Making the arrangements.

Today has been a total nightmare.

I tried to have a conversation with the transport company that we were hoping to use, they didn't return my call. There wasn't a great deal of time between now and when they said they would be in Barcelona to make the collection. My concerns were that the paperwork just wasn't going to be ready in-time and that it would be the right paperwork to start with!

As the original transporters didn't call me back, I decided to make further enquiries with alternative providers. I called Equine Travel Agency (ETA) to get a price from them. I had a brief conversation about the paperwork but I couldn't ascertain what the Export Certificate would be called in Menorca for me to be able to ensure that Tolo would have the correct paperwork ready.

So, I called Defra, no help there, they just confirmed what the documents were called in the UK. They suggested I called the Spanish embassy, so I called them -- they had no idea
I called the British embassy in Spain -- they had no idea
I called the Spanish version of Defra -- they couldn't speak English......
I eventually found a really helpful lady in Spain who I talked to for about 30 minutes, she explained a lot, but again only confirmed what I already knew and said that 'the people you are buying from should know what they need'   -- I wasn't sure (probably because of my awful Spanish trying to communicate with them, not fault of theirs)

I also received an email from Tolo saying that Assuan was going to start his journey in the next couple of days.....ahhhhh panic stations. I decided to call ETA back, I was passed onto Graham, who to cut a long story short, put up with my ramblings and 'stupid' questions, assured me that everything would be fine and said that he'd sort it all out for me. Phew...... He took Tolo's details and I left it with him.

On a side note: I can't recommend ETA more, if you need to transport a horse, use ETA. I won't be using anyone else in the future. Their website is: http://www.eta.uk.com more about ETA later!

So, it was now just a case of sitting back, relaxing and getting the stable ready.