Last weekend my husband and I finally settled on our Christmas plans. We are going to take a simple, inexpensive trip to an undisclosed location and just relax, spend time together, and catch up with ourselves. As it’s going to be a home-away-from-home trip, I decided I’d like to take our cat with us. It’s a short flight, we’d be door-to-door in three hours, and it’s better than leaving her alone at home, even with the very best cat-sitter (which my neighbor is.)
I can take my very small cat in the cabin as my one piece of carry-on luggage. Perfect. But this privilege will cost me $200! That’s more than the cost of my own seat, and the cat will be on the floor for most of the flight. In addition, I will also have to pay to check my bag as my cat will be my hand luggage!
I realize this policy is in place to discourage people from traveling with their entire menageries, but right now I am not happy and the only place I can come to whine about this is here to you.
It is Whiny Wednesday. What’s got your goat (or cat or ferret or turtle?)
Guilt-trips…family making you feel horrible because you can not give them what they want. We had a request to fly several states for a weekend! Most times this seems interesting, but at this time of the year with such short notice it is quite cost prohibitive. In fact I looked and the tickets would be 1200 each person! that i would be more then our mortgage payment for the two of us!
Not too much right now, except it seems recovery from a cold is very slow.
Just a word of warning – be SURE you can take your cat as carry on. A few years ago i was told that i could take my cat that way & when i got to the gate, the agent told me that had not been their policy for a several years – i would have to check my cat as luggage. To add insult to injury, they told me my carrier (chosen to be carry on) was too small & they made me buy one of their carriers for $50. Fair warning, what you are told prior to flight & what the agents tell you when you arrive may not be the same thing!
P.S. – hope you have a lovely time on your planned Christmas trip. 🙂
Well I was on the fence about this anyway, but I think you cemented my decision. The cat stays home. 🙁
last year at christmas, my sister, who had been married for four months, was pregnant. i thought i would be okay seeing her, as i live 3000 miles away, but as soon as she walked in and i saw her bump, i had to leave the room for about 1/2 hour, call a friend for support, and hug my little nephew until he scurried away to see what presents were for him!
so last year, my husband and i decided that if i was not pregnant this christmas, we would take a vacation to a warm, tropical place. well, this year is his family’s christmas, so we have to go visit them. and we don’t have the time or money to go somewhere else and take that trip. i know it sounds selfish, but i just wanted to go somewhere and drink margaritas and visit with other folks who didn’t want to spend the holidays with their families. it’s not that i don’t like his family, i love them, but i just wish we could go away and not have to check off one more year of the kids getting older and us with no little one to spoil.
it’s still going to be merry, and i definitely won’t be turning down that third glass of vino!
Southwest used to let me fly my cat free under the seat. That was 10 years ago, tho. I think they’ve just figured out that if people want to fly with their pets, their willing to pay whatever it takes. Cha-ching. Just like we all put up with the crappy seats and the crappy snacks – because ultimately we have to get where we want to go. Sux. Have a nice trip. I think it’s cool you’re taking your cat. Vacation is always a little bittersweet for us because we miss our kitties so much!
Oh boy, sorry for the heinous typos and poor grammer. It’s been a long day.
Grammar.