Right at the beginning of this venture I had the idea that I wanted to be on plane with Jochen. By the way, I have been called a 'helicopter mum'! Yes, I do admit to that. I finally had to accept that this was not necessary and in any case, it might even be better if I arrived a day before him so that I could sort my own luggage and then only have to concentrate on my dog. That made sense.
So the upshot of all that information gathering, endless hours on the phone, this is will be our journey to Switzerland. Jochen is flying Thai Air via Bangkok leaving on Monday 6th August at 13.55 and arriving in Zurich at 07.25 1 day. I will be leaving KLM air via Singapore and Amsterdam at 14.30 on Monday 6th August and arriving in Zurich at 08.25. So instead of arriving a day before Jochen, I will actually arrive an hour later!
After much measuring of Jochen and various crates, I was persuaded to send him in a timber crate. I had been told by someone that I would not be able to bring the timber crate back into Australia and would have to buy a plastic crate in Switzerland. After checking that with Aqis I was assured that this is not the case as the timber is Australian, specifically treated and Aqis stamped.
I found a pet carrier in Zurich who will do the landing papers and clearance in Zurich for me and will also store the crate at their premises at the airport. Can you imagine me trying to negotiate public transport with my luggage, a large German Shepherd plus a timber crate? Not a good look.
As it is going to take about two hours to clear Jochen through customs, I will have collected my baggage and be at customs to collect him. If my friends near Chur are not able to pick me up, I will go there by train. But this will requite two train changes and that will be interesting.
It was always in my mind to fly to Geneva as I have friends there who would be able to help me but I was advised against that as it is apparently much more complicated to go through Geneva and also they don't have any proper kennelling facilities at the airport. So I had to do a rethink.
I have paid for my airfare and freight for Jochen to get to Switzerland and now I have to organise funding for the return plus quarantine costs before we leave on the 6th August. In total that will be about $8,000.00! Sigh....