Our First Trip Home to Florida

Brian and I just got back from our first visit home since moving to the UK in April. It was so nice seeing our friends and family, but 9 days definitely wasn't enough time, especially since we were coordinating moving our dog here with us. This was the longest either of us had ever been away from Orlando and our families and friends so it was nice to go back for this visit.

Some of our favorite things we did at home that we have missed so much were:

• Going to Aquatica with our friends - It was so nice to lay on the "beach" there and enjoy the sun and water (especially the Raging Rapids Lazy River!)


• Eating sushi - We had a great dinner with our friends at Seito Sushi. I hadn't had really good sushi in 4 months so I was very happy that night!


• Eating more sushi =) - We met up with friends from Brian's work for another night of sushi at Amura. Gosh, what I wouldn't give for another Spicy Bubba Roll... =)


• Gator football. (Ok, this one is more Brian's than mine...) =) Brian had the chance to go to 2 football games with Chris, Sneha, and Kim. He'll get to go to 2 more when we are home again later this season. I think it's amazing that my husband who lives so far away from Gainesville now is still able to get 4 games in this season... Oh, and the games he doesn't go to personally, we are watching here on our Slingbox or traveling to London to watch them with the Gator Club there. Anyone who knows Brian wouldn't expect anything less though.

• Convenience. EVERYTHING is open so late. After dinner, we still had time to run errands around town.


• Space. Our home in the States now seems so big to us! There were times where I couldn't find Brian in the house easily; here we trip over each other all the time. And especially now that we have our dog here, we are really missing our backyard!


• Familiary. It was just nice to be back with everything we know and love. We adapted right back into our lifestyle at home. By the second day, I was eating and talking on my cell phone while driving (two things which you are NOT allowed to do here!)

Thanks everyone for making our first trip home so special! We can't wait to come back and see everyone again soon! (And of course everyone is always welcome to come see us here... hint hint) =)

Moving Our Dog to the UK

After months of preparation (and with A LOT of help from our dear friend Chris who watched Lilo when we first moved here), we have FINALLY been able to move our dog Lilo to the UK with us! She seemed to do fine on the flight from what we can tell, although she has slept a lot since then! She is adjusting well to her new home, and we are adjusting to having her here again. It's definitely harder to have a dog when you don't have a backyard though!

Prior to beginning this process, we read a lot of articles about moving a dog to the UK. If you think it's hard to move a person here, just try a dog. We read that a lot of people don't even do it, but I couldn't imagine leaving Lilo behind. Here are some of the tips we learned:

• Throughout the process, DOUBLE and TRIPLE-CHECK every step to make sure you have everything you need. There are checklists, but you are coordinating with so many different people and each of them makes you feel like they've never done it before. Don't rely on anyone - make sure YOU know the information and get what you need.


• The first step to moving a dog to the UK is to have a microchip inserted that meets international standards. DOUBLE-CHECK your vet uses the correct kind. Our's didn't even though she said she did, so we either had to start the 6-month process over or rent our own microchip scanner to bring with us (which is what we did).


• After the microchip, your pet has to go through a blood rabies test (the bloodwork is sent to a testing facility at the University of Kansas) and if that is all clear, they can enter the country 6 months later. Note - another option is for your pet to go into quarantine in the UK during this time, but we didn't want to do that so we left Lilo behind with a friend until her waiting time was complete.


• Now comes the fun of paperwork. You have to get certain papers done within very specific timeframes based on when the dog will fly into the country. For example, your dog has to be evaluated by a vet within 14 days of flight and then you have to send the vet's certificate to the USDA for their stamp (oh yeah, and you have to overnight everything because you need this before you can fly).


• Within 10 days of flight, you need a general health certificate for the airline saying your pet is OK to travel.


• Within 48 hours of flight, your pet needs to go back to the vet for a tick/tapeworm treatment.


• Then of course you have to make sure you meet the airline requirements for transporting your pet, which in our case meant buying a new crate and accessories (including Live Animal stickers) for Lilo.

We had to drop Lilo off at the World Cargo center 4 hours before flight (all dogs have to travel cargo on the British Airways international flights). You have to put them in the crate and they won't get out until after the flight. I had a really hard time with this so Brian actually handled this part. When we got to the airport, we were able to see them loading her onto the plane so we knew she would be with us. Check out the video below:

So as you can see, moving a dog to the UK definitely wasn't easy, but for us, there wasn't any other choice. It can be done - you just have to be diligent, patient, and have a little attitude at times. ;) In the end, it's worth all the trouble...