Bringing Volya home

In this post I talk about our journey to bring Volya home. It has a lot of pictures as I made sure I snapped pictures at every point in our journey. It was a 3-days trip, with lots of stops, and lots of different means of transportation.

We went by car at the appointment we had for her last documents needed to be issued just before we left Ukraine. We had support from the animal shelter, Domivka, and everything went smoothly. On our way back we took the tram. She was perfectly fine with it and I thought she will be ok with travelling. For the most part she was indeed.

I was very happy with the bureaucracy. It changed from waiting in line to get called to an appointment-based system. Improving the processes during a war is quite impressive I have to say. Because we were asked to come at a specific time, all the documents were done within an hour. At the same time there was a lady with her dog and another lady with her two cats. Each person had their own officer to deal with the paperwork. The person scanning her chip smiled, which was lovely considering that he is seeing dozens of pets each day. The officer who made the paperwork asked about her story, which was unexpected and lovely. They seemed concerned and helpful, doing the best for the people and their pets.

We only found tickets at a train leaving at 3am. Leaving by train was the better option for her documentation and we had to declare exactly which train we were taking, so couldn’t change anything afterwards. I would have left with the bus and on foot otherwise. Our taxi arrived at the time we pre-booked, but we couldn’t risk not getting that train, so we left 30 minutes earlier than needed. So, we waited in the train lounge for those 30 minutes.

It was sad to take her out of Ukraine. She is not a cruelty case, she was loved and cared for by many people. Someone risked their lives to take care of her, living in a damaged building, while she was in Orikhiv close to the frontlines. Others risked their lives to bring supplies, while others risked their lives to evacuate her and another 20-30 animals only on that trip. At Domivka, the animal shelter in Lviv, she was well taken care of, the vet cared about her, the admin staff cared about her, the animal carers cared about her. I will be forever grateful to all those people, who I don’t know and who I will never meet.

We took the train. She was not impressed with the hour. At around 3-4 she is active. She wanted to have fun, not to stay in her carrier.

We arrived in Przemysl, Poland. I took this picture while we were waiting at the queue to have our passports checked. She was tired at this point. It didn’t take long to have her documents checked and the border guard didn’t ask us to take her out of her carrier to scan for the microchip, but used the scanner while she was still in her carrier. The microchip’s range was enough to have a good reading of the number.

We found a hotel room near the train station in Przemysl. We stayed there for a few hours, had a nap, took a picture with Volya looking outside at the Polish flag.

We were moving forward again. I like this picture even if it’s not as clear. In the background is the Ukrainian train, not the one we arrived with, but a similar kind of train. Also the Przemysl Main Station is visible, a sign of being in EU.

We arrived in Krakow and it was another opportunity to have a look outside. She was very found of that place by the window. We had to take her to the vet for a de-worming treatment, as the one she received in Ukraine was given over 5 days before she was entering the UK. The treatment lasts for a month, but the UK only accepts treatments given in the last 5 days, so we had to give her the same treatment twice. Anyway, the vet was so wonderful. It was a lovely experience and they spoke perfect English.

After two nights in the hotel, we left. My husband flew on the previous day, took the car and started driving towards France without going home. In the morning, I took a taxi to the airport with Volya. We needed a boarding pass, as they had to check the size of her carrier.

After that we went through security. This is where I can say that I was disappointed with the Polish attitude. It was not the first time I saw an unpleasant and uncaring person in relation to travelling with her. But, this time was different. I saw that there was a special line for security, dedicated to: family with small children, people with disabilities, and… people who needed assistance. That “needed assistance” was vague, so I assumed that I can join that queue, as basically was nobody else after me. It was in a quieter part of security. I was told that it doesn’t matter if I have a cat, that I need to join the queue with the crowd. For me, needing assistance can mean anything, including people who are very afraid of flying and need a bit of extra time. There are airports that offer private rooms for security and anyone can request one. I didn’t join that queue because I was in a hurry and there weren’t many people there, but I joined that queue because I wanted more time.

Anyway, I went to a scanner that was on the opposite part of the airport security, the last one. It was a bit quieter as the one on its left was not working at that point. I asked about the procedure and I had to take her out of her carrier. In the end it worked nicely, as she was very well behaved and stood nicely in my arms when we passed through security. We had a couple of people in front and we had to wait. It was funny when I took her out and heard some “awwws” in the back, as people realised that I had a cat in the bag and it was not a regular carry-on backpack.

Waiting for the flight was a bit too much for her, so I took out one of the blankets I prepared for the trip and put it over her carrier. She relaxed quickly afterwards.

Once we were in our seats she was calm. During taking off and landing she was on the floor, while on the flight I could keep her carrier on my lap. She acted as if she was flying every week or so.

At some point I opened the flap to pet her. She only meowed once, when I showed her the sky and she moved around to face the plane, so I flipped the carrier once again to have access to the flap. At that point she moved around again, to face the plane and meowed to tell me not to flip her carrier again. It was very funny.

At Charles De Gaulle airport in France, waiting for me to figure out where we find the trains away from Paris.

In the TGV to Lille, she was very well behaved. Another passenger had their cat and I asked about that particular pet carrier as it was a type I was thinking of getting.

She again was comfortable and calm enough for me to unzip the flap.

She does not have motion sickness, which is amazing considering how long we’ve travelled for.

Finally we reunited with my husband in Lille and drove back to Calais. Here she is waiting, in the stationary car, to get on the ferry. While travelling she was in her carrier, but she had the whole car on the ferry.

We had another overnight stop in a hotel, this time a Travelodge on the motorway. I was happy that we were given a quiet room, remote. She enjoyed some naps and watched the birds from the window. After that, a few more hours drive and…

… we were finally home.