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2087 Views 14 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  ofilha, 
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Hi you all.
Our time to come to Portugal is near. But we have a huge issue to contend with and i hope some of you with more experience can give us some ideas.
We have a cat i picked up a couple of years ago that has bed legs and i dont' even know how old the cat is, and we also have a German Shepherd that is now about 10 years old. We are debating the best approach. We are thinking of taking the queen mary 2 to england south hampton. And from there that's where the trouble begins and i would like your suggestions if anyone can offer them.
We are looking at about three options.

1- My wife found a company in England that will rent us a motohome so we can drive from england to portugal and they will pick it up in portugal. It's about $5000, not including gas and other expenses. We would then stay at campgrounds in France, Spain and Portugal.

2-My wife also found a company that will fly us all like a charter for about $10000.

3- I rent a motor-home from Portugal pay my cousin to drive it to england, picks us up and then we all drive back to Portugal. This is the cheapest, but i am not sure if my cousin will be up to the task. He told me no problem, but when the times come he could change his mind or have a problem that will not allow him to help us.

So, what i would like from the experienced people in this forum, if you all are so kind to offer some suggestions or ideas, would be much appreciated.

Joao
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Hi Joao

Have you considered having your worldly goods delivered by Courier or direct from the USA? When you arrive in the UK most airlines can fly you and your petsI am sure at Heathrow or Gatwick their are agents who can arrange this for you.

I have left link to a Google search and one of the agents. Hope this of some help

Peter 666?

Airpets | Export from the UK

fly pets fropm the UK to portugal - Google Search
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PETERFC said:
Hi Joao

Have you considered having your worldly goods delivered by Courier or direct from the USA? When you arrive in the UK most airlines can fly you and your petsI am sure at Heathrow or Gatwick their are agents who can arrange this for you.

I have left link to a Google search and one of the agents. Hope this of some help

Peter 666?

Airpets | Export from the UK

fly pets fropm the UK to portugal - Google Search
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Hi Peter,
The concern about flying is that of carrying the animals in cargo. My wife is very concerned about that. I thought that a couple of hours from London to Lisbon should not be a problem but we we need to investigate that possibility furhter, it would help tremendously and probably cheaper than the th $10k for air trip in cabin.

Thanks for the links. I actually would love to stay in England for a while to explore the region. I never have been to Great Britain and i am very intrigued by its history. My wife's paternal ancestors are from Wales, her last name is Bucknell and she would love to learn about her historical roots and so would i.
So you all live in Central Portugal? It seems that most people in this forum live in that area. It's funny how expatriates start to hang around an area. But it makes total sense. The Portuguese community in the USA also do that as i imagine most expatriates do. When i first arrived to the US, we moved to Sacramento because of a large Portuguese community. Okay, enough sorry for long winded story of no relevance.
Cheers.:)
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Hi Joao

Just a link you may find interesting.

Peter 666?

Bucknell Family Crest
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PETERFC said:
Hi Joao

Just a link you may find interesting.

Peter 666?

Bucknell Family Crest
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Thanks Peter "Ubuntu Man".
Just forwarded your link to my wife.
Here is a link for linux, in case you don't already have it.
www. LinuxQuestions.org
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M
Well, if you have already 10,000 in the budget why don't you just stay on the QE2 and get off in Lisbon?
Itinerary
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-mia- said:
Well, if you have already 10,000 in the budget why don't you just stay on the QE2 and get off in Lisbon?
Itinerary
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Hi Mia,
That would be great if Cunard had such a deal. The last time i contacted them, they did not allow pets on any other voyages, only the transatlantic ones. When i first saw that they also had a itinerary that hit Lisbon, i was elated only to find out later that only the transatlantic trips allow pets. :)
This is kind of an issue for us since we are not going to leave our pets. We have to figure out a way to transport them. I have a cat that meows her head off when she is not happy and a shepherd that whines in our car on short trips.

Thanks for the suggestion though.
Joao
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ofilha said:
Hi Mia,
That would be great if Cunard had such a deal. The last time i contacted them, they did not allow pets on any other voyages, only the transatlantic ones. When i first saw that they also had a itinerary that hit Lisbon, i was elated only to find out later that only the transatlantic trips allow pets. :)
This is kind of an issue for us since we are not going to leave our pets. We have to figure out a way to transport them. I have a cat that meows her head off when she is not happy and a shepherd that whines in our car on short trips.

Thanks for the suggestion though.
Joao
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Oh well, that's too bad. Maybe you could combine trains & rental cars. Drive to Calais then take the trains. At least in Spain & France pets are allowed on the trains. Not sure about Portugal if they let dogs on trains.
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-mia- said:
Oh well, that's too bad. Maybe you could combine trains & rental cars. Drive to Calais then take the trains. At least in Spain & France pets are allowed on the trains. Not sure about Portugal if they let dogs on trains.
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That's what we are juggling now.
thanks.
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Joao, I brought a dog and an African Grey from Johannesburg last year September, they came as cargo and had no flying problems. Just make sure that you have the correct documents and that your clearing agent ensures that the state vet is at the airport. Ours forgot to warn the vet, they had to call her back and we only got our pets back at 1:30 in the morning, after having arrived in Lisbon at 20:00! And we still had to drive home!!!! They have settled very well in Portugal, in fact I have even joined a group of dog lovers and we take our dogs to the Serra da Malveira once a week for a big walk off the leash. We did all the documentation work and booking of the pet cargo ourselves, if you can, get an agent to do it for you, it's expensive but will save you lots of stress, frustration and time. Nelinha
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nelinha said:
Joao, I brought a dog and an African Grey from Johannesburg last year September, they came as cargo and had no flying problems. Just make sure that you have the correct documents and that your clearing agent ensures that the state vet is at the airport. Ours forgot to warn the vet, they had to call her back and we only got our pets back at 1:30 in the morning, after having arrived in Lisbon at 20:00! And we still had to drive home!!!! They have settled very well in Portugal, in fact I have even joined a group of dog lovers and we take our dogs to the Serra da Malveira once a week for a big walk off the leash. We did all the documentation work and booking of the pet cargo ourselves, if you can, get an agent to do it for you, it's expensive but will save you lots of stress, frustration and time. Nelinha
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Thank you Nelinha,
How old were your animals? Curious, what is an African Grey, a cat?
My dog is a bit on the old side, 10 years old and i think that worries my wife.
The Society for protection of animals does not seem to be keen on the idea and i saw a list of airlines where the animals get lost or die. Since you came from SA what airline did you use? We probably could drive to New York and then fly to Lisbon, the flight time is not as long as from SA. Thanks for the info. Are you Portuguese, again just curious, from your name.:)
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ofilha said:
Thank you Nelinha,
How old were your animals? Curious, what is an African Grey, a cat?
My dog is a bit on the old side, 10 years old and i think that worries my wife.
The Society for protection of animals does not seem to be keen on the idea and i saw a list of airlines where the animals get lost or die. Since you came from SA what airline did you use? We probably could drive to New York and then fly to Lisbon, the flight time is not as long as from SA. Thanks for the info. Are you Portuguese, again just curious, from your name.:)
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An African Grey is a parrot. They are originally from Central Africa but they are quite easy to tame and they learn to talk quite easily so because of their popularity often they are bred in captivity. Ours has been with us for 35 years (Idi was a wedding gift, can you imagine :eek:) He loves HD but Idi and I have agreed that we just maintain cordial relations that's all. Have been feeding him and cleaning his cage for 35 years, yet he does not miss an accasion to try and bite me.:rolleyes:
Guinness the dog is about 6 or 7 years old we retrieved him from a kennel when he was about 2 years old, he is a terridoodle (a mix between a terrier and a poodle). The animals came with TAP, I think they have a flight from New York.
Check with your vet your pets will need to have several vaccines ie distemper and rabbies, they will have to have a chip, then about 6 months before the vet will have to draw blood and send it for a rabbies analysis. about 2 weeks before the flight they must go for a vet health check to see that they do not have any fleas, ticks or any other funny goodies on them, they also get a deworming pill, then you must go with all the documents to get them signed by the state vet (in South Africa the state vet certificate is only valid for 48 hours). Don't forget that you also have to get wooden travelling cages for them. In Johannesburg we were told not to give Guinness any calming pills, they prefer the animals to ba aware of their surrounds. They also tell you to put a blanket and an old Tshirt of yours inside the box and no water. Will try and find my old papers and see if I can find some info for dogs coming from the USA. Also go to expatsportugal.com, select their pets forum and read through it you might find some info in there.
Yes I am Portuguese but after so many years outside the country I speak portuguese mal e porcamente:eek: HD is german but is going for portuguese lessons now he has already learnt the typical soccer stadium portuguese, now he is learning civilized portuguese! Bye for now, have to take Guinness out for his last walk of the night.
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nelinha said:
An African Grey is a parrot. They are originally from Central Africa but they are quite easy to tame and they learn to talk quite easily so because of their popularity often they are bred in captivity. Ours has been with us for 35 years (Idi was a wedding gift, can you imagine :eek:) He loves HD but Idi and I have agreed that we just maintain cordial relations that's all. Have been feeding him and cleaning his cage for 35 years, yet he does not miss an accasion to try and bite me.:rolleyes:
Guinness the dog is about 6 or 7 years old we retrieved him from a kennel when he was about 2 years old, he is a terridoodle (a mix between a terrier and a poodle). The animals came with TAP, I think they have a flight from New York.
Check with your vet your pets will need to have several vaccines ie distemper and rabbies, they will have to have a chip, then about 6 months before the vet will have to draw blood and send it for a rabbies analysis. about 2 weeks before the flight they must go for a vet health check to see that they do not have any fleas, ticks or any other funny goodies on them, they also get a deworming pill, then you must go with all the documents to get them signed by the state vet (in South Africa the state vet certificate is only valid for 48 hours). Don't forget that you also have to get wooden travelling cages for them. In Johannesburg we were told not to give Guinness any calming pills, they prefer the animals to ba aware of their surrounds. They also tell you to put a blanket and an old Tshirt of yours inside the box and no water. Will try and find my old papers and see if I can find some info for dogs coming from the USA. Also go to expatsportugal.com, select their pets forum and read through it you might find some info in there.
Yes I am Portuguese but after so many years outside the country I speak portuguese mal e porcamente:eek: HD is german but is going for portuguese lessons now he has already learnt the typical soccer stadium portuguese, now he is learning civilized portuguese! Bye for now, have to take Guinness out for his last walk of the night.
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I am at work, so i am not able to do much chatting, but when you said your portuguese was bad, i can relate. i was born in Lisbon and raised there until i was 17 then left for the US with my parents. Now when i speak my portuguese friends here me say slang words that are ancient and i have a terrible time with many other words that i forget. When i arrived to the US, i decided to distance myself from the Portuguese expatriates here so i would learn english. The funny thing is that my mother is from azores and i was raised in an Azorean family in Lisbon. So, now i have an Azorean accent even though i lived in Lisbon and went to Highshool there. Anyway, have fun with your walk and thanks for the info. Yes, you don't want HD to learn all that nasty slang... and good for him that is taking lessons, that's what i want my wife to do. :)
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Ah Joao, FORZA to the Azoreans! Shame they had a bad time during Christmas with all the storms, do you still have family there? It's mostly the accent, the feminines masculines and the construction of the sentences that are my problem. I have been told that my Portuguese is lame, that I am not Portuguese but have learnt to speak very quickly, etc. What I have found out is that I seem to get better service at the shops by speaking with an accent! In Johannesburg I hardly spoke Portuguese, with HD being a kraut the only common language we had was English. We tried to teach the kids Portuguese and German, it was a disaster they stopped talking so we went back to English. Don't make the same mistake. There are quite a few Portuguese language schools all over Portugal, in Cascais and Estoril lots. HD goes to one in Estoril called Margarida's school, then we walk with Guinness from Estoril back to Cascais. Have a nice day.
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nelinha said:
Ah Joao, FORZA to the Azoreans! Shame they had a bad time during Christmas with all the storms, do you still have family there? It's mostly the accent, the feminines masculines and the construction of the sentences that are my problem. I have been told that my Portuguese is lame, that I am not Portuguese but have learnt to speak very quickly, etc. What I have found out is that I seem to get better service at the shops by speaking with an accent! In Johannesburg I hardly spoke Portuguese, with HD being a kraut the only common language we had was English. We tried to teach the kids Portuguese and German, it was a disaster they stopped talking so we went back to English. Don't make the same mistake. There are quite a few Portuguese language schools all over Portugal, in Cascais and Estoril lots. HD goes to one in Estoril called Margarida's school, then we walk with Guinness from Estoril back to Cascais. Have a nice day.
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Ola Nelinha,
Azores always gets clobbered with storms. But it's beautiful place. I do have some family but not from my mother's side, although we still have some property there. Tell those people that they are the lame ones. From what i hear it sounds like you have had a full life and probably way more interesting than the people making those remarks. There is an old saying - i am probably going to massacre it - that while the caravan passes the dogs bark. You are the caravan and they are the dogs barking. It's unfortunate but every society has its jerks and they exist to make us appreciate the good people, so they are not totally useless.

Now for the learning portuguese at home. You are absolutely correct, it takes extreme discipline to do so. I tried with my wife and we hardly had time after work. I love to learn more languages, that's one of reasons i want to move to Europe, so we can travel for a while and spend some time in a country learning its language and culture and history. That's funny story though, about your kids, how many children do you have, if you don't mind me asking?

About the schools, i was looking at Berlitz, do you know of any schools that teach Portuguese? And are you residing in the Lisbon/Cascais area ?
Joao
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