Stella & Stuart’s Big Adventure; pt 5 Finale
Onward to China
We left off with Stuart and Stella in Bratislava, Slovakia living with the amazing foster family’s grandma.
The grandma was perfect for them. Stuart was sleeping most days and Stella was getting accustomed to his smells and companionship. Loretta's son would send me photos and call me for video chats. I was still stuck in the lockdown in Shanghai.
During Spring 2022, China had arrival quarantine restrictions. People had to complete a mandatory 14 day quarantine in hotels designated for quarantine. I arrived in Shanghai, and even though this was not my final destination, I had to complete the quarantine before traveling to Shenzhen. After I completed my 14 day quarantine, I was unable to go to Shenzhen until I had done a combined total of 21 days. So, I went to a monitor hotel in Shanghai after my 14 days was up. Shanghai was having high numbers of covid cases and as a result, the city was implementing partial lockdowns. These were starting at the end of March, beginning of April and were supposed to end on 5 April.
5 April was my 21st day in China and the day I could go to Shenzhen.
The city lockdown didn’t end. I was stuck in Shanghai and my cats were stuck in Slovakia.
I spent 60 days stuck in Shanghai and an additional 14 days on arrival in Shenzhen. A total of 74 days in isolation. I was a wreck.
I was finally free on 28 May! We could now finally finish the cat's travel plans.
I can't tell you how small of a timeline we had.
It was now June and the hot summer months were approaching. To those friends who have experienced traveling with pets, there are temperature restrictions for their safety. Also, my friend who was the passport import owner of Stella was leaving China at the end of June. Why did I need an additional passport import owner? China has a one pet per passport policy. Was I surprised? No, considering they had a one policy for families in the past. On top of all this, my passport will be taken by the immigration bureau for my work visa and residence permit at the end of June.. We had a week in mid-June of wiggle room for the cats to arrive.
This story does have a happy ending.
The pet relocation company came through and the cats’ traveled from Bratislava to Amsterdam by bus, then went from Amsterdam to Shanghai by plane, and then after 3 days in Shanghai, took their final trip from Shanghai to Shenzhen.
We were reunited on 17 June 2022. It was the most awkward drop off ever. The driver met me at the bottom of my apartment building and handed me one wooden crate. I set it by the door. He then handed me the second wooden crate and I set this by the door. He waved and got back in his van and drove off. I was left with two sad cats in two wooden crates outside of my apartment building. After a little moving one box at a time to the elevator and then down my hall, my cats were home. Stella and Stuart were home.
We were finally together after 6 months!
For those of you that like numbers, the arrival dates of both the cats and myself are pretty interesting. I arrived on 15 March and the cats’ arrived on 15 June.
