Kitty Carry-on?

Sophie is no stranger to her carrying case. Here we are on her first excursion to the park. We weren't sure she could handle it at first, since she is a true scaredy cat, but she did come out a few times to explore the world!

She's also pretty needy, following us around constantly and whining to be played with. She even sleeps on my chest at night and is not yet good with strangers. We've gone out of town once for five days since she became part of the family. Friends stopped by to check on her now and then and told us she spent most of her time in hiding. It broke my heart! How can you leave this little face behind and not feel guilty?

"Don't leave me!"

For our wedding we will be out of town for 10 days, return to the city for 1.5 days and then be away for 6 more days in Hawaii. Besides hating to impose on our friends to babysit our cat for 16 days, we worry about leaving her in an empty apartment for such a long time. So we're considering taking her home for the wedding. We've never flown with a cat before, so I'm not sure what to expect. I read somewhere that you have to take your pet out of the carrier to get it through security, and I can't imagine trying to hold her among a hoard of strangers. I can see her face now...

Ahhk!

Then there's the plane ride itself. Can she survive 4.5 hours on a plane plus additional travel and wait time, all spent in a carrier? Followed by the stress of being some where new. At this point she is coming home with us, so if anyone has any travel advice (or woes to share) about taking a cat on a plane, please share!