I will be leaving Bonaire on Sept. 24 and will be travelling with 2 large dogs, a cat and a bird.

I'm looking for a local Miami BT animal lover with a big heart that would be willing to help me get through the airport/customs/car rental/loading process. I just don't think I can do it all myself without being arrested for 'leaving my bags unattended' by the overzealous rent-a-cops or GI-Joes running around the airport!

If you are game to be a part of Dara's Travelling Circus (complete with dogs in tu-tus and talking parrots) contact me directly at darawalter@bonairelive.com

I have thought of some other options like hiring a personal shopper or kidnapping a porter....or maybe an off-duty prostitute who likes animals :-)

I'll be sure to write a trip report when I get back to CO: Exiting Paradise :-(

Miamians! Come to her rescue! And bring along your documentary filmmaker!

Dara, I wish I were on the other side of the country to help you out... We'll be in touch via email. ;-)

Will you be staying in Miami or traveling elsewhere in Florida?

Won't the person helping have to be on the plane too? Last time I flew you couldn't get past the security into the gate area without a boarding pass and I would think that the restrictions going into the customs/immigration area would be even more strict. I could be wrong however.

Niki, I'm sure one day there will be a west coast adventure too :-)

Okay Gail, don't laugh, I'm renting an SUV and driving cross country to Crested Butte, CO. And, no, I don't want to even contemplate lodging along the way at this point :-o

I'm going to need help with logistics in the public part of the airport; I think I can get a porter to help me get the menagerie that far. But then I'll have to have someone to 'mind the baggage' while I go and bring the SUV curbside and also help to get both dogs into the truck without losing one:-) I'm sure your forming a mental image (and you're probably laughing).

The bird and I will arrive in MIA at noon, which will give me enough time to rent the SUV, install the dog barrier and get back to claim/clear the dogs and cat. But then I'll need someone to watch the bird......

Indeed, this will be funny to watch I'm sure!

It would almost be worth a 5 hour drive to Miami to see this!!!!

Dara, wish I could be there to help..would it be worth the while to get a limo driver to meet you at the airport..and pay him his fare to help you to your car with the "kids" and then he would be on his merry way...not sure Miami rates but about 80 dollars in New jersey to go 45 miles to airport....you just need a "carrier"...good luck....

Dara, I also have nothing to contribute but want to see my Post count go up...

Strongly suggest "borrowing" SkyCap in the baggage claim area, remember you still have to clear U.S. Customs (NO sense of humor) with your traveling circus. A $10.00 bill (at least) will make you trip SOOOO much less stressful.

Ha, ha, Meryl, can you say "cargo van" :-) The dog kennels are 'grande' 2 1/2'w x 3 1/2'l x 2 1/2'h.....but you have spurred some additional thoughts regarding options to explore......this is a good thing! A BT brainstorming session!

Anyway, I still need help inside the airport with my bird while I'm dealing with customs for the other critters.......it's that "can't leave your baggage unattended" thing again......

Print a sign that says, "This baggage in not unattended. I am a bird. I am attending this luggage until the dogs get back with the cat and the girl."

Dara,

Let me make sure I understand the crazy scenario here. (LOL!) You will purportedly arrive in Miami w/ bird & luggage, clear customs, obtain luggage from baggage claim w/ bird in hand, and rent SUV. You will then park SUV, return to claim dogs & cat w/ bird in tow -- no unattended luggage to worry about because luggage will be in parked SUV.??? Therefore, you will need assistance in getting 2 dog carriers, 1 cat carrier and bird back to SUV???

(Please make corrections to above scenario if necessary.)

Otherwise, if above scenario is correct, see if you can reserve a flat bed (or similar 'large item' transporting mechanism) ahead of time for transporting the animal carriers and have a porter assist you with this. (They're not like grocery carts where you can leave them in the parking lot, so they should want to assist in this manner.) A porter might be able to stand with the animals at curbside while you retrieve the SUV from parking lot. Tip gratuitously of course!

I hope this helps! Lot's of brainstorming here! GOOD LUCK!

Dara,

I will be happy to help you all the way from Bonaire-- just send the airline ticket to my address here!! :–)

I like Niki's suggestion of letting the bird watch his own carrier! I was also pondering if he might fit into one of the airport lockers for a brief stay :-) If the temperature is okay outside, he may be able to stay in the SUV, but I can't count on it....and I don't want to have to carry him along back in to claim the dogs and cat - that's already gonna be a handful to move.

Greta, you have the picture, more-or-less. There will be no luggage with the bird and me, just my backpack. With the animals and their kennels I will have no room for luggage in the SUV or the mental capacity to deal with it! I clear customes and have the bird inspected by the vet in San Juan (to the tune of $236, OUCH!!) so hopefully there will be no customs issues in MIA with him. And after I rent the SUV, I'll need to go find a PetSmart and buy a barrier and dog/cat/bird food (if I had an angel, I could have it shipped to him/her to bring to me :-) Then it's back to the airport to meet AmeriJet and claim the rest of the family......and everything that implies.

I'm thinking "personal shopper" is gonna be in order here - one that's an animal lover :-)

I've not had good luck with porters in the Miami Airport - 'customer service' is not in their vocabulary (or their job description) even if you bat your lashes and summon up crocodile tears.

Once I get everybody on board, I'm hoping for a smooth trip. I travelled from MI to MN in a little Toyota Corolla hatchback with three cats a bird and two rabbits once.....the dogs will make this a little more challenging :-)

I'm still pondering options.......

Dara,

If you want to route through southwest Missouri (Interstate 44) you would be more than welcome to spend the night on our farm. We would be about 1/2 hour off the interstate but we have lots of room where you could let the dogs run. Your room would be in the basement and my cats don't go down there so your cat could have free run there. Let me know if you want more information.

Belinda

Niki...that needs to be in a movie No wait, Dara's trip needs to be in a movie..."SWF in search of AAB to help with menagerie. Language is no barrier, as long as you speak animal"

Dara, I'm kind of giggling thinking that you arrived on Bonaire with just the *mudball*...and you are leaving with 3 additions! LOL! And your dogs arent' little...so this will make for an adventure I wish I were closer to help as well Come on chatters! Someone PLEASE step in to help our Dara

Sorry Dara,

I would have driven to Miami to give you a hand- i have travelled with animals and understand the difficulties, but I am teaching that day. If you can rearrange any way, then let me know-or if there is anything I can do to help you in advance of the date. If you come up with any other options or thoughts, post them up- maybe witht he whole board we can work something out.

Jacqueline

Ha, ha! I may be close to finding help in MIA! Inez and Pablo, of CASABLANCA fame, have a daughter in MIA. She's going back to Argentina before I get there but is going to canvass her friends to find an ANGEL......maybe there really is hope for help!

Cynde, I actually arrived with the mudball and the feathered flirt....the dogs are the new addition.....and I know how unhelpful the porters can be from trying to get from baggage claim to the ALM counter with the cat,bird, bicycle and 4 pieces of excess baggage.....

I have someone bringing atlas pages to plot out my route and stops.....I went the south route last time....I'll have to look at the map again. Maybe sw Missouri would be an option and I'd get to see a different part of the country. I'm hoping to catch up with Kelly in LA for maybe a lunch or dinner stop.......maybe Caren Eckrich's mom in TX if I go that route......

It's all gonna work out fine!

Dara,

I really do hope someone is able to come to your aide. I would do it in a heartbeat, but I'm nowhere near Miami. I also hope you have a map in hand with a direct route from the airport to the nearest PetsMart just in case you have to get the supplies yourself. Gosh, and to think I have it tough with a wild & wiggly 2-year old.

Dara
it will probably be the painkillers I'm on talking right now , but ....
have the cat eat the bird , the dogs chase away the cat and as far as I can see you only have to deal with a backpack and two dogs?
No ? Not good ?

sjoske

off topic , greta:
we have a wild & wigly 2 year old as well .
today she had a ( little ) nose bleed : called a doctor ; guess what she said????

Hold her nostrill pressed to her nose bone for TEN MINUTES!!!!

DÛH !!!

sjoske

I'd kind of like to take the bird and cat to CO along with the dogs......I've grown attached to them over the past 12 years ;-)

All this talk of insurance and hurricanes has made me realize I have to plan for the event that I get stuck in San Juan and the critters make it to Miami :-( One more thing to think about! Maybe AmeriJet would fly me cargo if I rode in a kennel too.....then we'd all be together, bad weather or not :-)

Dara
you might wanna check, but i don't think there are airport lockers anymore anywhere in the US at least since 9/11

Good Luck
Surrounded by 3 most lazydogs Joe

I hadn't realised that all the airport lockers were gone - but it makes sense.

I'm still hoping to find an angel........

Joe, may you never have to travel by plane with your 3 most lazy dogs!

I have a friend in MI who shows Kuvas (Big white malamut type dogs) She was on her way to a show, sitting on the plane looking out the window seeing one of her dogs running towards the runway....I have nightmares of a similar scene happening in BON when someone else drops my pets off at the airport. Maybe drugs are in order (for all of us!)

Dara!;-0

There's a thought on how to fund your next trip to Bon!!

sjosss

Jeeze, if drugs were the answer, I'd be rolling in cash like some of the locals, and just charter a plane for me, my pets and all of my stuff.....straight to Crested Butte!

Reality is, I'm just a poor, starving artist trying to make my way back home from paradise......

Dara,

Correction on above....from paradise to paradise!
My ideal is Bonaire in the winter and the Rocky Mountains in the summer! (Even through I moved to Aspen as a ski bum 33 years ago!)

I keep hoping for a Miami Angel for you! Sorry we're on the "wrong end" of the your trip to be of any help.

Hopefully Dara will give us a 'trip report' on the Circus' Progress to CO. It sounded as though 'Progress' would be the proper description for her trip.

Well, plans being what they are, and subject to change.....I am now on about "Plan K" for evacuation :-)

You can't always believe what you are told, so it now looks like I don't have to deal with the airport, my dogs are arriving in the middle of the night and I claim them at an off site warehouse. Needless to say I am over-nighting at a pet-friendly hotel near the airport (www.pets-allowed-hotels.com, thank you Angela!)and will be able to claim the pets (US Customs open 24/7) and forward my own personal effects (Mail Boxes Etc/UPS store :-) without the assistance of an "angel". This is a good thing, because it seems that all the angels have prior commitments and St. Francis is seldon allowed out of heaven himself.

Yep, I'll post a trip report with all the helpful links for those who may someday find themselves in a travelling circus :-)

Dara,

Did you get e mail about the U haul shrink tape? Let me know ....???

Angela

Dara good luck....I guess its hard even for angels to be everywhere! Good luck to ya!!!! I'm sure Mail box's Etc. , Pet friendly hotels, and even the US customs has a few angels working overtime! Would love to hear how things turnout

Dara,

The beginning entry in this thread said you were leaving on the 24th yet just above still seems in the future tense. ???? Part of Plan K or 'best laid plans...'?? Or just complex plans???

Dara, sounds as if things may be falling into place for you. Good luck with all "legs" of the journey -- pet and transportation wise!

Dara -

Remember us if you need our address to ship stuff. We'll either be here or will alert our neighbor.

Sound like Plan K will work. Hope it does and will see you in a month or so.

Bea

Glen, I think Sept 24th is still in the future....unless perhaps you adhere to a Mayan calendar....I think I'm still in August?????? Or maybe I'm just in the time warp of a bad dream........ :-)

Thanks for all the virtual support on this - it helps me to keep a sense of humor and also to find different ways to look for solutions!

Also, an interesting little factoid: periodically, and without predictability, American/American Eagle institutes a "box embargo" i.e. if it's not in a suitcase they won't take it as excess baggage. Does anybody out there have a suitcase for a large bird cage???? (Just kidding:-) Although I still could ship my bicycle - must be that particular rectangular shaped piece of corrugated board isn't a "box"......

Dara,

I guess I am the one in the time warp!!! Maybe long running PBD. August 24th has passed, though, hasn't it???!!! :–)

Other airlines do the box thing also. American did it once to me in NY; had to buy a bag to contain the boxes-- then they were ok, just not bare boxes.

And ALM did it once at Kennedy. I arrived at the KLM counter with several boxes of Christmas presents and else for Gabrielle and family, only to be told 'no boxes'. Had to buy two large duffle bags and put all in them. Just made the plane and Christmas; left a pile of empty cardboard boxes in the terminal! Travel is fun.

It does sound as though you have the plan well in hand now.

"well in hand" would be overly optimistic....I think after today I'm on about "Plan M"

I'm beginning to think that hiring a boat to take us to the Panama Canal and then buying a VW bus and driving to Colorado might be easier than what I'm doing now :-) and it sounds like a totally retro thing to do!

Well, the travelling circus is about to embark on "The Incredible Journey" Miami to Crested Butte.

We got thru the alphabet soup of evacuation plans and are keeping our fingers crossed for no hickups between BON and MIA.

Thanks to everyone for help, support, favors and suggestions. I must conceed, staying here would be much easier than leaving with four pets.

te oro, Boneiru! See you on the web cams!

Dara, good luck on your trip. Wish I were closer to help! See you on the other side

Via con dios, Dara! We await your update once your journey has been completed. Hang in there.....it will be over soon and a new life will begin for all of you. Ayo. Carole

Dara ...good luck! keep us posted..."Happy Trails to you!"

Dara made it to CO!! I haven't talked to her yet, but her dad said she made it - with adventures, of course.

I'm sure she will post her travels, but I thought people might like to know.

Bea

Bea, thanks for the update on Dara's Big Adventure. She will have some tales (tails??) to tell us, for sure, once she is at her final destination and a little more settled in. Can't wait to hear more! Carole

Bea, thanks for letting us know. I have been thinking about her, and wondering how she got on with the traveling circus Let her know the BT board says hi

Bea, thanks so much for the post....I have been thinking of her and wondering how her and the animals were doing....I hope the animals made it safely too. Can't wait to read her trip adventure.

Angela

Well, Marvin talked to her the other day - and the dogs are fine but wondering why it is cold all of a sudden <g>! So, hopefully the cat and bird are OK also. We will meet sometime this week for coffee, so we'll know more.

I'll let her know people are thinking of her.