Phew! I’m finally in Sweden!
I knew I’d get here eventually, and feel that sense of relief, but it was a hell of a trip getting to this point. Lot’s of sleepless nights, and stressful days leading up to our departure. So many little hassles with getting Reeses paperwork in order, and working out all of the little last minute details of getting ready for a trip of this magnitude. Luckily, I have the best family, and lot’s of great friends to help us out. My little sister Debbie is kind enough to watch our place while we’re away, and patient enough to take my stressed out arss to the airport on Thursday morning! :D Can’t thank her enough. Lot’s of other offers from family and friends to help me out too.
My last day at work was Monday December 15th. It was a chore in itself just getting ready to leave work for 3 months. Not only trying to clean up ongoing work issues, and trying to avoid any new one’s, but re-assigning my firms to my co-workers and trying to gather helpful information for them, and making my firms aware that I would be gone, and letting them know which of my co-workers would be assigned to their firm. And when I notified people at RBC, and at my Correspondent firms, it created a lot of responses. It was really nice seeing some of the sentiments coming back at me from all of these people. But at the same time, I felt like they all warranted a response, which just consumed more of my time. I felt like I had things pretty cleaned up and under control when I left. I hope so anyway.
So I spent Monday night through Wednesday packing, doing last minute errand's, running to vet appointments, doing laundry, cleaning, and prepping the house for our extended leave. Wednesday night I actually felt like I was packed up and ready to go for the most part, with just a few things to do in the morning. Got that stuff taken care of, and was ready to go on Thursday morning. Then I watched the clock and started freaking out as I waited for my Sister to show up to give me a ride to the airport. Then when she did show up and we took off, I watched the clock and freaked out some more. What about traffic, what about the volumes at the airport considering this is just a few days before Xmas. Things went surprisingly well with traffic, and when I got to the airport, it was manageable. I decided to hire one of the guys walking around with the cargo carts to carry my stuff since I had a dog kennel, two big hockey bags packed to their limits, a backpack, and a dog on a leash. We got to the United counter, and there were only a few people in line. I was thinking that maybe I had been worried for nothing, and things might actually work out easier than I had imagined. So, I get up to the United desk and this guy starts helping me out. Everything seemed to be going OK. Then he says he needs to find out if it’s too cold outside for the dog to fly in cargo. What?? On all of the information we got for getting Reese to Sweden, nowhere was a temperature issue mentioned. I started freaking out thinking about scenario’s of what I was going to do if they said Reese couldn’t go. My first thought was that if Reese and/or I couldn’t go right then, Kristy was going to be devastated....that Reese was not coming. :D I was really flipping out, but keeping calm assuming things would work out somehow. AN HOUR after I stepped up to the counter, I was finally told that Reese would be allowed to go. I was soooo relieved, but at the same time felt like this was just the first of many obstacles that Reese and I would have to overcome. But, trying to take them one at a time. So I slipped Reese a sedative, hidden in a Snausage, and sent her off with the United people, praying for the best. I assumed she would be well cared for, and they would not let her go if there was any danger. Flew to Chicago happy that the first obstacle had been cleared. Now, I had watched the news in the morning to see if there would be any weather issues that might affect our flight, and of course, the weather terrorists were all over the news talking about how there was a line of storms pushing up to the Northeast that were going to bury every place I needed to be in ice and snow, potentially throwing up another obstacle to get over. Got to O’Hare, and fortunately had more than two hours to figure out the confusing signage at the airport, and make it to the SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) desk. There I got my ticket, and asked about Reeses status. The woman told me to check back in when I got to the gate. Got to the gate, watching the weather out of the corner of my eye, and praying it would hold off until after we took off. My cousin Eileen was kind enough to call me and tell me that if anything did happen where I was stranded at O’Hare, that I could stay with her. So I had that going for me. But at the same time, I just wanted to be in Stockholm on time, both for Reese and I, and because I knew Kristy would be distraught if her puppy didn’t show up on time. OH, and her Fiance’. I always forget that part. :D Anyhoo, I checked with the woman from SAS at the gate, and asked about Reeses status. She had her assistant contact one of their baggage guys at the gate, and they verified that Reese was there, and ready to go. She also mentioned that she saw Reese, and she looked very calm and content. That made me feel soooo much better. The weather held, and their wasn’t even a flurry before we took off. Another crisis averted.
So, one 8 hour flight later, and a sore arss from an uncomfortable and cramped seat, we landed in Stockholm. I got off the plane and got to the Special Baggage area to wait for Reese to show up. I figured that my bags would be fine, and she was more important than my terrible wardrobe anyway. So, she finally comes through, peering out through the bars, and I feel like one more obstacle has been overcome. Then, unfortunately, I had to take her over and wait for my baggage to show, which took forever. And to be sitting there with a dog that had been stuck in this kennel for 12 hours, and hadn’t been feed, watered, or let out to go to the bathroom as far as I knew, felt terrible. I had been instructed not to let her out, or give her anything inside her kennel until I went through Customs. I would have liked to have gone through customs with her, assuming Kristy was waiting on the other side, and then come back in for my bags, but with todays security, that wasn’t happening. It was excruciating, and I felt horrible for Reese as she whined in her kennel. Finally, my bags showed up, and I carefully maneuvered the two carts I had loaded everything onto into customs. Paranoid that something in the documents wouldn’t be right, I felt a little nervous as the Customs agent looked over her paperwork very carefully, and then went to scan her chip. Everything seemed in order, and I was incredibly relieved to here the agent tell me “she’s OK, you can go through”. I should mention at this point that we had been warned that if Sweden didn’t like the paperwork, they could either quarantine Reese, ship her back to the U.S., or even destroy her. We were told that this probably wouldn’t happen, but there was the possibility. So, Reese and I were finally safely in Sweden. I started pushing her down the long winding hallway, and came around the corner to see Kristy anxiously awaiting our arrival. I could see the tears of joy from 20 yards away, as she saw us, and ran past the barrier ropes to see Reese.....and me. I was so happy to see her after 2.5 months, and was so happy that she and Reese were together again. We quickly moved to an exit so Reese could get outside and do her business. We also got her some food and water. A train ride, and three different buses later, we were finally safely in Kristy’s apartment. If I wasn’t tired to the point of retardation, I would have insisted on a beer. Instead, Kristy feed Reese and I, and then took us on a long walk to a really cool park reserve. Got back to the apartment, gave Reese a bath, took a shower, and it was lights out. Woke up at 9:00 local time, and went for another long walk. Came back, ate, and now I’m writing. It’s almost 4:00 in the morning here, and we need to get some sleep to try and get on schedule, but I wanted to finish this up. Lot of people wanted me to send updates. Hopefully, future updates will not be so long winded or disjointed. :D
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. I’ll be seeing some of my Bandy brethren when they make the trip to Sweden in January for the World Championships, which I look forward to. To the rest of you, take care.
Thom
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