• 6 months ago
Meet the dogs who have travelled all over Europe - meeting Santa in Lapland, visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris and exploring the Old Town of Tallinn.

Owner Nikki O Carroll, 33, got her two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Coco and Jono, in December 2019.

Since then, Nikki has taken their pooches to 21 European countries - including Luxembourg, Andorra and Liechtenstein.

The dogs travel with Nikki and her partner, Robbie Memery, 37, a head of sales, and the couple will either opt for a ferry or take their pooches on the plane with them to get around.

Nikki says she loves her dogs so much she couldn't imagine leaving them with a family member or in a kennel while abroad.

In April 2024, Nikki added to her pups and got Gigi, also a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who is now joining the gang on their adventures abroad.

Nikki, a teacher, from Dublin, Ireland, said: "I love being with the dogs so much, at home we spend every waking minute with them.

"If we go to a restaurant they will come with us.

"Pets are part of the family, I wouldn't leave my kids at home. They are only here for a short amount of time so I don't want to leave them out.

"People think it is so difficult but it is actually so easy to take your animal on holiday.

"The hardest part is researching the vet for treatment when you bring your animal back to the UK or Ireland."

In February 2020, Coco and Jono went on their first holiday of many to Scotland.

Nikki and Robbie took them on a ferry and they visited the Isle of Skye and drove around the Highlands - staying somewhere different each night.

The couple than got a taste for travelling with their dogs and took them on a road trip through Luxembourg, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Nikki said: "We were at home with them for so long that they became attached.

"We also didn't want to leave them behind if we knew we could bring them.

"The first trip we did post lockdown was to Wales and then we decided to take then abroad.

"We drove across the UK to the Eurotunnel to Luxembourg, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

"They loved it are now on 21 countries."

The first time Coco and Jono went on a plane was in April 2023 when they were travelling to the Baltic states.

Before setting off, all Nikki had to do was buy a pet passport which cost them €70 each and the dogs were able to sit in the cabin with them both.

Nikki said: "We got a ferry to Amsterdam, flew to Estonia, got a train from there to Latvia and from there to Lithuania and then back to Amsterdam.

"At the time we flew with Air Baltic who allowed 12 kilo bags in the cabin.

"Coco and Jono were able to sit with us in their travel bag.

"It was a seamless process."

Nikki says travelling with a dog is a lot easier than people realise.

Once owners have purchased a pet passport and got them a rabies vaccine she says they don't need to get another one for three years.

Category

😹
Fun
Transcript
00:00This is Travelling with Pets on Stenaline's Harwich to Hook of Holland route.
00:04We had a pet friendly cabin and when you're travelling with pets you have to check in with guest services
00:09regardless of whether you've got a cabin or your pet is going in kennels.
00:12It's the first time I've been on a ship where the pet toilet area is actually a few decks down
00:17so you have to walk through a section of the ship with your dogs.
00:20The pet cabins are on deck 10 and the toilet area was on deck 7.
00:24This was the Stena Britannica ship and I just have to say the toilet area for dogs was really disappointing.
00:30If you didn't get a pet cabin they do also have kennels that are only accessible by keycard
00:35and if you do leave your dog in the kennels you can actually watch them on CCTV in your cabin.
00:42The ship has all the usual things like restaurants, shops, duty free shopping, cafes
00:48but as usual we didn't avail of any of those services and we just stayed in our cabin with our dogs
00:53and we woke up the next morning pulling into the Netherlands with an amazing view.
00:57Did you know that in some cities those hop on hop off buses are actually dog friendly?
01:02Well Berlin is one of the cities.
01:04In Berlin there's two routes and you can buy a combined ticket which we did.
01:08It was only an extra €5.
01:10Bus brings you all around the major attractions and if you plan your visit right
01:14you can use these buses instead of any public transport.
01:18The audio guide is included so you learn about the city as you drive around
01:22and you can get off and on as much as you want.
01:26We were only in Berlin for two days so we found that it was a really amazing way
01:30to see a lot of the city in a very short space of time.
01:34In some cities they do require pets to be in a kennel or carrier.
01:38In Berlin they didn't but our dogs actually really like their carriers
01:42so a lot of the time they spent in their carrier anyway.
01:45But if you want to see the full list of which cities actually allow dogs
01:49you can check out their website.
01:51If you go to Berlin with your dog I definitely recommend that you take the city sightseeing tour.
01:56We visited Lapland while campervanning around Scandinavia.
02:00Our journey started in Germany and we drove into Copenhagen, up through Sweden,
02:04into Finland to see Santa and then down the western coast of Norway.
02:08We did it over a few weeks so we were able to take our time and explore things along the way.
02:13Santa's village is located in a town called Rovaniemi in Finland.
02:17The first thing we did when we arrived was to visit Santa
02:20who was so friendly and absolutely loved our dogs.
02:23Then we visited the post office where we sent all the letters to Santa.
02:27No matter what time of year you visit you can send a postcard or letter
02:30delayed to arrive at Christmas time.
02:32Since we were there in July it was off-peak season
02:35so that meant that any snow related activities were not running
02:39but it did mean that we could visit the Augusti reindeer and got to feed them some treats.
02:43And don't worry if you don't have a car because there is a Santa Claus Express train
02:47that leaves from Stockholm and brings you right to Santa Claus village.

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