Well, the day of the trip arrived on Monday. Heather and Nick were as prepared as possible for it, but were still shocked when the moment came to actually leave.
Shelley and Mike were great as always and let us hang out at their house all afternoon since we had to check out of our hotel at noon and our flight wasn't until 10pm.
We spent the early afternoon with Shelley in Busse Woods, the goal being to get Bella as exhausted as possible. We succeeded! Bella couldn't finish the walk, so Nick and Bella sat under a tree so she could cool off while Shelley and Heather walked the remaining .5 mile or so to the car. It was about 86 degrees that day with the normal 85% Chicago humidity. Bella just couldn't deal with it, too hot. We got in about 5 miles with her though.
Then we spent the rest of the afternoon at Shell and Mike's with mom there too. Mike grilled some burgers so we could get one last classic American dish in our guts. They were mighty fine burgers, thanks Mike!
We would not let Bella sleep at all while we lounged at Mike and Shelley's. We kept yelling and making loud noises every time she started to doze. She was exhausted, eyes were blood shot. She got a Xanax before the afternoon walk, so she was really out of it. (Vet prescribed, don't worry we're not medicating our dog without guidance.)
It paid off. We left Mike and Shell's around 7pm, a slightly teary eyed departure but no sobbing. ; ) We were very sad to leave Mike, Shelley and mom standing there on the curb. Heather definitely shed a few tears on the drive to the airport. Not Nick though, that behavior is unauthorized.
When we got to the airport, Nick dropped Heather at the T5 curb with the bags and Bella. Nick then drove over to the Avis location, dropped the car and got on a bus to come back and meet them. Heather befriended one of Chicago's finest while she waited on Nick, so she was in good hands.
The check in process at SAS was...how to put it...not so smooth. In the end we ended up with all our bags checked, Bella's kennel had a baggage sticker and we had boarding passes. Let's just say the check in counter staff at SAS was not very with it. We ended up only paying $120 to check Bella when their website says $450 for a large kennel, so we were happy.
We finished check in by 8:15pm, and Bella didn't need to get checked until 9:15. So we went downstairs with our carry ons, Bella's kennel in a push cart, and Bella. Heather got on the phone with her parents one last time and then walked in circles for about a half hour with Bella.
Finally 9pm came, so we went back upstairs to the check in area. The gentleman who was responsible for oversized luggage (where Bella goes) was very nice. Oh, Bella got tranquilizer pills around 6pm cause we thought she had to go in her kennel and get checked right when we got to the airport. So by 9pm, she was barely moving her feet as we tried to keep her standing. Poor girl.
But in the end, it worked! She was completely exhausted, we haven't seen her that tired since she disappeared for an hour and half when we lived in the mountains in Colorado.
We got on the plane, Heather gave Nick a Bella Xanax which Nick took. Nick literally fell asleep before the plane pushed back from the gate. Nick did not stir, did not so much as flutter his eyes again until after the flight crew was clearing the second meal service! He slept for about 7 hours, undisturbed. Pretty crazy, he's never slept that soundly or solidly on a trans Atlantic flight. We think the previous few week's stress finally caught up. Heather also slept for the majority of the flight. She only had one or two moments where her eyes opened but she went right back to bed.
We landed in Copenhagen, got our bags and maybe waited for another 15 minutes by the oversized baggage belt. Then off rolled Bella! She made the trip like a champ. She definitely was ready to get out of her kennel, some crying ensued when she saw us standing there. But we pushed her in a luggage cart over to customs and she was fine. We opened up the kennel at customs for the customs official to take a look at Bella. She was a very nice woman, very warm and friendly to Bella. She recognized Bella's need to get outside and get her legs stretched, so she went through the paperwork in less than a couple minutes and we were through the doors and into Kastrup!
Off to retrieve the rental car (got a BRAND new Audi A4 wagon, only 12 kilometers on the odometer!), walked over to where the car was parked, loaded up the family (only a minor melt down by Nick) and then we were off to Odense!
We stopped at our new apartment on the way to Odense and retrieved the keys from our landlord. Then it was on to our new temporary house in Odense!
That's all for today's update, but we will post some pictures of our temporary accommodations. They could be any better, we seriously hit the jackpot with the temporary digs.
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