The Move

Fortunately, our flight from BWI was connecting in Atlanta, a dog friendly airport - or so we were told.  The short trek down to Atlanta went very smoothly, but we arrived on the domestic side of the airport and would have to move to the international wing with about 40 minutes until takeoff while boarding started in 20 minutes.  We quickly had to figure out what to do with our dogs since the next leg of the trip was going to be approximately ten hours.  While making our connection, we asked an airport employee where we could find the "dog friendly" section - we needed to take Bella and Duffy out of their bags to stretch and relieve themselves.  Well, as it turns out, there is no such place to take your dogs after passing through security - the pet friendly area is outside of the airport.  What a frivolous misnomer, apparently, "pet friendly" depicts any area outside the airport (before security)- therefore, it seems to me, all airports are are pet friendly.

Duffy and his short-lived freedom

Bella confused about being in an airport

With the short time we had to get to our gate, exiting the airport for the dogs wasn't a remote possibility.  However, we had a one-way ticket to Germany, therefore, we had no qualms about violating the "dogs must remain in their bags" rule - seems more of a suggestion than requirement, plus we could always claim ignorance to the fact.  The dogs were freed, they stared at their puppy pads for a few minutes and nothing happened - a futile effort, but successful enough that we could get them one last dose of Xanax before boarding the long flight.

The luxury of doggy travel

This flight went less smoothly than the first-leg, with a few minor inconveniences.  The lady next to me requested to be moved due to the two dogs that were near her (seats 2-3-2, she moved four seats away).  Then Duffy had a small "freakout" moment around hour seven when Julie got out of her seat to stretch her legs.  We took him out of his bag and he slept in my lap for the next hour and half until a flight attendant said someone was allergic and he had to go back into his bag.  As time passed, several whiskeys were imbibed, and our teleportation to Germany was complete.

So we moved to Deutschland, now what?

Fortunately, we had someone waiting at the airport to pick us up and drive us to our temporary housing.  It was seven in the morning on April 22nd and we have been traveling for 15-hours - so our first priority was find a place for the dogs to christen their new land.  After several attempts, there is now a place in the Frankfurt am Main Airport parking garage that is Bella and Duffy territory.  A two hour car ride latter, we arrived at our apartment, above a vet in downtown Landstuhl.  The drive was beautiful, from the autobahn you can see a plethora of small villages, all with a distinct church steeple near the town center.  Off in the distance we could see Germany's dedication to green energy - there are windmills and solar farms everywhere.  With open and tired red eyes we were both taking it all in, our new home, Deutschland.