My Quarantine Diary - Day 1

It's been a while, so here's a quick update:

We decided to leave Brazil and in the middle of planning and trying to sell our apartment, we were found a match for adoption and have adopted two beautiful girls.  So now we're an Anglo-Brazilian family, but still moving to the UK.  Then along comes the corona virus to make things complicated.  We decided that I would  go first, as arrivals need to quarantine for 14 days, then I can find a house and get everything ready.  So here's my quarantine diary.

Day 0

The day has finally come, after 9 years living abroad, I’m coming back to the UK!  True to form, the year 2020 has taken our carefully laid plans, suspiciously coughed all over them and caused a massive rethink.  Well, not to be beaten, the day has finally arrived, if 3 months too late and I’m in Scotland, isolating in my old bedroom!

 

The flight was ok, but a bit of a surreal affair.  All the airport has social distancing reminders everywhere, and marks on the floor to remind people to stay 2m apart (or 1.5m in Europe), but people don’t seem to pay attention to it.  Boarding the plane still appears like boarding at any other time, with people so eager to get on board that they don’t think how close they are standing.  Interestingly, the Amsterdam to Aberdeen flight was worse for this, no regard for social distancing at all!  For the Sao Paulo to Amsterdam flight, people appeared to be (for the most part) following the separation marks and disembarking row at a time as requested. 

 

The airports were also very strange.  Joinville is tiny, so not much to say about it, but Guarulhos – Sao Paulo’s international airport – was a ghost town!  I’ve seen it so quiet when catching one of the last flights at night, but my flight was at 15:05 on a Friday – it should have been heaving!  Then I boarded and saw a half-empty plane.  I was lucky enough to have a premium economy seat (a big ‘wow’ dripping with sarcasm) and there was hardly anyone in that section; I had the 4 middle seats to myself with an unobstructed view to the window, no one in front to put their seat back and no one behind for me to worry about putting my seat back and limiting their leg space.  Best of all, no queue for the toilets!  The service was a bit limited, but they did their best in the circumstances, straight after dinner, they dropped off a ‘goody bag’ with some chocolate, an apple, a cake, a can of coke and a bottle of water to make up for reduced service during the flight.  It’s not like normal KLM service, but with all the e-mails they sent about reduced service, it was more than I expected!

 

I was surprised that there was no health screening on arrival in Amsterdam – I was expecting at least a temperature check, but there was nothing but a constant reminder to wear a mask, wash your hands and keep your distance.  Thus began my 10-hour layover…

 

If you have 10 hours to kill in Amsterdam, I can heartily recommend catching a train into the city centre and passing the time there.  If you’re not in the middle of a pandemic and travelling from the country with the second worst number of COVID 19 cases and deaths (2.7M cumulative cases, 94,000 deaths) it’s not the best idea, so I tried to make myself comfortable.  Big mistake.  Schiphol – Amsterdam Airport – is one of the better airports I’ve been to and they have a good provision of comfortable seating, including some pleasantly reclined seats.  After an 11-hour flight with limited sleep, it wasn’t long before I found myself dozing, not something I would recommend when you’re on your own with no one else to look after your belongings!  So I got a coffee and spend the rest of my time between sitting, walking, eating, drinking, sitting, walking and sitting a bit more. I love travel, but airports are always a low point.

 

Day 1

Finally, the home straight, the short hop to Aberdeen.  After all that time, I inevitably slept most of the way there.  I put my jacket on to get off the plane, it’s summer, but I can suffer a bit of warmth to make it easier to carry my cases.  Who am I kidding, warmth?  IT was colder than when I left Brazil, a chilly day in winter and this is Scottish summer!  Home sweet home!

 

Again there was no real health screening beyond a couple of hand sanitisers on the walls and reminders to keep your distance.  On arrival in the UK, it’s obligatory to enter your flight details into an online form along with the details of where you will spend your 14 days of quarantine (unless travelling from an exempt country) so I showed my printout and that was that!

 

Although I spent almost all my time since the start of the pandemic in isolation (except for the occasional necessary forays) and despite wearing masks and my hands consuming more alcohol in a day than I drink in a year, I can’t guarantee that I didn’t pick up COVID on my travels, so I assume I am contaminated and am taking every precaution possible.  It has slightly dampened my homecoming, but the last thing I want is to pass this nasty virus on to my parents, so it’s masks and distancing until I know I am not contaminated.  So I sat in the back seat of the car, like a taxi passenger, for the trip to Forres.  I then sat at the other end of the room, wearing a mask to talk to my parents, wiping down everything I touch.  Most of my time will be spent in my old bedroom, or the other bedroom which has been deputised as my home office.  No hugs or anything, no going out and definitely no going to see my Nan.  Two weeks to go…

Taking Cats to Brazil - Part 3

Chaos, Confusion, Incompetence and Lack of Care

Economy class reaches
its logical conclusion!

So the plane is coming into land, out the window, Miami is creeping ever closer and one of the flight attendants came over to my seat.  I should wait until the end of disembarking and then take Pretzel off the plane.  A wheelchair (???) had been requested to help take the cats to the gate agent (again, ???)  When I pointed out that the cats were supposed to be in the hold, I was told that I was responsible for getting the cats to the gate agent.  Ok, maybe she’s referring to the agent at the arrival gate then.  They can’t seriously expect us to make our way through a busy airport balancing two cat carriers on a wheelchair???

Miss X

The answer came fairly soon that, not they don’t.  Wheelchairs (as is obvious to me) are only for disabled passengers, I was told by a member of the ground crew, getting the cats to the departure gate (yes, departure gate) was my responsibility.  I could get a trolley once I’d left the air bridge.  I’m expected to pay for it?  It’s only about $5…  This response surprised me, after all I had paid $150 apiece to carry the cats.  The flight attendant (I can’t remember her name, but I’ll call her Jane, to make things easier) pointed out to the member of ground crew (I can think of plenty names for her, but they’re not particularly savoury, so let’s call her Miss X, and you can replace the X as you see fit) that the cats were supposed to be in the hold, the fact they were here was American Airlines’ fault.  “Not my problem,” was the sarcastic response.

Still waiting...

So Jane and I headed off the air bridge to speak to a panicking member of gate staff (let’s call him panicky Pete) about how to get the cats across to our gate.  The first problem was that there were no trolleys. Secondly, no one around would use one of the carts to carry them.  Jane again asked Pete to call someone and he responded by shouting that he was doing what he could.  Eventually, Sheila appeared – someone had finally realised that as the cats were supposed to be in the hold, they could be transported to the next plane by the same people that would have taken them had they actually been in the hold.  Crisis averted, but it had taken almost an hour of panic and shirking responsibility until the problem was resolved.  Not the most professional conduct.  Jane was particularly helpful though – if she hadn’t argued our case, we may well have been brushed off, and then would have had further problems when we turned up at the departure gate with the cats.  Jane told use to ask the flight attendant on the next flight to remind the captain that there are animals in the hold (to ensure it is pressurised) and ensure that the cats made it to the plane. 

Our departure gate was some way from the arrivals one, so we had to use escalators and a monorail – that would have been fun with the cats…

The plane was a surprise.  I’d been on some old planes before, but I’m sure this was older than me.  With all the flights I’d been on, I have become over-familiar with the repeated mantra of “luggage must go into the bins wheels first,” which of course only applies if there is space to do so.  The only way it could actually fit was by putting it in sideways – I’ve never seen so little space in a plane used for long haul, international flights.  Then there was the entertainment system: three small screens at the front of each compartment and manual dials for audio channel and volume.  I wonder whether all long haul American Airlines flights have the same low-tech amenities or whether it’s special for the Miami to Curitiba/Porto Alegre route.  The in-flight service wasn’t too great either.  I’ll stop complaining about United, as it turns out they’re ten times better than American (though that isn’t saying much.)

After one of the most boring long haul flights of my life, we arrived in Curitiba – the one positive thing I have to say about American.  It is so much easier being able to fly directly to Curitiba than flying to São Paulo, going through immigration and customs there, then connecting to Curitiba.

Inspection area in Curitiba
Airport

I was surprised to collect my luggage before going through immigration, but this actually worked out quite well for us.  We collected the cats, loaded up some trolleys and headed to the short immigration queue.  (So short in fact – as people only went through as their luggage arrived – that there was no need for separate queues for Brazilians and foreigners.)

Arrival in Curitiba with full food packets

This is the part where I explain why we’re never flying with American Airlines again (sorry, I know I promised that in part 2!)  The food bags for the cats were intact.  You may remember I pointed out that  one of the requirements American has for taking cats in the hold is providing a food and water dish and a packet of food.  Secondly, the water dishes were bone dry.  Knowing how the cats behave when they are stressed, I can’t see them drinking the entire dish dry, let alone catching every last drop.  There was no sign that it had spilled either.  Maybe it evaporated?  If so, they temperature would not be suitable for carrying animals on a 9-hour flight.  Is it just me that thinks that failing to give food (which was on hand in a zip-lock bag) and water in such a long trip is not only a breach of the trust that we placed in the Airline but irresponsible and cruel?

Thankfully the cats were in good health, though thirsty.  When we got them to the hotel and they began to relax.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of the "Taking Cats to Brazil" story, in which our intrepid heroes finally reach the Promised Land...  I mean Pato Branco!

Taking Cats to Brazil - Part 1

It’s Never Easy

My wife and I had decided that on our next trip to Brazil, we’d take our cats with us and leave them with my mother in law for the time being.  As was to be expected, it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t cheap; in fact everyone involved seemed to want a piece of the action.

When I booked the trip, I was in the UK on business, so after lengthy planning discussions over the phone at odd times of day, we settled on the American Airlines option; San Francisco to Curitiba via Miami with the cats in the hold.  Most planes have a pressurised compartment in the hold for transporting animals and this was the only option for getting to Brazil with American Airlines (United would allow cats in the cabin, but they couldn’t guarantee the rules for another airline to get from São Paulo to Curitiba.)  Sheila researched the requirements for taking cats into Brazil while I researched the requirements for taking the cats on the plane.

The travel advice varies according to the country you are travelling to as well as the country you are traveling from – always check for the most recent requirements, as they may change.  When travelling from the USA, the best place to get travel advice is the USDA (US Department of Agriculture.)  They advised us of the requirements for taking cats to Brazil:

• Rabies vaccination (the USDA recommends at least 30 days before departure, but this is not officially stated by Brazil)
• Treatment for external and internal parasites within 15 days of departure.  The USDA recommends you have the treatment done when you take the cats for the health certificate examination
• Health certificate examination (recommended within 10 days of departure)
• USDA endorsement

We made our appointment with the vet for 9 days before departure – do this as early as possible before the flight in case of problems or delays – with an appointment at the USDA in San Francisco the following day.

The USDA sent us a pdf copy of the health certificate for us to print out and take to the vet.  For some bizarre reason (in 2015, in the heart of Silicon Valley…) the vets did not have e-mail, so we could not send it directly to them.  If taking two or more animals and they will be on the same flights, you only need one certificate to cover them, although our vet kindly charged the $84 dollar certificate completion fee (I’m in the wrong job) twice, one per animal.  I suppose it takes a lot of extra effort and ink to write a letter 2 in place of a 1.  One of the cats, Kiwi, had a slightly high temperature during the exam, so we had to return with him the next day when the practise opened.  Fortunately, his temperature had dropped by then suggesting that it was stress, as opposed to fever, causing the elevated temperature.  All other results were good, so Sheila made her way to the USDA with the completed certificate.

I say completed, but that’s not quite true.  At the USDA, the official pointed out that the vet hadn’t completed the consignor and consignee fields.  Sheila asked if she was supposed to fill them in and told no.  The official was quite angry explaining that by not filling out those fields, the vet was signing an official document that would allow anyone to take the animals anywhere.  She completed the form, stamped it, then our two cats – Kiwi and Pretzel – were officially on their way to Brazil!

The requirements for the carrier or kennel that would be allowed on the plane are very strict and they vary depending on the airline.  Basically, they need to be made of a sturdy material, not collapsible, have a metal door that can be doubly secured with cable ties and can be bolted together.  I strongly recommend anyone travelling with animals to check with the airline before buying a carrier.  We also bought a couple of pet travelling kits, which included “live animal” stickers for the sides of the carrier, an information sticker, a food and water dish that could snap onto the door of the carrier and cable ties for the door (although the airlines provide these.)  We also put in an absorbent pad (in case of accidents), a cushion, a blanket and a small tray with cat litter.  In the event, the cats didn’t use the litter tray and actually proceeded to sit in, spilling half the contents.  It’s probably better to have it though.  In preparation for travel, we printed photos of the cats to stick to the box in case they escaped, taped copies of the paperwork (health certificates, vaccination certificates etc) to the box and attached a bag of dry cat food, as per the requirements of the airline.

We hired a large car to get everything to the airport, loaded up and set off.

To be continued...

Kiwi

Pretzel