I've been putting off sharing this story due to how crazy it's been, but I think it may help others to realize the importance of back up plans and emergency funds.

So to begin with, my husband and I had planned a vacation week to Costa Rica on the last week of May. Because of all the troubles of traveling with pets (specially exotic pets like gliders) and how short the vacation was, we decided it'd be best if we left the gliders in the States. We considered all our options (leaving them with family, asking a friend, vet, and such), at the end, due to several circumstances limiting us, we decided to leave them at the vet for 8 days.

Now, the vet was not the best option in our opinion, since they are not staffed 24/7, and as a precaution they don't take the boarding animals out of the cage, unless absolutely necessary, to prevent issues like escapes and injuries from happening. The other thing is the expenditure,for 8 days and 4 gliders in once cage, we were supposed to pay around $360 plus any veterinary procedures in case the gliders needed it.

Anyways, putting that aside, we left the gliders at our regular vet office and off we went to Costa Rica. Then, the day before we were supposed to come back, the car got broken into and most of our valuables were gone (electronics, money). But the worse part was that our documents were stolen as well: both our passports and my green card. This happened on a Friday, and as expected all governmental offices close on Fridays and don't open until Monday. That meant that we had to deal, not only with getting our documents back, but to make plans for our gliders still at the vet.

Because my husband and I have a good emergency fund built up (which includes care for our pets) we could have afforded to keep the gliders at the vet the necessary amount of time. Fortunately, after calling our breeders to ask them to provide the vet with the gliders' staple (we had left them extra food, but we wanted to make sure they would have enough), they immediately offered to take our gliders and care for them (they are amazing people), which ended up saving us another $360 we would have had to pay the vet; given how we had to stay in Costa Rica an extra week to get our stuff in order (mostly mine).

Now, for most American citizens, the process of getting an emergency passport takes less than a day, which means you can be on a plane that same day you apply for the passport. That would still have meant that we had to plan for 3 or so extra days of stay. My case was complicated further since I am only a resident and not a citizen, which forced us to stay an entire extra week.

I know this is an extreme case, but the point is that things that we cannot foresee happen, and some of them are impossible to plan for, but we still should thrive to be as prepared as possible. Some call me a pessimist, but I like to think I am just cautious. For this trip I tried to cover all possibilities. For the gliders in specific, I had left them food at the vet for 3 extra days. If it had been up to me, we would have left them with my breeders from the beginning, but we didn't want to impose on them, so we opted for the vet instead; still, we asked them to be our emergency contact for the gliders, which they gracefully accepted. We also had left our credit card information with the vet, so in case of anything happening, they didn't need to try to reach us first, and could simply contact our breeders for permission to do whatever procedure and have it charge to our card. And as an extra precaution, we had also made arrangements with my mother-in-law, just in case our breeders couldn't handle something. And I can't tell you how glad I was we went out our way to prepare like this.

Fortunately, things worked as they did, and the gliders didn't end up being a great expenditure. But even if they had not, we would have been able to handle their care, which brought me great peace of mind. Worrying about the gliders on top of my own stuff, would have driven me crazier.

I hope this can be an example of how bad things can get, and of the advantages of trying to make preparations. Thank you and sorry for the long post.

What a terrible experience. Not much of a 'vacation'!!!

We've missed you, by the way!!!

Yeah, didn't turned out as expected. Instead of coming back more relaxed and less fatigue, I came back looking forward to work as a means to distress

Fortunately I didn't loose my job (they were very understanding) and all my deadlines were pushed a little; still, it has been very crazy at work, trying to catch up, and getting my documents back.

Thank you for your concern, Blue. I've missed everyone too

Oh wow!! Welcome back Rusty I've missed you too!!! I'm sorry your trip wasn't so great but I love how prepared you were and pre planning for as many scenarios as you could

We don't "do" vacations but even when we go on day trips I worry! if we get into an accident will first responders find the gliders, will they know what to do with them if they do find them in or around the vehicle .... If something happens to us I have two people designated as god parents that agreed to take all 4 of the gliders and keep them as their own. I have two little barrel "charms"? that I just got at a pet store that can be attached to their bonding bags or travel cage with emergency information inside the barrel.

Darrin will be printing out a tag I can leave in the truck saying there are or may be live animals on board and any instructions that will get the gliders to the appropriate people before we head over to my folks house this weekend...

It never hurts to plan ahead....