Yes, we have eight bags and two cats please.

We made it! And I may never travel by airplane again. We arrived at the airport early at 10 am, to ensure that if anything went wrong, we had plenty of time to fix it. The first ordeal was the Thrifty car rental return. It was like a clown car getting everything out of our rental and onto the waiting platform. Then the shuttle came and we loaded up as quickly as we could, easily taking up half the shuttle and possibly irritating the other half. The driver was kind enough to mention over the intercom that "if there is anyone on the shuttle that has a lot of luggage, ehem, there is a free cart on the sidewalk right here if you would like to get out and use it, *glance at us*". We made it to the check in counter where we learned that in the winter an embargo prohibits more than two checked bags a person. We had a total of five very overstuffed bags. After an extensive conversation with my dad, where I tried to get him to understand that carrying on two cats and two bags still left us with FIVE to check, no matter which ones you decided to carry on, and that no, a "personal item" can only be a small purse or coat, not a whole other bag, we finally managed to cram the contents of one bag amongst the others. Tadah! And then we hit security. Apparently when travelling with pets, they must be taken OUT of their carriers, and carried through security. This resulted with several more scratches. Luckily, my cats are just so gosh darn cute that everyone just oohed and aawed instead of being irritated that it possibly took us ten minutes to get from one side of the arch to the other. Then a bit of smooth sailing. Blaze thought this trip was the most awesome thing, and kept poking her head out of the carrier to take it all in. Anya, on the other hand, must have just gone into shock, because she was silent for everything except takeoff and landing. After a couple hour long delays, we made it to mexico around one am, where my sister picked us up and took us to her apartment. The cats were happy to stretch their legs and my dad and I were happy to have made it. All in all, it went well, but not a process I ever wish to repeat. Conclusion: However difficult, it appears to me that travelling with cats is STILL better than traveling with kids. Probably because you can keep them in a cage.