Well, here is how our move went. Of course we stayed up late the night before to finish packing our suitcases and cleaning up whatever else we could. We made a reservation for 14-seat van about a month in advance, and he arrived on time, actually 15 minutes earlier than we expected. So we had a bit of a mad rush trying to get our 10 large suitcases, 5 small suitcases, 5 backpacks, 3 pet cages and 2 pet carriers all ready, pack cats in carriers and get all of this plus our dog to the van. And I handled most of it with my broken right arm.
Right before we boarded the van, Turkish Airlines (TA) called me and told me our cats are going in the cabin for Boston-Istanbul leg (it was still not clear until last moment if they are in the cabin or cargo hold, we were ready for both options). Ride to Logan airport was uneventful, we got there way in advance, around 4 hours before the flight. After talking to someone from Turkish Airlines, they were nice enough to let us come to a separate counter with all our stuff (and avoid the main line to check in).
At the counter, TA people took some time to inspect our pet health certificate for Georgia, for some reason they had three people looking at it trying to figure out what it has… After a few minutes they were satisfied and started looking into how our second flight would work for pets. They booked cats in cabin and dog in hold for the 1st flight, and told us that there is a dog already in the cabin of our 2nd flight (Istanbul-Tbilisi). They agreed since hard crates are required for 2nd flight, they will put them in hold at no cost so we could pick them up in Istanbul. We paid around $700 for Boston-Istanbul pet pickets.
It took around an hour to completely go through a check in. We moved dog crate separately to back of the check-in, to have a separate security screening. Hint – make sure the wheels are on that dog cage, as it took around 100 meters to get there. TSA person inspected the crate (which only had a dog pad in it), we put the dog in and he sealed it for the flight.
At general security we had to take the cats out of their carriers to get through the metal frame, they behaved very well and cooperated. The flight to Istanbul was pretty decent, left almost on time, and cats sat quietly under the seats in their carriers.
In Istanbul, we had to pick up our luggage – all of it, including the dog. We went to the carousel, and got all 10 of our large suitcases. The dog was waiting for us in oversized luggage room – but 2 hard cat carriers that were supposed to be sent for our 2nd flight were not there. I had to go to lost luggage service desk and file a claim for them, which took some time. After that we hired a luggage carrier person to take our 10 large suitcases plus big dog carrier to the storage room – on the 1st floor, on the right.
At that point we hoped that maybe they will find our 2 cat carriers somewhere, but after an hour+ at the airport it was starting to get late, and our carriers did not show up. I went to Turkish Airlines counter and asked to change out tickets to another flight, since we could not take a flight we planned to take as cat carriers were delayed. They said “no, we can not change your second flight, and you need to buy new tickets” – so I pretty much had to do it, and pay them huge amount of money (around $5,200) just for Istanbul-Tbilisi flight. I am still trying to get a hold of correct TA department to try and get a refund, customer service sends me to lost luggage team and those send me back to customer service. We’ll see if I can get anywhere with this.
After getting new tickets it was time to go to Airbnb that we reserved in advance. Keep in mind that if you are a US citizen you need e-visa to enter Turkey – I got them online few weeks before the trip.
We had to take 2 taxis – watch our for taxis in Istanbul, especially around tourist places like an airport, they will try to cheat you more often than not and charge you 3-4 times what they are supposed to. They will pretend to mis-understand the address where you need to go and then take you on an unneeded ride to another part of town, and then still charge you for all that extra driving. We got a place just 10 minutes drive from the airport, so when my driver took 10 minutes and we didn’t arrive – I checked and he was not even close to where I showed him he needed to go. Took another 10 minutes to get there, so 2x the charge, and I was too tired to call the police and argue with him.
Airbnb was reasonable, small but we got our own key and had an apartment to ourselves, so could walk the dog nearby, take cats out of their carriers (they were very happy about that), and get a much needed rest.
Next morning it was time to go back to the airport, and I did not reserve any transportation in advance – I just went to the street, after a few minutes got a taxi and asked him to call for another car (and he did, from the same company), and in these 2 taxis we got back to the airport. They did not try to cheat us and we got there quickly and inexpensively.
In Istanbul airport TA has a counter dedicated to check in with pets – we went there, paid for tickets for our 3 pets and rolled the dog in her carrier to security, very similar to Boston. Then we went to our gate and boarded pretty much on time, and the flight was uneventful as well.
In Tbilisi, we got all our baggage from Istanbul (cat carriers were still missing), gave pet health certificate to Georgian pet control person and left secure area with 3 full carts of bags plus a dog carrier on wheels.
I reserved a large van to get us home to our rental house, and 1 hour after arrival we were finally home.
