Mishaps Avoided and I'm Finally in Korea!

I made it! Finally. After almost 6 months of knowing Greg was being stationed here, 4 months of waiting on our CSP approval and the last few weeks of hectic, frantic packing, moving and preparing, not to mention and helter skelter interim living, I can now say I am in Korea...and I am with my husband! The relief and realization of being here is inexplainable....but a simple and emphatic "YAY!" will suffice for now. :)

I will admit...I am exhausted. And looking back over the last few weeks I am not even sure I can pinpoint certain things, as it all seems so jam-packed, so stressful and one big blur. Getting everything packed up and shipped off, getting the car prepped and transported, making sure the animal's health appointments and paperwork was in order, the packing and repacking of bags, the stress of worrying about my fur-babies having to fly, the stress of getting us all through customs, the sadness of leaving and the excitement of all that lies ahead...it really is dizzying and has left me mentally and physically drained. But, all that, in the end was worth it! To be back together with my husband, to have our fur-babies here with us and to know that we are going to get a normal life back for a few years...well that my friends, greatly outweighs any stress or exhaustion I might have that has wearied me.
For the most part, all went rather smoothly and if we did encounter a problem, it was able to be resoled rather quickly and painlessly. We did have a funny mini disaster with the car...when we left Reno, we stopped to get gas, and out of habit, I topped off the tank. About a half hour into the drive I remembered that I had to have less than 1/4 of a tank of gas or the transportation company would not be able to ship it (I had remembered on the way to the gas station too, but got into my normal routine and just pumped her full of gas). And of course our car is extremely economical and barely used 1/3 of a tank for the whole trip down to the Bay Area. I tried everything I could to waste gas (blasting the AC, driving in a lower gear), and we still had far too much gas! I was pretty stressed and very mad at myself that I hadn't remembered and had made this much more complicated than it needed to be. And then I'd find myself laughing because I'd be praying that somehow the car would use more gas than normal and be at the level I needed it. How many times in your life have you prayed for your car to get bad gas mileage? Ha! Such an ironic situation! Thankfully my dad was able to help me research how we could get the remaining gas out and after a my mom and I made couple trips through the Richmond ghetto from the transportation company to a local mechanic (who drained the gas) and back again, we were able to have the right amount of gas in the car and get it processed and shipped without any further issues. But, I now will always remember to not top off the gas before shipping a vehicle. lol.

Off we go!

The only other issue that happened was Korean Air had to pull some strings to allow me to ship Ranger. See, I booked my flight through Delta and their weight limit for animals as checked baggage is 99 lbs for the kennel and animal combined. However, Korean Air's weight limit is 70 lbs combined. Ranger and his kennel weighed 97 lbs. Yeah...not good. They said they would check their policies and see what they could do. I was so worried and I was having an internal panic attack and thought I was gonna lose my mind...what if I couldn't check him on this flight with me? Mom would have to take him back to Reno and we'd have to pay $1900 to ship him on the pet flight programs and it made me sick at the thought of leaving my baby behind. I needed this to be approved...he HAD to come with me on this flight. We had come too far and done too much to not make it over all at one time and in one piece. We waited about 35 minutes while she was in back calling and finally she came out and after painfully walking me through the differences in Delta and Korean Air's policies (the whole time, I was fighting a flood of tears and screaming in my head "Just tell me already if I can take my baby or not!"), she said they would make an exception and allow him to go at 97 lbs, but I'd have to pay an overweight baggage handling fee. Thank heavens!! Our prayers were answered...God is good indeed! I could deal with putting out a bit more cash to fly him with me...overall it was still only a fraction of the price to fly both he and Toler on that flight with me than it would have been to fly him later alone. And the peace of mind knowing he and my kitty were in the hull of that plane...well that was, as they say...PRICELESS. lol. I still worried after I sent them off through baggage security and I worried the whole flight...were they doing ok? Did they make it on the plane? Am I going to get through customs without an issues?

Thankfully, everything went well and worked out in all regards and I am here now and ready to start on this new journey. And the best part...? Seeing my husband standing outside customs in his uniform waiting for me and our babies with a huge smile on his face. That moment will forever live in my mind and the relief and joy I felt were monumental. Definitely a great way to end the day, and start my life in Korea!