It seems absolutely wild to say this but we’ve officially arrived in Amsterdam! We made it with no major complications after nearly 20 hours of traveling, two planes, and over 5,000 miles (8,000 km). It took a lot of planning and patience plus about a million long deep breaths. Packing everything you can imagine into luggage and traveling with your dog has been the craziest thing we’ve ever done!
When it comes to this trip, we’ve been lucky in nearly every way. Before we left, we had numerous going-away events with our AMAZING friends and family. We have a great support network, it was harder than we imagined to say “see you later”. After like hundreds of heartfelt, tearful goodbyes we were ready to make things happen. By the time we left for the airport, we had a sense of completeness to match our sadness.
The First Airport: Dallas-Fort Worth
Once we arrived at Dallas/Love Field, the staff saw the sheer magnitude of our baggage and helped us immediately. They were extremely nice and seemed genuinely happy to be helping us. We had four large checked bags that each weigh 44.1 lbs (20 kg), two backpacks that weighed roughly 18 lbs (8 kg), a carry-on filled with heavy electronics, and our 20 lb dog. You seriously cannot imagine how ridiculous we looked. Southwest Airlines did not skip a beat, they had our bags checked and our dog paid for ($95 fee) in less than 10 mins.
Our next hurdle was getting through security. The issue wasn’t so much Iggy as it was the embarrassing number of electronics that needed to be scanned. Two laptops, an Xbox, 2 Nintendo 3DSs, travel speaker, e-cigarette, iPad, tablet…then there was our clothing, our dog’s stuff, and my father’s empty mini-urn with his ashes in a ziplock bag. We raised many eyebrows and allowed many people to skip ahead of us. It really was better than it sounds; every person was very kind and understanding. Many even wished us luck yet words cannot express the mixture of emotions we felt. We were reduced to nervous laughter as nearly a dozen bins went through the X-ray one-at-a-time while I awkwardly held Iggy through the metal detector.
Every part of our experience was the best it could’ve been but then our flight was delayed. Every person stresses about delays when they have a connecting flight but this is different. You may remember from our previous article, our incredible flight deal subtly failed to mention we arrive from Dallas to LaGuardia and depart from JFK with only 4 hrs to get there. Every moment counts when you have to wait for baggage, carry that baggage to a taxi, take a $75 taxi for 45 mins to another airport, and then go through the process of check-in and security all over again.
Our Dog Iggy
Iggy was a champion throughout the entire process! Our little guy is naturally anxious, he scares easily and fears most things. We were worried about how he’d handle this but he was impressively chill 90% of the time. He feels secure in his pet carrier (his “house”), when he gets overwhelmed he can retreat to his soft, safe space and watch safely from the multiple mesh windows. The Sherpa brand carrier has a flexible frame designed to contour to the space beneath airline seats without sacrificing comfort or space; most airlines, including NorwegianAir, recommend this carrier.
The first flight was only 2.5 hours, faster than we expected so we made up for some of the delay. Iggy was excellent the entire time, he even fell asleep for a little bit. A very dear friend gifted us a bunch of drink tickets so we had some time to wind down and celebrate our small victories. Once we touched down, our luggage came quickly and the taxi area was right outside. The taxi area was under construction and required a shuttle but the staff was incredible. They saw how hard we were struggling and flagged down an XL taxi! We were on our way with around 3 hours to figure it out.
Miraculously, the driver was quick and there was no traffic; we got there with time to spare! Check-in was more complicated with our international flight, primarily because of our dog Iggy. We required a supervisor to see his paperwork, called an International Health Certificate. Also, our bags were the exact weight to the very dot, the staff was a little frustrated but it all worked out.
The Second Airport: La Guardia
Next was the same song and dance through security but this time it was in New York. The lines were long but every single person was incredibly generous about our insane collection of items and not one person audibly complained. After we told them we were moving there, several asked a few questions and even tried to pet Iggy. Once we got through, we had some time to spare so Johns stayed with our stuff while I took Iggy back out through security to use the bathroom. Sadly, the sounds of Queens were too much for him so we went back in and they let us use the priority line which went pretty fast.
We had a 8-hour flight ahead of us but Norwegian Air is really fantastic. They gave us priority boarding, the seats were comfortable, and they have tons of free movies, games, and apps to use in-flight. We watched movies, texted on WhatsApp, and played trivia with others on the plane. Iggy did great for the first few hours, then he started to feel cramped; we let him climb in our laps for a bit to cuddle and move his legs around. The flight went by quickly, the only trouble was the landing and customs. There were no pet relief areas throughout the terminal, customs, baggage claim, or declaration. Iggy is so well-trained, he held it for another 1.5 hours before we could get him outside but he made it without a single accident!
Arriving in Amsterdam
Once you land in Amsterdam, all foreigners go to customs where they first scan your passport and an agent asks why you’re there. They give you a stamp and you head to baggage claim. Strangely, this time they made John look into a camera and promise to get a visa or leave in 90 days. Once you have your baggage, you go through another area where customs agents help with people that need to declare imported goods and those that look suspicious.
Since we brought our imported pupper, they stopped us to look over his papers. There were three of them, they all went through it line by line and kept shaking their heads, which was nerve-racking. They asked questions about where we’re staying, how long we plan to stay, our visa plans, and made sure we understood the time limit on our stay and Iggy’s paperwork (expires after 4 months). Then, they broke a smile, made a few jokes, and wished us luck. As we were leaving one of us knocked all our luggage off the cart! The customs agents politely helped use stack everything back up, laughing at us while Iggy stared at them as innocently as possible. We rushed him outside and he spent like 10 minutes draining his bladder.
The last few hours were kind of a blur. After 20 hours of travel and over 100 lbs of luggage each, the expensive taxi ride (75 euros) was a comfortable relief. We arrived at our place but our AirBnB host couldn’t contact us without wifi. John watched the bags and I walked a block before I found public connection. I called the host on WhatsApp, he helped us carry our heavy bags up two flights of stairs, and the apartment is cozy and gorgeous. We’ve barely had time to enjoy it before we passed out immediately for hours and hours. Our first official day is Tuesday, when we meet with the real estate agent and find international SIM chips. We’ll make sure post an update as soon as possible!
If you have any questions or ideas, comment below or find us on social media! We would love to hear your travel stories or answer anything we can!
Iggy comfortable on an airplane 
The luggage cart filled with everything we own and our cute dog 
Our dog in his Sherpa carrier as we move to Europe 
Moving to Europe with a dog 
Our dog on an airplane in his carrier
