19/11/2011

Any questions?

Is there anything you would like to know about South Africa?  Pretend you were going to travel to the country for vacation.  What would you want to know about?  Prepare for?
Such as, what is required to bring your pets to SA?  A whole lotta paperwork, and a whole lotta cash!
Thankfully we had some help via the kind folks at Animal Land Pet Movers.  Here's a shout out to Igna and Beth who were very kind and extremely helpful in getting our dogs and cats over here.  It made what could have been a headache into not so much.  Door to door service.  Fantastic. 
I gotta say it was not a cheap ordeal, but there is very little of a "cheap" nature when moving internationally.  Especially when dealing with pets crossing borders.  The blood tests alone (for the dogs, the cats were exempt) were nearly $800 for EACH dog.  That's just so immigration could be certain we didn't bring any nasties into the country.  Never mind some the nasties they were testing for are also present in SA, so it's not like the UK, where they have all but erradicated rabies from their soil and they want to quarantine.  At least the requirements for SA weren't that tough. 
What else can I tell you about coming over here?  They still have full service petrol stations.  Ladies, no need to pump your own gas.  They will even wash your windshield, check your oil, tires, etc.  For a tip. There are parking lot attendants who will watch your car, help you back up your car in the busy (and crowded) parking lots and even carry your bags and unload your shopping trolley.  For a tip.
When you get your luggage at the airport a friendly valet will be right there to push all your suitcases.  (Well, we had 14 of them so I didn't mind so much.) For a tip.
But don't be turned off by the request.   A R2 (or 2 rand) tip is only about 25 cents US.  So it's not like your gonna break the bank. 
So come on, how about some questions.

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