0. First fly in the ointment

Cosmo and I went to the vet on Thursday morning, Jan 2, to get his vet check for South Korea. She sent it in to the USDA and later that afternoon she called to let me know that they had already rejected the certificate application because he would be in Vietnam for a month before going to South Korea. She wrote back that I would only be in Vietnam for 14 days then Laos for 7 days.

In the meantime, I searched around for someone to contact in South Korea. I could not find an email address but I did find a phone number at the Seoul ICN Airport so I called that. The person there asked me to call back in an hour when the English speaking person would be there. An hour later I talked to them and was able to get an email address ([email protected]) to email about my problem getting the USDA to issue a health certificate. This was Friday their time since they are a day ahead of us.

Two days later I heard back and they said in needed a government health certificate from the Laos Government. I did a quick check discovering that the Laos Government requires 10 business days to do certificates and emailed the South Korea folks with this dilemma hoping they would say that a USA one was also acceptable. In the meantime I assessed my options. Vietnam airlines did seem to refund tickets so I could possibly do that. My United flight home was booked on points so that was also cancellable though I would lose my $150 pet fee. However, no flights home from Laos were on pet friendly airlines and I was not going to have Cosmo under the plane for 22-30 hours of travel. I could still continue with my current routing and just adjust dates so that I arrived in Seoul on Jan 31 and left several hours later. The only problem with that was how to check my luggage as Vietnam and United are not partners and I could not book it all on one ticket (neither by cash or through miles). I finally realized that maybe I could get someone to watch Cosmo for an hour while I went through immigration, collected my bag, and rechecked it. I have 7 hours so that would be possible. Even better, I found a few comments on the web where people on separate Vietnam Airlines/United Airlines flights were able to show their ticket and get bags checked through despite being on separate tickets though these were from Da Nang and Hanoi which are much larger than Luang Prabang

A few hours later I got firm confirmation that the certificate MUST be from Laos and within a couple hours I was able to reach Capital One to cancel my Vietnam Airlines flight for a $50 fee and reach United on the phone to get my pet fee transferred to my new reservation so I didn't lose it (great customer service United!). My hotel in Jeju cancelled my reservation without penalty once I emailed them the reason and I was easily able to cancel the Seoul hotel and the Jeju Island car rental. Now I just need to add a day to my Luang Prabang reservation.

It actually even saved my a bit since the new tickets cost less than the original ones even with the cancellation fee. A friend did toss out the idea of leaving Cosmo at home but I had already done so much work locating cat friendly hotel and spent over $1000 on vet/USDA approval for Vietnam and Laos plus another $300 in airline fees that it made much more sense to skip South Korea which will be freezing cold with 33F degree high temps in Seoul and 45 degrees in Jeju. I will look at adding South Korea on to my Japan trip in April instead when it should be much nicer weather. As a bonus, I no longer have to pack my heavy jacket, gloves, and jeans.

EDIT: I woke up this morning and checked to see how long before my flight I could check my luggage for the ICN-SFO flight and realized a huge hole in my plan. With a cat, they need to physically see the cat so I can never check in online. That means 1) There is little chance Vietnam Airlines will be able to check my bags through to SFO as I think they have to also check me in. 2) I can't just leave Cosmo with a friendly stranger while I exit immigration, collect and recheck my bag, and come back through security as he will need to be with me.

Aargh! I made sure to pack his rabies titer test certificate and then I googled more about export certification in Laos. There is a place in Luang Prabang that seems like a legitimate vet so I contacted them via WhatsApp to see if they can file for the form or if I can at least get a form and information on where to file it. They are 9 hours behind so I won't hear from them until I'm leaving for the airport or later, but hopefully they can help me. Or maybe the plant and animal import people in South Korea can escort me to the ticketing area to check in and make sure Cosmo leaves the country. Fingers crossed that we don't end up in quarantine or jail!