Everyone survived!!!
We left our temporary home on Saturday 2pm, and arrived Brasilia airbnb Sunday 3pm, Brasilia time, door to door 35 hrs. We survived and everything went through as planned, which ex-post I would say it was a risky plan but worth trying! 🙂
Tony arrived with cookie, alive, and meowing through the São Paulo airport becoming THE cat of the day at the airport. Her bigger than standard size cage and her voice made all passing passengers looked at her.
I couldn’t sleep during the first 8 hrs flight as I was waiting to know if cookie arrived safe and whether they could board the domestic flight with the bag on board. I had a lot of issues booking Cookie to go with the luggage as each time the agent gave me a different excuse why she can’t go with the luggage but needs to go in the cabin. I later learned that last year a golden retriever died due to mismanagement of the airline so they are doing everything to avoid having to transport pet in the luggage compartment as it would be 100% airline liability.
After knowing Cookie’s smooth arrival to Brasilia, I slept 7+ hours on our second flight, 14.5 hrs. First peaceful sleep in a long time.
Lizzy slept during the first flight, and mostly watched TV shows and trying assorted fancy meals at the business class seat. My mom did the same but Sofia was back at the economy class all by herself. This is because my company paid for our family tickets but I had to buy my mom’s. Sofia gave up her business class seat for grandma to have it. She didn’t complain because she said she wouldn’t have enjoyed it knowing grandma is not comfortable.
I said my plan was risky because our transit time in Sao Paolo was 2 hrs 20 min with no delays. We had to get our luggage’s (12 in total plus 4 bag packs, and 3 stuffed toys), go through immigration and customs, and then check the bags in another terminal. It’s really tight but we made it thanks to the man who helped with my mom’s wheelchair. She has been having some knee pains when walking long so we asked for wheelchair assistance. The guy was amazing. Not only he took care of my mom, he took care of all of us, including helping with organizing 3 carts for all our luggage’s, and asked favor to a LATAM personnel to let us check the bags in the international terminal instead of the domestic terminal, so we don’t need to take the 15-20 min walk with all the luggage’s which would be challenging considering asking Lizzy to push a cart with 4 piece of luggage would be almost impossible. Anyways thanks to this guy, we made it to the gate 5 min before boarding.
My mom asked me cash to tip him. I had none with me. She felt bad and almost mad at me for not doing anything to tip him. I told her: not everyone needs to be paid for doing their job well. While I agree with her that the guy went beyond his duty, I also wonder if he would be offended to be tipped. Why do we need to pay extra for someone to do their job well? Any thoughts?
Daddy stayed one night at the hotel that I stayed last time because it allows pet. Cookie is finally eating drinking and sleeping the next day. She is so resilient.
Daddy checked out and transferred to the Airbnb we will stay for two nights before moving to our new house.
I’m sooo glad everything went well! To another chapter: settling!
Few pics of our long journey
Lizzy’s toys for the journey
first pic of Cookie received at 30,000 feet, what a relief
special treatment in Doha
Lizzy felt so spoiled to have berries on the flight
both girls crashed on our last flight from Sao Paulo to Brasilia. Jet lag set in!
I am writing this Monday 5am. I am happy to report that my plan of minimizing time in Jakarta (2 days) worked to avoid another jet lag adjustment for me. I slept 7 hrs last night, almost during my normal sleep schedule. The rest of the family with jet lag full on. They all went to sleep early (5 pm Sofia, 6pm Lizzy) and woke up 1am. They just went back to sleep. Hope they adjust to the new schedule quickly. Being jet lag is really no fun!
Off to run! 😀
Our New Journey 
Wow, what a journey! Sounds like it took some serious coordination and resilience to make it all work out—props to everyone involved (especially Cookie for being the star of the airport!).
About tipping the wheelchair assistant: I totally get both sides of the argument. On one hand, going above and beyond like that really feels worthy of some extra appreciation, and tipping is one way to show that. On the other hand, I also get the feeling of not wanting to assume that money is the only way to say thank you, especially when someone’s just doing their job really well. Maybe a sincere thank-you and a kind word go just as far sometimes?
Hope you all settle in smoothly after such an epic journey! Looking forward to hearing how the next chapter unfolds.
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Oh what a relief!!! I was wondering how it all went. I’m so glad you are all there! I was worried for you about Cookie!
How sweet of Sofia to give up her fancy seat for Grandma!
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I am SO happy for you – what a relief. After months of planning and travel and packing and so many arrangements…you’re in the home stretch. I can’t wait to hear all about your settling-in phase, and hope everyone recovers from jet lag very quickly!
I’m especially glad things went smoothly with Cookie. You had so many hiccups in the process, but now everyone is reunited ❤
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I am so glad you all arrived!! That is a big journey for all! And how sweet of Sofia to give up her cushy seat for her grandma. What a thoughtful girl! I imagine your mom enjoyed the perks of business class!! I have never flown business class or first class on an international flight. It is such a better way to travel, though! I would probably actually sleep on the flight. That is a challenge for me in the economy class.
The tipping thing is tricky. It sounds like he went above and beyond but he might not be allowed to accept tips. I rarely have cash on me so am not able to tip besides when I use my credit card. If we know we need cash tips – like for our Mexico trip – I will be sure we have plenty of cash, though.
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If your job told you they were paying you less money, or you weren’t getting an inflation raise or a bonus, would your reaction be this isn’t a bad thing, I don’t need to be paid more money to do my job well? I would be insulted if my job paid me a bonus for my job well done? This guy is no different. He’s in the service industry and that’s how payment and bonuses work there — tips. You absolutely should tip.
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Yay!!! I’m glad you all arrived. I would have been worried sick if our cats were traveling by plane (I’ve actually done that, a long time ago) so I’m sure it was a HUGE relief that Cookie made it!
Tipping is complicated. I work at a job where tipping is expected, and a lot of my pay comes from tips. If everyone decided not to tip me, I would have to quit this job because I wouldn’t be making enough. So if it’s a situation where I know someone is working for tips, I tip generously. But I don’t always know if it’s appropriate. I’m sure your helpful guy was doing it because he wanted to do a good job and help you. He probably would have appreciated a tip, but a lot of people don’t carry cash nowadays so he also knows he may not get one.
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Oh, so glad you made it safely and everyone is starting to settle in!
If you had had cash with you, I think a tip would have been appropriate, you would not have made your connection without him. Since you didn’t, a sincere thank you is all that was needed, and perhaps a ‘sorry, I don’t have any cash on me’ would be a good idea. So many people don’t carry cash these days, I suspect tipping has kind of fallen off. Especially in an airport with different currencies, I am guessing that tips aren’t terribly common.
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