The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire

snowbunny

snowbunny

Location
Andorra and Spain
Great news on the remission, huzzah!! When we adopted Bella we did the full blood panel (they’d been done previously by the shelter in May but I wanted a clean sheet) and the Leish result on the in-surgery test showed inconclusive, so that was a nail-biting few days to get the full result from the lab. Happily, it was negative - I’m pretty sure there would have been a little more drama involved giving her treatment than we had with Squidge 😁
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
ML hijacking Carbon's thread! (Carbon: si, si, what is new, cariña? Pfft!")

I've been kind of quiet around here the last few weeks, feeling especially bad about not participating in the MLF Christmas Challenge or on the threads where other people are also having a tough time navigating the holidays and COVID. I will try to better going forward and hope everyone can have some good times during the holidays, whatever that means to you. ❤

So...I've made it through my dreaded anniversary when I lost my two Rottie boys on the same day 13 years apart. I've also made it through numerous doctors, lawyers, tax preparers over the past three weeks. I've moved my travel plans from France and the Eurotunnel to Holland and the ferry. I've figured out how to get a PCR test and a LF test on days when nearly all test centers are closed. I've made and cancelled and made again dog-friendly hotel reservations. I've confirmed and moved and confirmed again my (hopeful) Cornwall arrival date.

Whew.

Now I just watch the COVID rules change (or not) over the next week and see what I can do to change with them. Even then, when I arrive at the ferry in Holland, the UK Border Control could refuse me entry. Between Brexit and the fact that I've spent a lot of time in UK the past three years, I have to be aware of the possibility that I will get an agent who simply turn me away.

So...I've also made a contingency plan. If I'm blocked from the UK at the ferry, I drive back to Regensburg, move my stuff from the car back into storage, all except for my backpack and suitcase, put my car in the parking garage, give my keys to my friend Nadine, and get on a train from Munich to Venice. Straight shot down there (7 hours) and we can slide in one of a several very nice apartments which I scoped out on my last trip down there.

My first goal is Cornwall, but I wanted to have a plan B so that if I get turned away, I'm not just left standing on the dock in Hook of Holland, hopping up and down and crying like a big baby! 😂


Carbon: "Vale, ML, can I have my own thread back, por favor? I have been much too quiet lately! What will my many amigos think you are doing to me? For this, I give you my Very Disapproving Look!"

P1190457.jpg

(😂)
 
Jacqui-S

Jacqui-S

Moderator
Location
Fife, Scotland
Not surprised your head has been elsewhere Emily, but glad to have you back.
Your travel headaches would have me completely freaking out. I appreciate things are doubly hard as you need to think of Señor Carbòn too in among all the covid/brexshit stuff.
Hoping all comes to fruition.
:thelambiesarecoming::thelambiesarecoming::thelambiesarecoming:
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Loraseal said:
Worse case you stop over in Holland and introduce Carbon to Hunter and Finn.
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Definitely the bright spot in my travel plans! :dug:

Loraseal said:
As long as you have a UK address. Maybe you could say it is also work related?
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I don't have an official UK address and it would be the kiss of death to mention work (I don't have the right to work in the UK). I always very cheerfully say that I'm going to visit friends and most agents have seemed happy with that. Hopefully that continues!

By the way, I do have the right to stay 6 months in the UK as a visitor, and working from home in the UK for a job not based in the UK is completely legal. So technically, I should sail through Border Control. But Border Agents of any country are a law unto themselves and can pretty much turn you away on a whim. If they think you are coming to work illegally or overstay the six months, these are common reasons to be refused entry to the UK. You can legally contest such a decision, but it's costly and lengthy.

I used to have a terrible time getting into the UK - several times stopped for hours for search and questioning - until I started coming in via the Eurotunnel in a German-plated car. Then because I was legally residing in Germany (fellow EU country), I got happily waved in. This will be the first year I'm trying to get into the UK as an outsider again (i.e. post-Brexit). Between that and COVID, it does worry me. But I'm hoping the agents in the Netherlands are a little less hostile than those stationed in France, and will be more relaxed about waving me through. Guess we'll find out! 🤪
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Jacqui-S said:
I appreciate things are doubly hard as you need to think of Señor Carbòn too in among all the covid/brexshit stuff.
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Thanks, Jac. Carbon is covered: got his Spanish passport up to date and he's got his special medications and stamps from his vet here in Germany. She makes it so much easier for me because she gives me the medication and the stamps, then lets me put in the actual date I need and administer the tablets myself. This means that I don't need to scramble around to find a vet open on the holidays.

In my weird mind, I do imagine a scenario where I get refused entry to the UK but Carbon doesn't: he'd walk right on past me onto the ferry and say, "Vale, ML, it is soooo sad for you, but I must go to Cornbeefwall to see my friend Reuben and surf, so we will catch up with one another in a few months. Hasta luego!"
 
Beanwood

Beanwood

Administrator
I always quietly breathe a sigh of relief knowing you are safe in the UK. I am so sad you have to jump through so many hoops just to get to a place of relative calmness and respite, something that a lot of us take for granted. This is a tough time and my heart goes out to you.
You know you can always use our address if you need too. If anyone calls us with an accent asking for you, well we will just say "she is in the bath, and might be some time..." :hug: :hug:
 
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