From Pennies To Yennies

I imagine traveling with my 3 year old tabby cat, Penny, is a lot like traveling with a small child- Of course I’m going to do it if need be, but it’s definitely not my favorite thing!

It took over 8 months to prepare Penny to travel to Japan. First, she need two back to back Rabies vaccinations, as Japan is Rabies free. Once she has both vaccines, she must not leave the United States for 6 months. There are a ton of forms to be filled out, endorsed by her vet, and the government offices in Olympia Washington. She also needs a physical saying she is fit to fly, and a carrier that meets FAA regulations.

To shorten the story, we got all of that taken care of. We left for Seattle airport with Penny in tow in her pretty new carrier. We check in for our flight and everything is fine until we tell them we’re traveling internationally with a cat. Suddenly the United agent says we don’t have enough time and should have been here an hour ago. So we ask if there’s any way we can still make this flight and she says we can, only if we have these certain forms filled out, and names 4 of the forms. Dan pulls them out and hands them to her. She tells us Penny needs to be microchipped and we pull out the form for that. After asking if she has any more brain busters for us, she claims she doesn’t even know how much it is for Penny to fly. We inform her it’s $125, and plunk down a credit card. That got her quiet quick! Penny got booked for our flight and we were on our way through security.

Minor ordeal. We got out our liquids and our laptops and took off our shoes, then I asked the security guy what to do with Penny. “If she’s not violent, you carry her through the detectors.” So out of the carrier she comes, and we walk through, and BEEEEEEEEP! I forgot to take her collar off. Whoops. Back through for another BEEEEEEEEEEEP! I left my cell phone in my pocket during all the hubbub of getting her through. Third time’s he charm and we get her back in her carrier, our shoes back on, our toiletries and computers back in our bags, and we’re off.

We take a shuttle to the international terminal, grab some food and board our flight. We are pleased that we have a two-seater by the window- Penny is a furry loving blessing to us, but we understand others probably don’t wanna be next to our shedding meowing little muppet. As we approach our seats a woman is stretching out across the two of them. She asks if these are our seats and we say yes and show her our tickets. She sat there for a moment looking disappointed, saying she was hoping to stretch out. She finally accumulates her things and goes back to her seat. That was odd. We settled in with Penny under Dan’s seat.

After takeoff, we brought Penny’s carrier into Dan’s lap so we could give her pets. The flight attendant came around and said unfortunately she had to stay under the seat 🙁 So back she went, and we took turns sticking a hand in and petting her.

She did great for the first seven hours. I imagine she calmed down and napped. Then she started getting antsy and moving around a lot. Dan took her carrier into the bathroom and let her out so she could stretch her legs. When he brought her back she had completely calmed down, and stayed that way for the rest of the flight. The flight attendant even gave her a pair of first flight wings!

We landed at Narita Airport in Tokyo, and went through immigrations. Then we had to take her to quarantine to be examined and go through the mounds of paperwork we brought. We were told that if everything was in order, it should only take an hour. So while Dan did that, I went and got our bags. Imagine my surprise when it only took 20-25 minutes! We went through customs and hit the trains. The first train to Nippori, Penny slept in her carrier in my lap.

Then the line for the one elevator in Nippori was way too long, so we made our way down the stairs to our train to Shinjuku with our giant suitcases and Penny in tow. On this train ride there were kids whispering “neko chan!” (kittycat) and pointing at Penny, and I think she enjoyed the attention. Finally we transferred one last time to ride to our home station, Roka Koen. The train was packed and we had to stand, but knowing we were so close to home made it not matter. We got off the train and waited for the elevator. We walked a block to our apartment building and let Penny into her new home.

She seemed confused at first, but while Dan ran out to buy litter and a box I set up her food and water. She immediately ate then drank which was good. Dan returned and she continued to explore the apartment as we unpacked. She ultimately settled into the top floor of her condo and surveyed things for a while 🙂