Cat & Mia
I didn’t want to give up travelling just because I got a big dog.
I used to travel on a whim: buy a ticket, follow the route and work it out as I went. With Mia, my approach had to change. I wanted to be sure we’d actually reach the places I wanted to go—and being sure meant days of stressed searching, trying to connect trains, buses and ferries that would all take a dog her size. So I built the atlas of dog-friendly routes I wished existed, and now planning a trip with Mia takes an evening, not weeks—whether it’s a weekend jaunt or months of wanderlust. These days I use it to help other people find their dog-friendly route too.
Field research The timetable gets you to the station. Confidence comes from checking everything around it.
“Dog-friendly” and “reachable with a 30 kg dog” are different things.
Mia is my big, beautiful black dog and very best friend. With her, the trip no longer ends when the train reaches the station. Can we get from there to the beach? Does the bus accept her? Is the ferry information current? Will the connection give her enough time?
The extra planning is real. So are the rewards: slower days, unexpected places and the reminder that the journey does not need to be optimized past the point of joy.
The Dog-Friendly Route is where the practical homework lives. The stories from the road live at Rails, Sails & Wagging Tails.
Plan a trip with usEvery route gets the FETCH treatment:
- Fact-check each operator.
- Every rule gets a confirmed date.
- Trace the trip beyond the train.
- Call out what’s uncertain.
- Have more time for sniffing.
Stress less, sniff more
Make room for the actual trip.
The rules and connections matter because once the route works, you can stop thinking about logistics and enjoy the trip. The research belongs in the background. The journey belongs to you and your dog.