Lost in transition

Here we are, in between Singapore and Switzerland - Finland. Our home is no longer Singapore (although I still keep referring to it as home, and keep correcting myself :D) and is not yet Geneva, Switzerland (a city I have never visited.. but hey, 'familiarization trips' are overrated). Although Finland is our home country, at the moment it does not really feel home either since we are staying with relatives in several places.. but we are for sure enjoying our three weeks in transition!

Getting here - for those who want to hear how Rekku survived the trip

I counted Rekku did 18 hours all together in his crate without food, water or toilet. Valtteri's cloth, which I sacrificed to keep Rekku's travel crate dry in case of accidents (since newspaper was not recommended anymore), was dry. The old man is a heck of a traveller. He came out of his crate initially a bit stiff legged and wary of the new smells, but then noticed the snow and was like a puppy on a spring morning!!

Rekku flew with me and Valtteri on a direct Finnair flight, but had to fly cargo due to some weird plane restrictions. It just meant that his ticket was more expensive, and trip longer (needed to take him into cargo 3-4 hours before the flight and did not get him out until several hours after the flight had landed). Bringing him back to Finland was way easier than taking him to Singapore - basically he just needed an export license (easy, $50) and a certain kind of worm treatment marked in his passport (pills at the vet's, easy, $20) since he had a passport, microchip and rabies vaccinations in order. The silly bit was dealing with the cargo and freight forwarder in Singapore - so many useless and untrue advice ("no, I do not need an export license from ICA to export a pet dog", "no, he does not need an EU heath cert since he has a passport.." I found myself repeating), way too many emails over simple matters ("no, there's no need to check since I already did.." I said, again..), and the fact that no one wanted to check Rekku nor his papers leaving Singapore. In Finland the customs did check, all documents and his microchip.

Climate shock

It is so funny how Rekku loves the snow and walks outside, and then when we come in, he runs around like crazy, so happy to be in the warm! Rekku and me have adjusted well. We have slowly increased the time we have spent outside, and although we have been cold, it is all familiar. It's a very different story for Valtteri who has had a complete climate shock from the dryness, smell of air, cold floors, sharp sun, white scenery, wearing layers of clothes.. He adjusted to the time zone way quicker than I expected - and now, after a week, seems ok also with the clothes and outside. A viral infection in his mouth (like blisters) slowed the adjustment, as it was painful for him to eat or drink and thus he was tired, hungry, cranky.. Once we got that sorted, he has been his normal happy self.

Next step is to start having fun in the snow, but now the weather is turning colder..!!