We chose Indonesia. It was one of several places we liked, including Thailand and Malaysia (I could have happily lived in any of them). My husband felt more affinity for Indonesia over the others because it has a lot of cultural similarity to another place nearby that we have lived before (and I felt that familiarity too, it just wasn't as critical for me). The language is also close to another language we already know and is easier for us to learn.

The other reason was quite prosaic: Indonesian premium housing is much closer to what we're used to. Australian homes have big rooms, big outdoor living spaces, etc. A prestige apartment in Malaysia will have floor to ceiling amazing light-drenched windows, but very rarely a balcony. I can't imagine living without at least a balcony or courtyard. I know those sorts of places also have communal green spaces, but you can't easily share those with your cats, and you can't go out there in your nightclothes with your morning coffee!

I really relate to the pet thing. For what it's worth, I've sent my cats by cargo four times. Only one of those times did they come out with faeces (ironically after a short domestic flight, so I guess that was just bad luck/timing) and none came out with vomit. The cargo hold scares any sane pet parent, you want someone there watching over them I know, but it is less awful than people think. It's not the same section as the suitcases, and it's the same temperature as the passenger section. Humans travel in cargo occasionally (racehorses can have attendants). And if your cat or dog did have some sort of abruptly life-threatening event out of the blue, it's likely to be from an underlying condition, like heart trouble, it likely would have killed them the next time anything scared them anyway, and they probably couldn't be saved no matter who was there. I know that won't comfort you one iota if it happens, but in terms of the risk, yeah.

The bigger risk is mishaps and delays on the tarmac, rather than the cargo hold - heat stress can kill perfectly healthy animals. But that can be reduced considerably by choosing right time of day and combination of flights. It's really important that you talk to a logistics firm if you're doing anything other than a direct flight, and probably even then. They know which layover countries are good, and which flights will/won't leave them on the tarmac in the heat. There are countries and airlines that care for animals, countries and airlines that care about rich travellers who care for animals, and countries and airlines you wouldn't trust with an ant farm. The logistics firms can't tell you which is which without being sued, but they can and do silently work around them and make better suggestions instead.

To be honest, even if they did have a rough time in transit, in most countries you won't see them like that anyway. Most countries with any sort of inspection regime will take direct custody of them from the plane, inspect them (cleaning them up in order to do so), and then release them to you. Good layover countries will also give them a rest stop, feed, and clean up at that country's quarantine if they have a change of plane there - Singapore does it by law for any animal transiting over six hours from memory, and I believe Dubai has a care arrangement with a large local kennel/cattery for overnight transit stops.

Quarantine is a much harder variable to manage, where it applies, especially for animals with medical needs. Again, a logistics firm can help, they usually have contacts that regular people don't. You might be able to get them to agree to let you send in a vet to see them, say. I have sent in a vet once to quarantine - I can't say it was really overly helpful in that particular case, but as a process it would have been solid for managing a chronic-health concern (you just have to stress it isn't a communicable disease). Some countries will unofficially allow home quarantine, especially for an elder animal, if the animal is from a low risk country/vaccinated/etc, and you will not find that written officially anywhere, but the logistics firms will know if it's possible.