A high and low of emotions:
It's starting soon, it's time to say goodbye,
packing and briefly chaos again because of one
new flight and then flying with a dog

Farewell at home and the flight to Canada with the dog and children

We made it and all arrived in Canada together to start our big adventure in North America. The last demanding months of planning and preparation are now over and we have started our new everyday life in the van. 

But we would like to take you back to the last days before departure, the flight itself, the arrival and the time until we were finally able to receive our Sprinter. 

When we dropped off our Sprinter in the port of Hamburg on April 21st, 2022, we could hardly believe our luck, because by chance there was still space on the ship that will be leaving this weekend, and we got it. Anyone who followed us on Instagram or Facebook noticed that we originally wanted to be on the plane to Canada on May 7th, 2022. Due to the enormous delay in our ship, we postponed this flight to May 17th, 2022 and now that we spontaneously got on the earlier ship could be moved back to May 7th, 2022. As you can imagine, it was a bit chaotic and emotionally demanding. 10 days less to meet up with loved ones, celebrate the birthdays of our two sons and finally prepare everything for departure. Almost every day we met someone else from our closest friends and family and said goodbye, sometimes with fewer, sometimes more tears and also longing. But this too passed and basically everyone was so happy that our big dream would soon come true.

The last two days before departure were particularly busy, luckily we had already thrown everything we didn't need into our suitcases the weeks before so that we wouldn't forget it. Now everything was unpacked and finally packed up. We bought a PeliAir Box for the Sprinter, which is attached to the outside of the rear doors. This box is actually a travel trolley and has exactly the baggage allowance permitted by Lufthansa. So it's super practical because we don't have room in the Sprinter for an unnecessary piece of luggage. The second large piece of luggage is a huge duffel bag, which will later serve as a dirty laundry bag in the van. We officially packed 3x checked luggage, 3x hand luggage and the children's small backpacks for the flight. But that's not all.

On the day of the flight we were brought to the airport by Franzi's dad, he has a large van and it was full to the last centimeter with our things, because in addition to our luggage already described above, there were two child seats and our stroller (Thule Cross 2). as well as Lotta and her dog box (Trixie gulliver 7), which we also took with us to Canada. So we arrived at Munich airport and first fully loaded 2 luggage carts and ourselves. We really wanted to fly with Lufthansa because many of the reports about flying with a dog took away some of our fear of Lotta's adventure. We have also had good experiences traveling with children so far. The check-in of the luggage also went very smoothly, every child has the same baggage allowance as an adult (both are over 2 years old and therefore almost full-paying), and you are also allowed to take one child seat or stroller with you for each child. The large Thule Cross 2 was also accepted here without any comments and the best thing is that we were allowed to drive the car until boarding. It was only at the very end, when we got on the plane ourselves, that the car was picked up and loaded by an employee.

And things were just as uncomplicated with our Labrador Lotta. She was allowed to travel with us for a while before she had to go into the box and be picked up by two very nice employees. All we had to do was examine the box to see if there was anything in it

If anything was suspicious, she was able to get in and was quickly taken to the plane. We could watch from the window as the dog box and Lotta were loaded onto the plane and were so sure that she was on board with us. 

And then it started. We hadn't reserved any seats in advance, but we were very happy with the ones assigned to us. Our plane had three seats on each side and three seats in the middle aisle. So we had a row of windows plus a seat in the middle. Basically, the fourth seat was unnecessary for Casper because our 2-year-old jumped around on his lap the whole time and even slept there. The flight went relatively smoothly. After a while, the children became a little restless as they became tired and lacked room to move, but soon fell asleep. We were then able to watch a film and just like that, we were on our approach to Montreal again. 

You were also the first to unload Lotta in Montreal and we were able to watch her from the window again. She was panting a little, but everything else seemed fine. In contrast to Munich, the stroller wasn't brought to us directly; you have to pick it up yourself with the seats from your bulky luggage. Luckily there were a few XXL wheelchairs lying around, which we quickly grabbed and drove the children through the airport. After the excitement of the immigration process, which ended with a very detailed conversation with the Canadian immigration officer, we went to the baggage claim and everything was there: the stroller, the seats and our dear Lotta. There was great joy on both sides, but you can imagine that. And then we went out of the airport because Lotta really needed to pee...

Welcome to Canada!!