Well, we’re finally here. We arrived via Heathrow and then coach to Stansted which allowed us to catch a Ryanair flight into Carcassonne, which is only 45 mins from our house We have hired a Renault Clio for a month (FYI best deals can be found at Le Clerc supermarket!) in which time we plan to find a cheap second hand car to buy.
We had a couple of days to get over jet lag but on the Sunday (we arrived on the Wednesday) had a rendezvous in Barcelona to pick up our cat, Kitty. At the time of booking we thought Barcelona would be fine but had no idea of the demonstrations and road closures that would cause such chaos to the region.
Our preferred route alone the A9 motorway was blocked by protestors so we had to take the path over the Pyrenees. Don't do it unless the mountains are your intended destination or you fancy something in Andorra. It's a pain in the backside, particulary with a manual car as its constant gear changing and very winding. Plus the tolls are exorbitant!!!
Anyway the cat was arriving on EK185 from Dubai at around 1:20 pm so we arrived good and early to get all the paperwork sorted. Once we had found the WFS cargo building near Terminal 2, we had her pet papers processed, paid the duty (around 90 euros for a cat) and was told we had to go to the customs area in terminal 2 to get the papers stamped. We could then return and pick up the cat.
So we traipsed over to Terminal 2 and found the Customs Office. After 10 mins a lady came to see us. She told us that before the cat could be released a vet had to sign off. So to retrieve your pet you need three different people from three different departments to give three different stamps who reside in three different buildings! This is where the problem started as no vet was on site at the airport on a Sunday! They knew our cat was arriving but no-one seemed to take responsibility for making sure the vet would be there. A vet had to be called. She didn’t turn up until 5pm. Eventually at 6:15pm the poor car was released to us. Oh, and then the vet came back saying she couldn't be released as we didn't have the original health certificate. I turned out to be glued in a sleeve on top of her cage, but had it not it really would have been the final straw!! It's a common old rescue cat for f@#s sake (excuse my French) not a bloody endangered Bengal tiger!
It was now dark so it meant we would have to drive the four hours back to France in the dark. On the plus side the motorway was now open, but on the negative side is quite badly lit for a 130kph route, especially with a complaining back seat passenger. Poor Kitty had been trapped in her cage now for probably 12 plus hours and was complaining loudly in no uncertain terms about her treatment the entire trip back stopping her meowing every now and then to break wind with a stench that could strip wallpaper! Fair enough, I would probably have done similar or worse under the same circumstances.
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