"What Are the Hardest Countries to Move to With Pets?" Moving Pets Abroad

0:00English speakers are still a novelty. Here And of course I had two cats who basically destroyed their carriers on days one and three. There was a lot of discussion to make sure that we were aligned and that we were doing it for for similar reasons. What are the visa paths? Are you running towards something or are you running away from something and then what? I can't believe we're finally here. This is Americans Abroad.

0:31This week on Americans Abroad, I unveiled my new face and we talked to Aliza Bodzin from Bodzin Pet Travel, all about how she moved her babies to Canada. Welcome, Stephanie. Jen, it's lovely to see your face. Can you just talk a little bit about what's been going on and why you've been off camera for the last couple weeks?

0:54I think folks know about about what have it kind of talked to us about how your recovery is going. Yeah, I will say I, you know, look from, you know, I'm good from far, far from good. I'm still incredibly swollen and if you having my hair over my ears helps a lot because the swelling, I feel like a triangle that's ultimately or I guess a dime and I, you know, I feel like I have a mask on.

1:18It is incredibly swollen still. That said, it's been 2 weeks and I feel like I'm doing really good for just two weeks out. So I'm feeling confident about how it's going to look when it's all said and done and I'm just so glad to be to be two weeks out from it because it hasn't been any fun.

1:40Anyway, what we're talking about is I had a facelift 2 weeks ago today. I had a deep plain neck lift and I had what's called a Max Macs facelift, which is to say mostly just sort of superficial. Then I had some fat transfers which I thought was going to come from other parts of my face, but it because I thought, well, there's plenty in my chin, but it didn't, it came from my tummy when I woke up.

2:07And so I had fat transfers under my eyes and I don't know, some other little strategic places. And then I had an upper blepharoplasty. So I had that done here in Merida, Yucatan, where I live. It went, it went really well. It's just you know, I do a lot of on camera stuff which is why I wanted the facelift in the 1st place but it has been a struggle to be not on camera so. So this is my first trip back, but I did get like I had I got some really full coverage

2:43makeup, which is not listen, it is not making me look less like a mask. I will tell you for that. But I had my first big excursion Sunday. We went out to watch our very first football matches, me and Brett. We went to our favorite Texas barbecue joint that had a big setup for the game and first of all, ate the best baked beans I've ever eaten my whole entire life. Imagine.

3:13Imagine like Charo beans but with a baked bean sweet profile and like big pieces of pulled pork. Oh my God. And we watched Norway versus Brazil. And then because you know, that guy, I saw how to pronounce his name. I can't remember how it is now, but Holland. So he's all over my TikTok feed. So it was fun to see him big guy. And then we watched Mexico versus England. And I mean, what a heartbreaker, what a heartbreaking match. But we all went nuts.

4:00We had noisemakers and flags and Oh my gosh, it was, it was so much fun being in the crowd and, and the energy and, and all of that. It was, it was really fun. I saw that there was another heartbreaker yesterday. Stephanie. Yes. So yesterday was the Portugal Spain match, the what was being dubbed as the the Iberican Derby.

4:30We had the battle of the two Iberican Peninsula countries. You it was, it was fun to be with a bunch of Portuguese. There's a little craft beer bar around the corner from our apartment. We can walk it in 2 minutes. It's become kind of like our cheers. And so it was nice being like not at a big like sports bar or a big expat bar, but just to be with like the locals in the neighborhood and watching the match.

5:00And it was packed and everybody was there and it was great. And, you know, I think even if we had gotten a game like the Mexico England match where it was like, and then we score and then they score, then they score and then we scored. We're like, and we have these moments to cheer. Spain scored with like 90 seconds left in regular time.

5:25And I was just, it was Dave and I, my partner and I, and then two of our friends came to join us. We were just like chit chatting because we were like, OK, well, it's going to go to extra time or, you know, we still have stoppage time. And we were actually talking. How much stoppage time do you think is going to be added?

5:39I think it's going to be 8 minutes. I think it's we're just having this little like friendly wager and then all of a sudden Spain just like Dinks in the ball. And I was like, what a letting the air out of the tire sort of event. There was no like, it was such a just, Oh, well, OK, there we go. So I would have been OK with Portugal losing if we had lost even 21 or something, where we had just a little moment of we're still in it or, you know, we're leading for part of the game.

6:11I would have loved just one more moment to cheer during this year's World Cup. Yeah, I do still have that because deep down, I am an England supporter. So my condolences to Mexico. But I'm. Very happy that they're band. Yes, I know. I know you're going to kick me out. No, they were. So, so I, the Mexico fans were so sweet to the England fans. I mean, throwing them up in the air afterwards and and the and Bellingham swap jerseys with a little 17 year old on the Mexico team.

6:47But I will tell you that is what that team is like. It's 117 year old but it is like they're all. 17. The England team, my God. Yeah, one of the things that I, you know, as as I'm watching these teams get knocked out and like the heartbreak of a team losing, but how the other team or the other team's supporters are still like rallying around like this, this heartbreak. And just like it's OK.

7:14And and I love both the vulnerability of letting that heartbreak out, like watching grown men just like that, all that emotion they've been holding in for the last 90 to 100 minutes and just letting it release. And like kind of realizing that one of the thing, you know, say what you will about sports and toxic sport culture, but I think is especially in football and something like the World Cup, all of these men become like who they were as little boys.

7:45And I think there's something really sweet about that, that it's just the passion of it. And it is they have these big salaries and this celebrity, but deep down there's still that 789 year old little boy playing soccer at their school or coming up in the junior leagues. And just like seeing again this vulnerability and this like kind of innocence in this thing that is this big multi $1,000,000 billion dollar business.

8:09And so when you get to be like your truest, like vulnerable self and you get to allow people to be vulnerable around you, I think it that's more than the fans coming together, more than the exchanging of cultures, more than the run on the ranch dressing is that these players get to like leave it all on the field, you know, physically and emotionally and not feel bad about that. OK, so I love that and I have a very similar take away that relates to non-toxic masculinity as well from these games. And that is how how heartwarming it is to see young men enjoying friendship.

8:56Because that to me is something, you know, where our perspective from being terminally online or whatever is just that they are all consuming podcasts and bro culture and looks maxing and crypto brewing and whatever that the hell else. And it's just also negative or they're in cells and. Loners. Manosphere. Yeah. All of it, all of it is just and I'm not saying, listen, we're we're married to men.

9:34And so it's not like we know that all men are like that or like that. But you, that's what is presented a lot. And to see these young men, 20 to 35 is what most of these crowds seem to be, young men enjoying each other's company in a positive, uplifting way, having fun, being open and experimental as opposed to what we see which is closed and resentful, is so heartwarming to me that I mean, to me, I think that's what.

10:13And it's funny you mentioned emotion because watching the Mexico match, you know, the commercials, we're seeing Mexican commercials, which we've never seen because we don't know how to get a broadcast TV in our house. OK, so, and we've tried. We don't know, we can't figure it out. So we haven't seen a lot of Mexican commercials. Oh, Ron says the hammer is coming through a little bit. Hey, sorry everyone, I've got construction Outback stop. I don't know.

10:42So anyway, there was a big commercial about all the different kind of content they were showing on this TV channel, and they said emotion. And I was thinking it was going to be a telenovela, you know, that was what my brain was primed to see. And emotion was the football matches. And then it was drama. And it was like a drama show and whatever, but it wasn't action.

11:08And then the football matches, it was emotion in the football matches and that ability to be vulnerable and show your emotions and bond with other men is the single biggest thing I wish that we could keep from the World Cup. Now, that said, I think that we would be remiss if we did not discuss the red card scandal for the US men's team.

11:38And yeah, I'm sure you saw about that. Oh yeah, saw about that. Have opinions on that? I, I think it was, it's such a big black mark on this otherwise kind of kumbaya event that we've had going on for the last 3 1/2 weeks. Entirely unnecessary. The decision was made and I, I, I would be saying the same thing if it was England in that position or Portugal in that position. It isn't just well, because it was Trump or because it's the US or it has nothing to do with who was doing the petitioning, the fact that a decision had been

12:32made on an international tournament. It's unprecedented that a political leader will come in and try to pull some sort of influence. Look, FIFA as an organization are notoriously corrupt. I'm not Pollyanna about that at all. But usually the corruption is just kind of like silent and hidden. And we just all this have this like social agreement, like, OK, look, we know they're kind of garbage, but but to have that that corruption and that easily influenced and that easily influenced approach be so public was shocking and and heartbreaking.

13:17And my hope was that the manager of the US men's team would have just been to that player no matter what. That's exactly what I said. That's exactly what that's the only thing they could. Have that would have been the right I when we went to the bar, we ran into some some friends of ours and that's the first thing that they brought up was, you know, about the red card. And I was like, if Ted Lasso was the manager, he would bench that player and but that we knew that was never going to happen. He's an Argentinian manager.

13:48They're you know, it's very competitive. It's it's he would have been in huge trouble. There's it's it's complicated, but yeah, such a especially towards the end of the tournament to have such this cloud over what has been this lovely, beautiful coming together, highlighting of different cultures. You know, again, like you, we were talking about of, you know, men coming in, letting passions come through with, you know, competing without being needlessly competitive, toxically competitive. And then to have this thing that reminds us that it's not like that for everybody.

14:26I I completely agree, I had the exact same thought and I think it put such a cloud over that team and why wouldn't it? Nobody. Want and it's not their fault I don't have the players accountable at at all I don't blame the players at all Those players don't have enough influence to go look. Can you do me a solid and call your buddy at FIFA and get this thing overturned?

14:50They they'd be committing career suicide to to even entertain that sort of option. So I don't hold them accountable. But it was just, it's such a unnecessary thing that happened. Agreed, and I know that hating FIFA. Listen, I'm an expert because I've been following you. Went to one BBQ restaurant. Tomorrow for listen, three days now. I've got experience, but it's clear that hating on FIFA is as much of the sport as it is cheering for the team.

15:17So I get that. But it's just another thing that is going to put fear into people like us and our clients as to what the world thinks of us and our outsized, corrupt influence. And it certainly did US no favors. And I will be glad when, when and if the world goes back to normal. This week on Americans Abroad, we are chatting with Aliza Bodzin talking about how to move your pets abroad. Aliza, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. Thank you for having me.

16:02So let's get right into it. What gave you the idea to start Bodzin Pet Travel? The idea came when I needed to move very last minute with my two dogs from Los Angeles, CA up to British Columbia and we had actually been enroute moving back to Virginia Beach. So that threw us for, oh, threw us for a whirlwind. And figuring all that, figuring out all that alone to my two dogs and cabin from I was in Pennsylvania at the time of waiting on Canadian paperwork was not easy. It was stressful.

16:38I reached out to pet shippers, I reached out to airlines, I reached out. I even asked our immigration attorney for referral and I didn't have support. So I learned after that there are a lot of people who what holds them back. A lot of times when moving abroad or further exploring it is what how do you take the pets with them? And I started using research and found that, again, wasn't alone and people were willing to pay for professional services to help them move abroad with their pets. Yeah, definitely.

17:08For us, when we made the move from Texas to port to Portugal, the biggest logistical nightmare wasn't the visa, it was getting our 2 French Bulldogs across an ocean safely and and legally. Aliza. So tell us about the dogs that you moved to Canada. Sure. So my own dogs, it was a 7 LB yorkie named Chewie. He passed away last year so he's no longer with us and my she's about 16 lbs wire haired dachshund named Leia and she was eight months old on the dot the day that we moved.

17:45And Chewie was he was a rescue so not sure of his exact age but he must have been at least 7 or 8 at minimum. When we moved, they were able to come in cabin with us and it was we didn't have to consider cargo at all for our dogs. Aliza, I respect your Star Wars naming convention.

18:10Thank you. I thank you. Your dachshund has become moved out from being a Princess to being a general. Are you seeing more Americans who do want to move abroad with their pets? Yeah. And I would say is that there's just an upward trend in Americans wanting to move abroad in general, which I'm sure you've also seen. And the reality is that pets for most Americans are part of the family. So it's typically a non negotiable that the pets will come with.

18:42It's, yeah, it's pretty much inconceivable nowadays that Americans wanting to move abroad would just leave behind their pets. Yeah, agreed. It was a big. It was a big consideration for me and Stephanie as well. It's a big reason why I live in Mexico, aside from loving it, is that we could throw everybody in the car because I had a big pit bulldog mix and it was much easier to drive. Did you drive to Canada?

19:09No, I didn't. Because I didn't. It was going from Pennsylvania to British Columbia would have been over. British Columbia. Yeah, yeah. So if it was up to like Ontario, maybe I think I would have driven that. But it was just logistically more complex to figure out a road trip. And quite frankly, I figured out that I didn't need to bring my car with me when we moved here.

19:34It would have been more of a hassle. And so it was just logistically easier ever to fly. So what are the options for moving an animal overseas? What options do people have? Them for transportation options. Yeah, absolutely. OK. Sure. So if you're going within obviously up to Canada or down to Mexico, there's driving. If you're planning to bring your own vehicle with you or rent a car, there's the options to fly on commercial aircrafts.

20:04This can either be in cabin in the hold as what's called kind of like excess luggage. ADIH, it's when the animals on the same plane as you and then there's cargo options, which is the animals on a commercial aircraft in most cases are a cargo jet, but they aren't necessarily tied to your reservation. The other options, there's ferries, there's cruise, there's even Cunard, they have a ship that goes from New York to Southampton, UK.

20:35And there's also private charter options from which are private jets. He's going to either be shared charters, empty legs which are off on a jet that's already going somewhere, or you charter your own jet. So those are just most popular options. Do you find that most people making an international move choose one option over the other? What would you say is the most common method in terms of that transportation? It all depends on the preferences of, at least for my clients, what they prefer to fly. In most cases we'll all successful moves abroad are going to have at least two

21:13transportation options. If it's outside of Canada and Mexico where you don't need to do something other than drive, in most cases people are flying commercially. If they can bring their pets and cabin, they will. The other options are looking at shared private charters. Those are very common from East Coast US to Western Europe, but really it all depends on where the person's going, what are the restrictions, how many pets they have and what their budgets are.

21:44OK, what is the craziest pet that you've helped from it? Mostly I help dogs and cats. I did have someone with a rabbit who I had a consultation with, so that was very interesting. I've never looked into rabbits but it's typically dogs and cats. With regards to the route, the I wouldn't say craziest route but the most interesting ones are always the cats I've had. What was the the most interesting 1 was definitely Vancouver to Mumbai, India with a stop in Turkey and that was a very interesting one to navigate for the first time. The cat has no idea how far they

22:35have been. I saw that you have helped people move to pets. Move to how many cities around the world? Oh I don't have full nerve but I have a list on my website with the different destinations that people have gone to and from so I recommend looking there. I have it sorted by US and Canada and that.

22:57Was dozens for. It is, yeah. It was countries all over the world. Yeah. What? Yeah, Yeah. What do you think is the farthest that you've taken a pet? Is it the one that went to Mumbai or a different pet? Well, I just want to be clear, I don't take the pets myself. It's I'm the people are transporting their own pets from point A to point B, but the furthest ones that the my clients have travelled with their moved with their pets.

23:27It's probably Japan to Bermuda or that Vancouver to Mumbai. Are there some countries that are harder to bring pets into than others? And what are those countries? Yeah, there are. Most of the countries that are going to be harder to move to with a pet are going to be Australia and New Zealand. The UK it's people make it out to be harder than it actually is.

23:54You just have to get creative with routes. Any nation that's an island nation I would say is tricky. So Japan is another one, even just within the US. This isn't abroad, but Hawaii is notorious for having very strict entry requirements for all animals going there as well. What? What makes those countries particularly difficult? There's very, It's a longer lead time that's required because of the strict identification with the microchip, rabies vaccinations, additional vaccinations, and these all have to be timed against the requirements. And so even just having something done a day or two late could throw off the entire

24:37sequence and cause a having to reset, which could add six months to your timeline for bringing your pet with you. But a lot of it has to do with testing, vaccinations and just the logistics of the transport that have to be arranged. What are some things that pet parents can be doing now to be helping their pets be ready later?

25:00Even if they aren't sure you know where they're going or they aren't ready to leave themselves? How can they start to to get their pets ready? Without a doubt, getting a microchip implanted in your pet that has 15 digits or is ISO compliant. Telling your veterinarian about your plans is another one. Even if you don't have confirmed plans, don't have a move 100% confirmed, talk with the veterinarian.

25:28They will be able to point you in the right direction whether they can assist you or not with the paperwork that you will need down the line. And the other thing is staying up to date with any other veterinarian recommended vaccinations. Having all of that in place just allows much more flexibility if you have a last move, that last minute move that comes up, or if you want to have more options in a shorter time frame. Have you had anyone with behavioral challenges? Yeah, I was saying one of them is actually my own oxen. She has lots of opinions and

26:03she's not afraid to voice them. In those cases, it's usually more so the dogs than the cats that are not that are more vocal about their opinions and it just usually has to do with size and stubbornness sometimes depending on the breed, but I would say not any extreme behavioral challenges. In those cases, I typically refer out to a dog trainer, but to talk about thinking about having prescription supplements that may work to help make the actual day of moving a lot simpler and and more easy going on the path.

26:47That's a great idea. Well, Aliza, thank you so much for sharing with us your knowledge about animals moving abroad and sharing your own personal experiences. If you work with Aliza, you can find her at expatsi.com/experts. Aliza, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. Jen, do you know what time it is? I am fully aware of the time it is time for listener questions. And as a result, I have written a song because I've been thinking about like how many women want to move abroad. You know, it's really common.

27:372/3 of the people that we work with are women. You and I famously women, and there's a real movement of women who want to move abroad, so I wrote something with that in mind. It's got a retro vibe and it goes. Some countries take a beautiful girl and hide her away from the rest of the world, like the US and some others. I want to be the one who walks it to walk in the sun. And girls just want to have permanent residency and citizenship.

28:13Oh, girls just want to have permanent residency and citizenship. And then I don't like, I don't know. I don't know if I need to work in temporary residency in there as well. But that's kind of what I'm playing with right now. I love it. Thank you. Thank you, that means a lot to me. I also am thinking of getting into wrestling so I.

28:37Way to bury the lead. We'll talk about that on our next episode because we're not going to leave that there. Beautiful. So we had somebody write in and ask if you woke up tomorrow and had to start your own move abroad journey from scratch, knowing what you know now, what are the first three things that you would do?

28:59Wow, OK, wow. What? A load in question. I know. So let's presume that I am in exactly the same situation. But I do know what I know now. The so we're talking 20/15/2016 era. Because, you know, I got freaked out when Trump was a candidate. I didn't even wait for the first election. So listen, there are more reasons to it than that. I'm not yet I but but that is the truth. That is the truth.

29:32That is when I start to see the writing on the wall. So the first thing I would have done was create a dedicated fund for my move. I would have started squirreling money away and I would have started building up work from anywhere income because that is what took me the longest period of time. Once I really realized that I was ready and I wanted to go immediately and I couldn't because I had to build Expatsi from scratch and get it to where it made enough money to support me.

30:12Where is if I'd had a little more or runway or or wiggle room. So that would be the biggest thing is related to preparedness. And the second thing I would have done would be to start researching visa paths, the middle immediately instead of countries, because you know, we made the mistake that all of our clients make, which is to think about countries before we considered visa paths, so that we visited Canada 1st and things like that. And, and that's what I would do differently. What about you?

30:55Yeah. The the dedicated fund, that is something that we did when we really got serious about it. And I think that was the biggest thing that we did to manage the overall stress of moving abroad. For me at least when I can look at a number and know that it's concrete and know, OK, if I continue to do this, it's going to grow by this amount, something that I can kind of count on.

31:17It's the one thing that I can control. So for us it was that fun specifically for that that we did not touch unless it was related to some sort of moving expense. The second thing that I would have done differently is just start sooner, get out of this kind of research and pivot and waiting for the perfect time.

31:45Just let's instead of just researching, OK, what is life like or even like what is real estate cost? Because you know, looking at pretty houses online is fun to go, OK, like let's if we're stocking away money, what is this money actually going to go towards to have again, something concrete that we can go, OK, this is what our beast is going to look like. And the timeline and this is we're making decisions more quickly.

32:08And then the third thing is navigating the fear. A big part of our, and it's funny that, you know, today we talked about moving pets abroad. A big part of what delayed me and would have continued to delay me is the fear of were my dogs going to be OK moving abroad and being on that international flight? Do you remember a year and a half ago, sitting on my sofa? And crying.

32:36That complete minty and going. And going I have to wait until they die because if anything happens to them and you were like, what what would happen to them on the flight? I was like, what if they die over the Atlantic Ocean? And I don't know how to how to cope. So I was like in the worst case scenario and just navigating that fear of well, I guess we have to wait.

32:58French Bulldogs live to be about 12-13 years old. So I guess we have 7 more years and being on that timeline and not recognizing people do this everyday. People do this with the same breed of dog that I have. People do this with dogs who are reactive. I'm not and yes, I am not a beautiful unique snowflake.

33:22You know, I'm not the first one to chart this course. So why am I acting like the people who know better than I do? Why am I acting like they've never been through this before? And like, just like like trusting, trusting the process. I'm not a a fan of like that is like a a mantra, but like trusting the process that you know what, I have never moved a dog abroad, but I guarantee these folks have moved thousands of dogs abroad.

33:47So I should lean on that thousands of experience versus MY1 unrealized situation. So the three things is, is the internal stuff, working through that. And then, yeah, I think budget or that that dedicated fund I think is so important. And then, yeah, just not, not kicking the can down the street because there's never going to be a perfect time. There's never a perfect time to do something big. There's never, you know, a perfect time to have kids, perfect time to get married, perfect time to look for that next job.

34:18Like we're waiting for perfection and it never comes. And we just have to be OK with, you know, things get better. Doesn't have to be perfect, but if it's better than what I meant right now, then that's progress. And remembering that at the end of the day, Americans abroad is an Expatsi production. Please like, share, subscribe and leave a review.

34:39Are you thinking about moving abroad? Start with our quiz at expatsi.com. That's EXPA tsi.com.