With a title like this, I don’t mean to imply that getting to Madrid is always a nightmare. I’m sure in most cases it goes a great deal easier than my experience. I also need to point out that it wasn’t really even the Spanish side that made things stressful. Actually, most of my problems began before I ever left U.S. Soil.
We all Knew This Wouldn’t be Easy
When a process that is supposed to take three months takes six, could I really have expected moving day to go smoothly. For those of you who don’t know, the process of acquiring VISAs, work permits, and all the other proper documentation has not been easy for our family. We first made the decision to move at the end of July and spent the next seven months trying to make that happen. During that stretch there were many false hopes and several times when one of the two of us (my wife and I) considered calling the whole thing off. In the end though, cooler heads prevailed and we decided to persevere though all the delays and frustrations. With all of that finally behind us, I’d hoped to catch a break on the actual moving part. While I didn’t catch that little bit of buena suerte (good luck) at least I’m here. What follows is the best description my jet-lagged mind can come up with.
Paperwork, we don’t need no stinkin paperwork.
On Thursday March 3, Kelly, Ben, Buddy (dog), and I made our way to the cargo area of Cleveland Hopkins Airport. The area itself is located on Cargo Rd. (big surprise), just south of the airport’s main terminal off of State Rt. 237. The building resembles a simple warehousing facility with a main counter front and center as you enter the building, and a glass walled office to the left.
Our first surprise that morning came when we were informed, almost immediately, that the kennel we had purchased for Buddy was too small. This was despite the fact that we purchased an extra large kennel for a dog that is large, but certainly not extra large at 65 pounds. The only reason we even went with the extra large was that we thought we were upsizing to meet the regulations. I’m convinced that really large dogs, like mastiffs or great danes, must be required to travel in a kennel the size of a tractor trailer.
Anyways, our kennel that we had just purchased for $120 wouldn’t work, but they just so happened to have a larger one in the back that they would love to sell us for $250. Cue your best cash register noise as we recognize this as our first unexpected cost. Of course with my flight leaving in less than three hours, we had no choice. Additional expense = $130.
After we were done with the whole kennel fiasco, we headed into the office to take care of the paperwork and send Buddy on his way. Not so fast. It turns out that despite going through their requirements with a fine tooth comb, we were missing one very important document. Our missing document caused the ladies behind the counter to huddle as if they were contemplating the hidden secrets of the lost ark. Eventually they returned to us and said they couldn’t ship Buddy without the necessary form. It would have been nice if they would have stressed the importance of said form on one of the multiple phone calls we had prior to showing up with less than three hours to the flight.
At this point though we did have a little bit of good fortune, a couple of frantic phone calls to the West Main Veterinary Clinic produced the necessary paperwork and Buddy was back on schedule to fly. I need to give a special thanks here to Doctor Gary Evanich and his staff for making this happen. They were nice enough to drop what they were doing and fax the required paperwork.
Paperwork cleared, we moved onto the all important part of the transaction where the money changes hands. Again we were in for a surprise. Turns out the new kennel was heavier than the old one, pushing Buddy’s overall shipping weight over the century mark and jacking up our price by nearly $600. So if you are keeping track at home, we are up to $850 more than the airline estimate. Unfortunately these people know that they have you left with no other choice. Out came the credit card and Buddy was carted off to the cargo plane.
Can we let him fly?
These are words you never want to hear when your dog has just been loaded onto an airplane and is due to arrive in a foreign country in 15 hours. Can you say worst case scenario?
Shaken, but relieved that Buddy was on his way, we headed to the main terminal. By now we were cutting it close on time. In less than two hours, my flight took off, and Kelly had to make the return trip home to pick up our oldest son after school. You could say I got a curbside drop off. I would say that I was lucky she stopped the car.
On my own at the front door of the terminal I headed in to get boarding passes etc… Everything here started out okay until I was informed by the man behind the counter that I couldn’t fly. Because I was travelling by myself to a foreign nation, I was required to have a return ticket. Now it looked like Buddy might be the only one arriving in Madrid on Friday morning.
Luckily I had a creative sales agent and he was able to find a loophole in the policy that let me travel without a VISA and on a one way ticket. Even better, there were no additional charges for the discovery of this loophole. Frankly I’m not even sure what it was. Once the counter rep told me I could fly, I just shook my head yes and grabbed my boarding passes.
Just check in at the Continental Quickpak Counter at the Cargo Facility. They will get you all taken care of.
The flight itself was uneventful. I don’t have any great stories of running through the airport ala O.J. Simpson hurdling suitcases and executing perfect spin moves on flight attendants. All went well and I arrived in Madrid about 7am local time, 1am Ohio time. Customs was a breeze for once and I found myself standing at the baggage claim. Here was where it hit me that I was in a foreign country, where I don’t speak the language, by myself. It was at once both an exhilarating and terrifying moment.
Things continued to go well until I headed to the cargo facility in my rental car. Madrid’s cargo area is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING like the one at Cleveland. I was told before leaving that I only needed to go to the cargo facility and that I could check in with the Continental Cargo desk. I found the area just fine, but there was no Continental Cargo building and when I went the large multi-story building with the words “Area De Carga” on the outside, I was greeted by two very nice ladies whose English was about as good as my Spanish and who had never heard of Continental. I spent the next half an hour driving up and down the Avenida Central looking for any sign of Continental Airlines. That’s when I caught a break. I noticed on one of the signs that it listed cargo for about a dozen airlines, including many American airlines.
When I went in to the main office I was almost instantly relieved as the sign on the inner door listed Continental. It would have been nice if Continental had told me this at some point in the process. After struggling through the language barrier with the first clerk “Necessito recoger mi perro” (I need to pick up my dog), I was helped by an angel of a woman who explained everything to me. After several delays and another language butchering conversation, this time to the office of Importacion, I had the paperwork approved and Buddy and I set out for our new home. I don’t know who was more relieved.
Home at last.
In early afternoon Buddy and I arrived at our new home, some 8000 miles and 24 hours from our Ohio home. While I can’t speak for Buddy, I’m excited about the opportunities that Madrid holds for our family over the next two years. Although the arrival was anything but easy, the important part is that we are here and that in about seven hours we will be reunited as a family when Kelly arrives with the boys. Stay tuned, hopefully the next few days will bring pictures of our new home and a little bit about the area we live in.
Hasta Luego (until later)
Glad you made it! Hope all unfolds more smoothly now you've arrived than the trip did to get there.
ReplyDelete