Stella & Stuart’s Big Adventure; pt 2
From Kyiv to Slovakia …
What began as a “simple” transport of 2 cats from war-zone to safe haven with family, turned out to be nothing but …
My trip to China coincided with Stella and Stuart’s rescue from Kyiv to Slovakia. There were no trip details or itinerary.
This was a rescue mission where I had to put my hope and trust in strangers.
My cat sitter would join the rescue trip and go as far as the Ukrainian/Poland border. With her being a fierce protector of my cats, I knew she would not leave them to continue with the trip if she wasn’t comfortable. The woman who had helped to organize and put together this operation was now in my top 5 of people to message and contact daily.
The rescuer is a gentleman who had made this trip a couple of times before and was affiliated with an animal rescue group. For the sake of their identities, these three people will be referred to as Olga (the cat sitter), Lisa (the woman from facebook), and Frank (the rescuer).
14 March was my flight to China and the start of the rescue from Kyiv to Slovakia. Olga was ready and had somehow managed to get the rescue bus to pick her up and the cats in our neighborhood. Remember, she is a fierce protector and she loves Stella and Stuart like I do. I was in contact with her sporadically as I was in the air with airplane wifi and she was in and out of being able to use data. I was in contact with Lisa and messaging her throughout my flight to see if she had any updates on the rescue trip.
The next few days were a bit blurry as I was jet lagged, in a mandatory 14 day quarantine upon arrival to China, and staying awake all throughout the night waiting for word on the cat's journey.
Finally, I had a message from Frank. They were in Slovakia! Somehow, the plastic crates that the cats were originally in were gone and had been lost in Poland. They had stayed a couple of nights in there to recoup and rest. Frank was taking Stella and Stuart to his home in Slovakia which was something he hadn’t done before in a rescue trip.
He sent photos, they were together, they looked good, they were eating.. I felt such a sigh of relief and that I could breathe.
I shared photos with Olga and Lisa and we were all so relieved and happy that the cats made it out of Ukraine and we could finish their travel plans to China.
I was going to be out of quarantine in another week and should be making my way to Shenzhen soon.
A few hours later, everything changed.
Be sure and read parts 1 and 3!
