It didn't take long for the adventure to start

I'm so excited to finally be on my way to Germany, however, the continued problems with this have not let up. Let me explain my morning thus far...

I was scheduled to fly out of Columbia at 0900 by way of United, connect in Chicago to Frankfurt, then connect onto Lufthansa into Nuremberg. I checked with the airline when the tickets were originally booked about checking two cats in cargo and was told that there would be no problem. I then re-confirmed this information on Friday. But yet, that was not the case when I arrived to check in at United this morning. 

First, I was told that I would only be permitted to check one cat and the other would have to go in the cabin, which created a problem because I don't have a carrier that size. This is because the flight to Chicago from Columbia is on a small plane. Then I was told that for international flights only one animal is permitted to be taken regardless of whether they were in the cabin or cargo. Obviously still a problem. From there, the United representative called over to Delta to see if their policies would permit the cats both to be checked. Thankfully, they will permit up to 5 animals, including out of Columbia. That was step one.

Step two was that I had to call SATO, which is the department that books the military flights, and see if there was a flight on Delta that I could take today to get over there. Thank goodness I had a copy of my orders as directed, because I had to fax those over to them to process the change. They were able to get me booked on a flight that connects through Detroit and then on to Frankfurt leaving today. 

Now on to the third part. Because Lufthansa doesn't permit more than one animal, I cut out the middle man on this new booking and just had them book me on a flight into Frankfurt. From there, I'm going to have to find the military liaison and catch a military bus into the Vilseck area. At least I think that's where I will end up. I don't know for certain at this point where I will have to go and if my sponsor will have to pick me up from there. It's currently Sunday, so they won't get the emails until tomorrow, and I'll be in Germany by that point. 

As it stands right now, I have no idea when I will actually arrive at my final destination, but I can tell you all out in cyberland that I'm more than ready for that to happen. Curretnly, I'm sitting in the Columbia airport waiting for my flight to board shortly still shaking from adrenaline from the situation starting at 0615 this morning. I'm just saying prayers that the rest of this trip is uneventful....Updates to follow once I arrive.