How to Travel in An Airplane with a Cat

Hello my lovely friends!

I just realized I never posted this! Wanted to share some helpful tips when travel with a cat back in 2020.

Before I flew on a airplane with my four month old kitten. I had a lot of anxiety. The trip including layover and flight was about 6 hours but that didn't include the time spent getting to the airport as well as TSA. I just wanted to share with you my experience so hopefully it will help you.

Before the Flight

I did a lot of research before the trip. Before you decide to fly with your pet, check your airline policy and the pet carrier sizes. I flew Southwest which you have to fly with your pet in the cabin but they do not need to see their vaccination records though I bought along them as well. One that is really nice about Southwest is that you can check in 2 bags which really helpful as you want to carry the least amount possible when traveling with a pet. I also had to call ahead to reserve a spot because some airlines limit the amount of animals that can be on the plane.

The airline website also will list the carrier size requirements. My soft carrier was over the listed sizes but I did my research and looked at a lot of reviews in carriers before I choose to fly with this one. Worst comes to worst if they do not let you fly with your personal carrier you can buy the ones that they sell. Let your cat get use to their carrier so they have less anxiety day of. I had a comfy pet crate mat in there as well as her favorite toys and I did sometimes put treats in their too as an incentive. I also saw recommendations to have gloves, ziplock bags, extra pee pad, and wet wipes. I don't recomment wet wipes as I have been stopped during TSA because I had forgotten to take it out. Instead I would recommend paper towel/kleenex would be fine if there is a mess. I would also bring some hand sanitizer for you to use. 

Try to pack everything as much as you can before the day of flight because you do not want to be rushing.


Day of Flight

With my cat, my main worry was getting through TSA. You have to hold your cat while passing through security or lead them on a leash. A lot of people recommend that you have a harness on your cat in case that they escape. Though it was hard, I put a kitten harness on her. I didn't think it was actually that necessary as I held her pretty tight. She was not going anywhere but she did complained a lot. Also a bit squirmy but I held her close to me. I have heard about requesting a private screening if you do fear that your cat will escape. However that option may not always be possible depending on the airport. Afterwards it went pretty well and she was back in her carrier. Though out my entire flight time and during our layover she did not eat but did take a couple of sips when I offered her some using my travel bowl.

After we landed, immediately let her out and put out food and water plus her litter box. I had pre-shipped everything before I arrived at my location so everything was already available and i didn't have to do any last minute purchases.

Hope this is helpful! Good luck!

How to Land Your Dream Job/Internship for a College Student

Hi y'all!

I hope that you are enjoying your holidays! I have been doing well as I am done with college. Here are just some tips that I have learned through my whole job searching process. There are not in any particular order.

Tip #1 Do Your Research

Find out which companies you might want to work with and what positions. I often find that if you don't know what you want then the job search becomes a lot harder.

Tip #2 Network

Many job opportunities may not be posted online so talk to people! It doesn't always have to be someone you just met. Your family or friends may give you good leads.

Informational interviews with other people in the field that you want can give you ideas in your job search. Recruiters like to see someone who can differentiate themselves from other candidates.

Tip #3 Create Your Own Opportunities

Go to career fairs and workshops. You never know who you're going to meet. I've gone to workshops where I already knew the information but I scored a nice padfolio and a bit more motivation in job searching. I always go by this phrase that "If you never ask, the answer is always 'no'."

Tip #4 Do Not Lose Hope

You're going to be tired. You will get rejections. You will feel like a failure.

Don't let that stop you from going on. Use your rejections as a way for you to continuously improve. You're so close to getting the job you want. You can't give up now.

Have a little confidence in yourself. I read somewhere that confident people radiate this energy that attracts other people around them. Needless to say don't go overboard with the confidence or you just seem dumb.

Tip #5 Survival Job

There's nothing wrong with getting a basic or minimum wage before you get an actual job. Not only do you get a little bit of money, you can also put it on your resume. You don't want to have holes in your resume. This way you will never have to explain to your potential employers of why you there's a period on your resume where you're not doing something. Alternatively, you can choose to volunteer!

Tip #6 Don't Be Boring

Think about it if you're just like the other people applying for the same position why would the employer choose you over somebody else. One of the worst things that can happen after meeting a recruiter is that they don't remember you at all afterwards.

Tip #7 Resume

Employers may look at your resume for a mere 6 seconds. When I do resume reviews for my friends, they either have too much information or not enough.

If you have too much information: don't have long paragraph that make it hard for employers to scan through or else they aren't going to read it. Leave out experiences that do not seem to relevant to the position you are applying for.

If you don't have enough information: evaluate the sections of your resume that you might want to improve on. For example, if you don't have a lot of work experience then try volunteering or join more clubs. I would caution taking on more extracurriculars, if you don't have a good GPA. The number one lie that I have heard is that GPA doesn't matter. It's not always the most important item on your resume but it may rank above your some of your work experiences. A lot of employers have GPA requirements anyway so it's important to keep your grades up!

Have a nice format. There are tons of templates online and on Microsoft Word for you to use as a starting point. The white space should be balanced and having it printed on resume paper is even better. I typically have several different versions of my resume depending on the position that I am applying for.

Have multiple people read it through (like family, friends, career center).

Lastly if it was easy, then everyone could do it.

Believe in yourself. Have some faith and good luck!

XO,
M