With only five weeks to go before we leave Turkey, our plans are finally beginning to firm up. We have confirmed a shipper, booked flights (for us and the dog), had the dog vaccinated the requisite 30 days or more in advance and had our birth, marriage and education certificates translated into French.
Of the five shippers who we asked to provide an estimate for moving our belongings, only four actually provided a useful quote! The fifth, for some reason, scanned their quote and emailed it to me in an unreadable format and failed to fax it to me as requested.
The four other shippers provided greatly varying estimates. Their estimated volumes varied from 9cu.m. to 22cu.m. and the cheapest quote was less than half the largest, even though it was not the smallest volume.
We selected the shipper based on the fact that they provided the most comprehensive quote in terms of what was covered in the estimate and because the company regularly handles shipments from Turkey to France and the agents in France and Turkey deal with each other on a regular basis.
We had considered sending the dog as an unaccompanied cargo shipment to be collected by the kennels at Paris airport, but that would have meant she would have had to endure a five hour drive to Istanbul (live animals can not fly from Ankara airport unaccompanied by their owner). The cost would have also been three times as much as having her fly with us! To ensure she could fly with us meant booking, in advance, one of the two spaces available on the plane for live animals. Due to the Foot and Mouth crisis in Europe it also seems that some airlines are now refusing to carry live animals of any sort.
As we do not have accommodation arranged for our arrival, we have booked the dog into kennels in France for the first month to give ourselves time get sorted. We found the kennels by looking up the Independent Pet and Animal Transport Association International Inc. (www.ipata.com) website, which lists member organizations worldwide. The members’ list includes boarding kennels and pet shippers.
Our oldest son is very much looking forward to moving to France. His ‘Salut Serge’ video is played regularly and he proudly comes to tell us the latest French words he has learnt. He is, however, exhibiting many of the classic signs of moving stress. He has been having nightmares about losing members of the family (usually his little brother), and he is also particularly sensitive at the moment.
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