Well, the first and easiest leg of our moving to another country is in the rear-view and it wasn't the most pleasant experience for the dog but this was to be expected.
She immediately knocked over the water feeder and made the towel wet
This is not to suggest that the airline did anything incorrectly, it is just, i would imagine, a very terrifying experience for them because they have no idea what is going on.
The staff were extremely accommodating and even though I arrived hours before I needed to just because I too, am a nervous traveler, they told me that I could use the first-class lane and come back just 45 minutes before my flight so that the dog didn't have to be separated from me for as long as possible.
So we got a hot dog and took a seat
My dog is pretty well-behaved so I didn't really need to worry about her running round the terminal, which I wouldn't have allowed anyway. She immediately drew the attention of the kids, but I had to be careful about this because for some reason, Nadi doesn't care much for children.
I can only imagine what goes on in her brain about this situation because as I was walking away from her to go through security she was standing at full attention and then started barking at me like "hey! Take me with you! What are you doing???"
The flight was early, and the ground staff were very attentive and the arrived at oversize bag claim just a little while after my checked bag did.
I made the mistake of letting her out of the cage for some hugs after we were reunited and there was no chance she was going back in the cage at that point. I am sure she now associates that contraption with the most terrible moments of her life.
Unfortunately, she has to do it one more time as we are now in Bangkok and the international portion of our flight is yet to come.
Here's to hoping that the level of care that we experienced from Chiang Mai to Bangkok is repeated on the next portion of the journey to Da Nang.
Overall, i would say that I definitely overthink this process only because this dog is the only real "family" that I have over here anymore and I will quickly turn into a crazy person if I ever feel she is in danger. Bangkok Airways did a fine job putting me and the dog at ease.
