As said by Nenahel, no any travel could last 8 hours, so i think the countdown had a problem. The right time is less than 5 minutes.
If you see that again, tell it to Gabou in the technical problems part. He will check that.
It could be because of the difference between your time and gothicat's server ?
Édit : where were you sending the gothicat ? And from where ? I could check with my gothicats if I have the same problem
Édit again :
it's because of our countries times. So... All my gothicats live in Gaïara, and if i send one of them to explore in Gaïara, it lasts 10s.
But if i change the time of my touchscreen, putting 10h50 rather than 19h50, and that i send a gothicat in Gaïara, if i refresh the page, the countdown says 09h08s... So, i suppose that you live far far away !