In the weeks leading up to our flight out of LAX, I tried my very best to have no pre-conceived ideas about what this opening-leg of our journey to Hyderabad would be like. We knew from talking to Beloved's breeder, Susan Vaughn, that a stopover in Frankfurt for some time to let "The Bee" get out of her "Sherpa" travel-bag and sort of "decompress" just a little before the final leg of the flight. It was really quite good for us, too, I gotta be honest here. As Amy Suzanne said (within an hour of our flight to Germany beginning....) "Hmmm. Ya know...flying with Beloved is going to be more work than we bargained for!!" Now there was an understatement if I'd ever heard one!!
Again, to be honest, "Bee" was a real trooper....she's a tough little dog! Yeah, admittedly, she was kinda fussy some of the time....the idea of under the seat "storage" was not liked at all because it was a little too hot under there. Balancing her and her bag up between Amy and I - propped up on the double armrests and console seemed to work a lot better, but it necessitated one of us keeping an arm under the Sherpa Bag to keep it level. For a couple of hours, at about the halfway point of the night...I snuggled waaaay down in my seat (picture the business-class pod "seats" that adjust all the way to "flat"!) and put her flat up arainst the head-rest. She slept then better than I did...but when Amy woke up beside her, Bee saw her and went a little nuts, wanting to get out and see "mommy". We got caught three times taking her out of the bag and trying to shield her from the view of the flight crew...but Lufthansa has a bunch of flight attendants!! Even the old "Here, I'll hold the blanket up so they can't see!" stopped working after a while.
Finally, once the Pursor (an official-looking German lady with a clipboard, no less!!) saw Beloved...the ol' "Apso was out of the bag" - and we were so busted!! A few weeks prior to our trip, and thanks to Susan's directions, we had purchased some "Piddle Pads" - sort of like large "floor diapers" with a waterproof, non-skid side and soft, absorbant material on the other. These are special pads in that they are supposedly impregnated with some sort of scent that let's doggies know "this is a good place to pee!"
Great plan in theory!! But you see, Our Bee has always been kind of a "private pee-er" - and is generally nervous anyway when it's "time to go to the Ladies Room". As you know, airplane bathrooms are really small (even on the 747 we were on! They may call it a "jumbo jet" - but the "facilities" are anything BUT!!)....I honestly don't think I could have gotten me and the Bee and the Sherpa Bag inside and even attempted to take care of business inside! So Amy took on the job of "potty patrol" the whole way. God bless Amy Francis!! We only managed to try it twice...neither one with success. Too much noise and poor Bee could only look at Mama and say "WTF, Mom??" with her big brown eyes!! Score it: Airplane Bathroom 2 - "Piddle Pads" 0.
After about eight long hours...I had The Bee up by my head in the "sleep" position (yeah, right, whatever!)...and... well... I smelled a little... errr... "odor". I'll leave it to your imagination...but it honestly wasn't a major disaster...a little poopage and peeage is all. The Sherpa Bag is lined and has a removable (thank God!!) fleece pad inside. It wasn't so bad that anybody else could smell it - - but with her propped-up about a foot from my nose..... Uh. 'Nuff said.
Upon landing, Bee got a little "sponge bath" in the airport bathroom sink. She got herself a real bath with Amy within five minutes of our arrival at the Falkenstein Grand Kempinski Hotel at Konigstein.
Hopefully... many of you have Facebook and have seen our updates and our photos from our Frankfurt sightseeing day today. Europe is so awesome!! It's so civilized!! You can take dogs anywhere!! Into the cafes, into stores, on the bus, the taxi and the train!! My dear friend Amy Pease Scarpa (she has lived in Venice, Italy for many years!) told me that this is what we would find here....but you have to experience it first-hand to really understand!! The nanny-state of the U.S. of A. doesn't understand that our "fursons" are realy "persons" and they need to be out with the family!! Thank you, Amy #2 - you were so right!!
This link here is supposed to let anybody see our Facebook photos - - I've never tried it, but give it a try!! My personal Facebook page is available here.
I'll try to be more regular in my posting here. Auf Wiedersehen, everybody!!
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