Well, actually he was on the back seat, and the car's a hatchback so it doesn't really have a boot, and besides we don't live in England, but you get the point.
Today we did a brief--about twenty minutes--test run with Alex in the car. I drove while Jeff sat in the back seat with the carrier on the seat next to him, and I think that made a very positive difference. The experiment wasn't as horrific as I thought it might be, and very much better than attempts to take him in the car on my own; on those occasions he's gotten so violent inside his carrier that I feared he would hurt himself seriously. He did meow most of the time this afternoon, but at least he didn't throw himself against the side of the carrier as he's done in the past. And before we took the car back into the garage, we parked in front of the condo building to let him out of the carrier to explore the car for a few minutes, and he seemed relatively calm at that point.
So we'll continue to do some test runs, and I'm thinking we might even try to take him with us to my Mom's over Memorial Day weekend for a serious test, since that's about a four-hour drive (but still only one-tenth the drive we'll be making with him to California).
I think I may have been nearly as upset as Alex today; it breaks my heart to see him so anxious and in distress, especially when I know that we're not trying to harm him in any way by taking him in the car. I was almost shaking when we got back home after today's short trip.
One of the more stressful aspects of vacationing or moving or whatever is transporting your favorite feline friend. As far as long trips go, while our cat Tom hates the car, he does settle down a little bit around 65 MPH. Stick to the interstates! (He might do better out west with the 75 MPH limit, but we haven't tested that theory yet.)
I struggled with the whole drive-across-the-country-with-the-dog thing. It would have taken at least 4 days to drive from Arlington to San Jose, and I didn't think it would be fair to me OR the dog.
In the end, I shipped my car via truck, and flew with Diego in a carrier in the cabin with me. It was difficult for him, the flight was delayed and he was in that carrier for nearly 9 hours with eating or going to the bathroom; whining the whole time.
Still, I think it was better than driving with him for 4 days.
You can get cat valium from your vet. Best thing I ever did when flying with a 24 pound maine coon cat.