How it is that I ended up flying with Blue Collar Transport in an airplane, a contraption I had never heard of, is a story that must be told. I still can’t believe it myself, but I offer my experiences to the cats that will follow me as reassurance that while it will never be fun to be in the dreaded cat carrier, let alone in a noisy tin can, the world will not end, either. My human did what I must admit was an adequate job of preparing me for my flight, so my heart did not jump out of my throat when the plane took off as I had expected.
My Human Used My Stomach Against Me As She Got Me Ready for My Flight.
My human was sneaky. I give her credit for that. She didn’t use my usual carrier for the flight because I would have smelled trouble in a second since she always takes me to the vet in it. Instead, she fooled me by buying a new carrier and pretending it was something fun. She knows my weakness – avocado – and tossed pieces of it in the carrier. I am a slave to my stomach, so I just waltzed in and happily ate it all. I was blissfully unaware of her real game: to acclimatize me to the carrier so that I would not screech indignantly when she shut me in. I was such a fool, but I love avocados so much that when she finally closed the door, I didn’t care. I just kept on eating.
My Human Upped the Ante by Taking Me to Places Where Sounds Were Objectionable.
Muffin next door loves to ride in the car. I don’t. My human knows this but took me on a lot of car rides anyway; I let her know in no uncertain terms that I was displeased. She ignored me. She even took me to the airport, where I really wigged out when I heard the sound of the jet engines. I told my human that I was annoyed, and she tried to tell me that I would be fine. I doubted it. She kept doing this, and despite my irritation, I have to reluctantly admit that over time, I didn’t mind so much. I won’t tell her that, though.
The Day the Ground Dropped from Underneath Me
Nothing, however, compares to the day I flew for the first time. It was a windy day, and there were so many weird sounds! My human covered my carrier with a towel, which shut out the wind and made me feel a little safer. I could still see, though, and as my human shook hands with a Blue Collar Pet Transport team member, who smiled at me through my carrier’s door, I studied the airplane, which didn’t look like a bird. I couldn’t imagine how we could ever fly through the air when the plane didn’t even have feathers.
I wasn’t impressed that my human didn’t keep my carrier steady as she climbed up the stairs to the private plane, but I will forgive her for that eventually. Onboard, things were a little quieter, and I was put under a seat. That was a bit undignified, but at least they were gentle about it. I had to hang out for a bit while the humans did whatever it is that humans do, but I was left alone, which was fine by me.
For the cats who are reading this, this is where I advise you to pay special attention.
Suddenly there was this big rumbling, and I could feel the plane moving just like a car does, only a lot faster. I could handle that pretty well, but what caught my breath was when the plane left the ground! There’s no other way to describe it – we were flying just like a bird! I had never known such a thing was possible, and once my heart stopped racing, I have to say it was pretty cool.
Once the plane leveled off, I dozed off and on. My human checked on me often, and I let her know that I just wanted to be left alone so long as she was nearby. She read a book and slept here and there, and I wondered what on earth the world is coming to when cats can fly like birds do.
The descent wasn’t too bad. Cats are pretty smart, as we know, so if the plane goes up, it must go down. I was ready for it. When we arrived and the plane stopped taxiing, Blue Collar Pet Transport came to say goodbye. My human turned around to shake hands with the team members again, and I was left with my last glimpse of the airplane. I won’t ever tell my human this, but the whole trip was amazing. I may not want to do it again anytime soon, but all the same, it was the ride of my life.