One Friday I was off work. I was driving next to a shopping center and I saw a pet store. I decided to park my car and check it out. I really wanted to adopt a cat. I walked in, passed by the dog section and walked into the cat section. There were many cats there that needed to be adopted that were on display there. I looked at each one of them through the glass. Some of the cats were playing, some were sleeping. Then I saw her – a little bowl of tri-colored fur resting on a little shelf – away from other cats who were playing in her box. I read a description that was posted next to her -” A nice 6 month old female cat, she will be your forever friend”. At that moment I knew she was meant to be mine. The “Gotcha Day” was in October of 2012. I named her Meg and she became my best buddy. We played together, she slept next to me and she was always nearby watching my every move.

A few years went by and I decided to move to Poland to teach English – Meg of course was coming with me. Traveling with pets is easy but you have to be prepared. First we had to go to her Vet to check her health and to make sure that she had the right chip implanted. Then we had to go to the Official State Vet to receive a certificate that Meg was healthy and received all of her immunizations required to travel to an EU country from a non-EU country. We had to do all that no sooner than 10 days before our trip. We both needed passports. Meg was going to travel inside the cabin with me, therefore, she needed a soft pet carrier. We also needed to buy a flight ticket for me and one for the cat. We managed to secure everything we needed for the move to Europe. One last thing – we got a special calming medicine for Meg so she could tolerate the long flight.

The travel day came. Meg didn’t like traveling at all, she was a homebody. It was an adventure getting her into the pet carrier – but we managed. Our trip took almost 24 hours but we were prepared. I packed dry food and water for the cat and snacks for me. I even had a very little diaper for Meg with a hole cut out for her tail – just in case she needed to go to the bathroom. We flew from Austin, TX to Chicago, IL and then from Chicago, IL to Warsaw, Poland. She was very brave going through a security check two times. Then I gave her her calming medicine right before boarding and she slept through most of the flight sitting in the seat next to mine on both flights.

We arrived safely in Poland and we have been happily teaching English ever since – yes both of us – she is always present in every class and even answers questions I ask to students – one amazing traveling kitty.

Vocabulary list:
To rest – to relax or sleep
Gotcha Day – „Gotcha Day” is a term for the anniversary of the day on which a person or a pet joins a family by adoption.
Buddy – a close friend
To go by – to pass ( in this context)
To implant – to insert or fix
Immunization – the action of making a person or animal immune to infection, typically by inoculation
Pet carrier – small portable boxes, crates, or cages used to transport small animals
To secure something – succeed in obtaining (something), especially with difficulty
To be a homebody – a person who prefers pleasures and activities that center around the home; stay-at-home.
To manage to do – to succeed in doing something, especially something that needs a lot of effort or skill.
To board a plane – getting into the aircraft