Travel isn't on the Horizon for Me Just Yet

As pandemic restrictions ease and quarantine requirements lift, travel returns in a big way; travel photos are back in fashion again. I've toyed with getting tickets for a short break in the Maldives or do a long weekend to Bangkok. But I don't think I'll be flying out to anywhere anytime soon.  

I've thoroughly explored the options of traveling with Choya to UK and EU. Nope. That's not going to work because of the summer peak, as well as the over-loaded Heathrow Animal Reception Center (HARC) in London. Putting Choya through the trauma of flying in cargo (albeit temperature-controlled) will only be justified if we're relocating to a new city. Doing even a six-month vacation with Choya is a tad... irresponsible. She would love traveling with us and experiencing all these new and crisp sights, smells and sounds. But I can't bear to put her through the 26-hour flight + customs wait + vet checks both ways, not to mention the logistics and trauma of many vet checks if HARC doesn't issue her a slot three days before the scheduled flight that SQ may or may not have confirmed. 🤯 

The whole bilge of Sunny Heights going under and into liquidation, and Choya's three-month diarrhea from unhygienic environment at Sunny Heights prior to that (it was definitely no coincidence), threw the entire schedule into disarray. I now have to re-start the search for a clean daycare area and a dependable boarding facility before I can even consider getting a ticket out of town for a week. 

A pet-sitter who is clean and neat and responsible to stay over at my home is the best choice for say, a five-day trip. But what do I do if I do a 10-day? A 20-day trip? Of course I've considered this when I welcomed Choya into the home. I know that long-haul trips are going to be rare from the moment she became part of the family. 

I don't want a fellow Shiba-parent to take on Choya's care. I don't want even want to ask the BFF for this favor to take Choya home while I'm out of town. The BFF is family, but I don't even want to burden kin with a dog. With Choya's anxiety and noise phobia, this isn't the most fun dog to care for. Now that I've finally balanced her gut microbiome, it's a little easier to care for the dog, especially if caregivers follow the strict feeding instructions to the letter.  

I want to say that Choya is keeping me here in Singapore, but she has no jurisdiction or rights over her life or even her bodily functions. I dictate that. I'm making a conscious choice to stay for her. I don't resent her for it. I don't just want to shove her into any half-decent boarding facility. I need to sort out her boarding arrangements. In this scenario, I’m a teensy-weensy envious of people with dogs, and they have a ton of help by way of a whole entourage of enthusiastic teenage children, mobile and fit parents (willing to take on the responsibility of caring for a pet) or a reliable domestic helper. 

Don't we have options to hire a domestic helper for say, three months or six months? On a contract basis? Unfortunately I would need a live-in helper for that time frame, just to care for the dog in the way I would. Choya would be very sad, but at the very least, her basic needs would be met, and she would be still be at home with lingering familiar smells.  

It's rather annoying, isn't it? How small this country really is? We can't even get into a car to take a road-trip somewhere.