Posted by on Oct 24, 2013 | 6 comments

Mama says that if you want to travel and really have fun, learn a few stock phrases first in the language of the country, as in “Where is a good, inexpensive restaurant where locals eat?”

Or, maybe more important, “Where is the bathroom?”

Certainly do not forget “May I bring my kitty with me to your hotel?”

I have actually been very welcome at a hotel in Cannes (I saw not one movie star, but what the heck) where everyone oohed and aahed over me, so much so that mama and papa brought the car around and got in it and left me in the lobby with my fans until mama suddenly realized she was missing something…

ME, you dodo!!! Well, I don’t call mama names but really…to walk off and leave me stranded there with all those strangers.  What I have found, however, is that an anthro, carrying a cat house (I do NOT like the word “cage”) (maybe cat house is no better, haha!) is automatically an item of interest.  It’s like when mama and papa take the grandkids out on a Saturday or Sunday; people always respond to kids, especially in Italy where kids are little gods!  But when I am taken upstairs to wait for our ferry to dock at either end of the journey, people around us all crane their necks to see who the little darling is in the kitty holder and children always come up to mama and ask my name and want to stick there little cute fingers between the grills and, of course, I let them.

I do not nip, myow or poop unnecessarily and so am to be trusted. Plus I like the attention, even if I am a ‘fraidy cat sometimes when I hear loud barks from large un-cats.

I think I am able to cope better in strange lands because  I have learned a few choice phrases myself in French (of course!) and Italian—such as “Ou est mon diner?” and “Quand arriverá mon kibble?” Not to mention, “Est-ce-que tu as pensée de changer ma litière?”

Little phrases like that can make one’s life much easier.  In Italian, I just say “Mangiare, mangiare, mangiare” and everyone seems to know what I’m saying and brings me nice little bits of mozzarella and parmesan and things like that.

But I always say “Per piacere” and “S’il vous plait”….

Manners make the man.

Couth makes the kitty.

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A very thoughtful kitty, I.