It’s a little embarrassing to admit that the biggest thing I was worried about moving away from home was my workout regimen.  I had been on a two year weight lifting program with my Dad and had made a lot of progress totally reshaping my body; I had also joined a boxing gym eight months prior and was loving that.  In short I was in great shape and didn’t want to jeopardize that.  I knew I could get in to a workout routine in Belize but I also knew how hard it is to get my ass in gear when my routine is thrown off course.  Working out for me is a total outlet for all of my stress.  It was the one thing that really worked well for me and it was scary to let go of those habits.  I was just getting in to sparring at the boxing gym and on course for my first fight but it was scheduled for the month after I would leave.  Looking back it seems like such a superficial reason to be scared but I think I was projecting all my fears on to that one part of my life.  A few times I was very close to bagging the whole plan, especially during those couple of weeks right before we were going to leave.  Everyone was so excited for us though and I knew I had to go through with it.  It felt like I was on a fast moving train without breaks so all I could really do was sit back and ride with it. 

The next thing I know Will and I are at my parent’s house the night before we were to fly out.  We had all three of our cats with us with all of their shots and import permits ready to go – I thought it was a little crazy that the cats had a harder time getting in to Belize than we would.  All we needed was our valid U.S. passports – no visas.  We were going to take the cats on to the plane with us as our carry on items.  There were three of us, me, Will and my mom (Nancy) and three cats so it worked out great.  They have never traveled much longer than 3 hours, ever.  So needless to say I was a little nervous about the trip.  It would be two plane rides with a moderate layover in Houston – about a day’s worth of traveling.  We were scheduled to get in to Belize City around 2pm.  The first plane was going to leave from Portland at approximately 6am so we were at the airport at 4am.  We had 9 very full bags to check and three cat carriers – I’m sure we looked like a small circus going through the airport.  We pulled up to the curb and our good friend Don Julio (you know who you are) was there to surprise us and help send us off.  The first thing we got to do at the airport was pay about $350 worth of excess baggage fees – yuck!  We got to security and said a teary goodbye to my Dad (Scott) and Don Julio and we were on the other side waiting for our plane. 

We were crossing our fingers for a nice smooth journey to Belize – it was a combination of nerves, anticipation and excitement.  There was a lot of adrenaline running through me.  I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this.  Well, the first hiccup came about 5 minutes later during the security scan.  Since we had the cats we had to go through the screening first, individually, and then to a special room where the cats had to come out of their carriers and the carriers themselves had to be run through the screening process.  We had bought a spray recommended by the vet to calm the cats down a little since we weren’t allowed to sedate them (airline policy) so that had been sprayed all over the carriers.  At this point the cats hated us – they were freaking out and I wasn’t happy about removing them from the bags.  We had to though so they were out in the little room with cat hair flying everywhere, trying to find any possible hiding spot they could.  The security officers came back after a little while and said we needed to come with them for additional screening.  They were suddenly very serious and my heart skipped a beat while we went out of the room and followed them.  We each had to have full body scan with the wand they use again, and then they had to search through all our other stuff again.  We hadn’t even made it out of Portland yet!  After they had scanned us all they told us that whatever we had sprayed on those cat carriers should never, ever be used again for airline travel.  It had set off all sorts of alarms.  A little embarrassed we nodded and went on our way.  By the way that spray is Feliway made by Ceva – DO NOT USE THIS SPRAY GOING THROUGH AN AIRPORT.  Okay, one hurdle down, so we headed to our gate to await our first flight. 

The plane finally arrived and we took our seats.  The cats were still making some noise; at this point they still had energy to spare and had no qualms about using it.  You know how in the movie Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase, Aunt Bethany brings the cat wrapped us as a gift – well, that’s how our carriers were shaking and I was starting to panic that these cats were going to act like this the whole plane ride.  I apologetically looked around at the people sitting close and told them they were my cats and they had never traveled.  Their carriers barely fit under the seats in front of us but we made it happen and eventually they quieted down. 

We arrived in Houston with no problems, the cats were behaving – or, more likely, traumatized, and we got on to our next flight with no trouble.  The flight from Houston to Belize City was beautiful and I sat on the plane wondering what this chapter in my life would bring.  After we landed we made our way through customs with our 9, jam packed bags, and the customs official proceeded to search through every one of them.  After we were cleared to go through we had to get the cats checked up so we went to the BAHA (Belize Agricultural Health Authority) office where they checked out all the cat’s documents and permits.  The guy took a look in the carrier and I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head – he quickly called over his buddies to look at this monstrous cat.  Apparently they do not have 17 lb cats in Belize.  They let us through and we were finally riding in our taxi to our new home of Corozal.