I was on a mission: find an online store that ships Maileg mice to Ukraine without charging a fortune. After some searching, I discovered a lovely shop in the UK, placed my order for a Big Sister and a Little Sister, and waited excitedly.
A few days later, the store reached out with bad news — their shipping company didn’t deliver to Ukraine. Disappointed but not ready to give up, I asked, “What about Israel?” (Yes, there was a war, air raid sirens, and all that, but hope dies last, right?). To my relief, they said yes! So, I gave them my mom’s address, and the mice set off on their adventure.
They arrived in Israel quickly, and I tracked their journey in real-time. Everything seemed smooth — until the status got stuck on “Out for delivery” for a week. Then, I learned that the shipping company DPD had quietly handed over my package to Aramex, changing the tracking number without telling me. I had to pester the store via WhatsApp to get the new number.
The next day, my heart sank. The package had been delivered — but not to my mom’s address! Not even the right city! The store simply said, “We’ve done everything on our end.” Technically true, but not very helpful.
I tried to contact Aramex — their website chat didn’t work, their contact form wouldn’t submit because of an invisible mandatory field (seriously), and Facebook kept throwing bots at me. I kept clicking, writing, begging, until finally — a real human answered! They promised to investigate, but honestly, I was already losing hope.
Meanwhile, my mom, tired of watching me stress, said: “That’s it! I’m buying you those mice and sending them myself!” That’s when I remembered — there’s an Israeli Maileg retailer! Within days, my mom had two brand new mice delivered.
And then — plot twist — the very next day, another courier arrived with my original order. The lost mice had somehow found their way back! Now I had not two, but four Maileg mice.
My mom laughed: “We better send them quickly before more relatives show up.”
A few days later, she shipped the whole family to Ukraine. Usually, because of the war, international packages arrive via Europe, cross the border into Lviv, and only then move on. But for some reason, my mice went straight to Kyiv, skipping Lviv entirely — a small mystery.
They spent ten long days in Kyiv waiting for customs clearance, but finally, they made it to me — safe, sound, and with quite the story to tell.
After two months of world travels, my little Maileg family is finally home — and I hope they brought some legendary good luck with them.
They are ready for their new life, full of cozy handmade outfits, tiny knitted sweaters, and little dresses that I’ve been dreaming of creating for them ever since this whole adventure began.
