Remember how I was such a good little packer???

I thought for sure that I would get to the airport today and things would go off without a hitch because I had been such a good little prepare-er. However, no. such. luck.

So we get there, and the lady takes one look at Gracie, another at my reservations, and says she needs to get her supervisor. Great.

The supervisor comes out and proceeds to tell us that there is no way Gracie can fly with me domestically and then be check in at Miami. There is just not enough time. There would be no guarantees. That I had two options. One: Leave without Gracie (this one brought tears) or two I could wait and take a different flight another day (this one brought tears). No good.

Thank goodness for my Mom. This is a woman who does NOT back down. My Mom told that ticket agent that I had been told by 3 different American Airline Employees, I had come to the airport a week in advance to make sure that everything was okay, and that she better go find someone who can make this work.

Just to let you know this is an hour and a half later.

So we wait ANOTHER hour. Finally the lady comes back out. First she had booked me a flight for the next day, arriving in Brazil on Thursday. Then we needed to wait again. She had called Miami (after we had asked her two hours earlier to do so) and they told her (SURPRISE!) that two hours was plenty of time since they didn't start boarding pets until about 3 hours before departure. So after all this, I have missed my flight to Dallas, all to find out what I had known from the beginning. The prior arrangements with Gracie were FINE. Thankfully she found a flight for me out of Richmond right away. So right now I am in Charlotte waiting to be connected so that I can go to Brazil! So we are on the same schedule! YAY!

Even better news is my first flight was with US Airways. I think the guy saw how frazzled I was, and he decided not to charge me for the two extra bags (I ended up checking my laptop bag too because apparently even though you pay for an animal to fly, it still counts as a carry on...BOO) and he saved me $200!!!!!!! It was definitely the bright spot in my day and I was so glad he did that for me! Thank goodness for kind hearted people! And to be honest, I know my bags were overweight too, so he saved me probably another $200 because of that. I am a lucky, lucky girl. With wayyyy too much stuff.

Thanks for all your well wishes!! And I am sure that I will post later this week! Maybe. I have some things scheduled, but I know you are all waiting for the pictures!

Here's hoping the rest of the journey is a smooth one!

And let's hope all goes well in customs (I'm super nervous about this part!)!!!