Momo makes it

Our cat "Momo" finally joined us in Tabua a couple of weeks ago.

The trip from Tokyo was not much fun -- for her or for us. She found it particularly traumatic -- a whole string of new experiences, none of them pleasant! In the end, she had to spend the best part of 30 hours cooped up in a small carrier, travelling by taxi (to Shinjuku station in Tokyo), train (the Narita Express out to the airport), plane (11 hours to Amsterdam, then a 5-hour layover, followed by 2-3 hours to Lisbon), then finally rented car to our apartment (3 hours of night driving). From Amsterdam onwards, she was quite distraught and cried continuously until she finally fell asleep somewhere between Lisbon and here. Poor thing!

Our vet had given us a drug to prevent travel sickness and put her to sleep. It seemed to work fine for the first part of the journey; for quite a long period she was quiet as a mouse (or as a sleeping cat). But the second dose just didn't seem to help at all. Still, it's all over now and she seems to be settling into Portuguese apartment living quite well. The most exciting new experience for her is stairs....