, mostly me, but John was also sad) when leaving them, we boarded the plane to Iceland, where it is certainly not 100 degrees. And to answer the poll from the beginning, choice A is correct.