Wish I could take credit for the porta-prison descriptor. Someone else used it to discribe the carriers and it clicked for me. It might have been Sandra/Tatsxxx who used it first.

I have three carriers -- two are small, one-cat containers, and one is a fairly large one that both cats can fit in and roam around in on long trips. All are lined with towels, blankets, or something called a Purr-pad and have a tiny assortment of toys. I keep the doors open with toy plastic balls on the metal tabs to protect the kids eyes or whatever in case they are horsing around them. Both occasionally use them as a 'time out' spot or 'cat cave'. (Yes, I was a kid in the 60s.) Livvy uses them more often than Cassy.

When we travel, whether local or 'long distance', I find it easiest to load the kids in by using the method listed above: point it to the ceiling and lower the protesting fur-baby in. (Wish I could say that the 'protesting' part is optional, but according to my brood, it's NOT!

GOOD LUCK!