A Pilgrimage of Love

What began as a thought to visit Monty’s Dog Beach in Crikvenica quickly became an epic pilgrimage of love once we decided to travel with three dogs.

Of course, there are many ways to get from London to Crikvenica, but since neither of us drives and Mr. Darcy is too big to fly, going by train was the only option. But we knew that whichever way we chose would be a long, demanding journey. So, with a deep breath (and a fair bit of determination), we set off.

Again, there are different train routes to Croatia. When I travelled with Darcy to Serbia six years ago, we went via Paris, Munich, Ljubljana, and Zagreb before reaching Belgrade (and later Skopje). This time, I chose a different route in more capital cities — some I hadn’t seen since my pre-dog days so many years ago. The other intention was to add more countries visited to our lists.

With passports in hand, we boarded the train at London St. Pancras to Folkestone West, where a Folkestone Taxi driver whisked us across the Eurotunnel. From there, we drove to Brussels to catch the overnight sleeper train to Prague — the first big step of our adventure.

And our route was far from direct. From London ➡️ Brussels-Midi ➡️ Prague (665 km) ➡️ Bratislava (81 km) ➡️ Budapest ➡️ Zagreb (299 km) ➡️ Crikvenica (154 km), we covered 1,199 km one way. Stopping at every capital city, we took our time to re-visit some of them and discovering others.

On our return, we took a different route. It turned into a 31-hour marathon from Zagreb across Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland, France back to London St Pancras. We could have flown to Australia in that time! But it was all quite leisurely, with enough time at each stop for breakfast, a coffee, or dinner.

Our total journey took two weeks.

If you’ve been wondering why we embarked on such a stretched-out journey, the answer is simple: it was a pilgrimage of love. There’s a memorial for Miss Darcy at Monty’s Dog Beach in Crivenika which was installed in August 2024.

Along the way, we celebrated George’s homecoming in Hungary.

It wasn’t the easiest of journeys but love rarely is. You can see how dishevelled we looked at the end of it! But every mile was worth it.

Taking your dogs to Europe is very do-able. Everywhere we’ve ever been to, dogs are mostly welcomed. There are a few exceptions. In fact, most of the local population were delighted to meet them.

Here are some thoughts and observations from this journey:

🐾 Travel light: Luggage + dogs + train steps = a challenge.

🐾 Choose direct trains whenever possible: no stress of changing platforms (which include stairs or elevators) and missing connections.

🐾 Mind the train rules: Many European train companies don’t allow dogs in First Class compartments, and most require tickets for the dogs (usually second class child’s fare). When on sleeper trains, they must stay in the couchette.

🐾 Plan toilet relief stops: Always make sure they have relieved themselves before boarding. When on overnight trains, speak to the train conductor and ask when you can take the dogs out for a quick pee. Our dogs can easily hold twelve hours, but we still asked when we could take them out. They are understanding and will let you know when there is a stop that is appropriate.

🐾 Plan around the weather: In summer, stick to early mornings and evenings for exploring, when it’s cooler for the dogs.

🐾 Book taxis in advance: Especially dog-friendly ones, so you’re not stranded at the station. (Happily, all our drivers were wonderfully accommodating.)

🐾 Vary their meals: Dogs can tire of the same food on long trips — bring a mix to keep them interested.

🐾 Dining with your dogs: Most restaurants in Europe are dog-friendly, especially in all the outdoor cafes – it is not a problem to dine with them. We didn’t have any trouble finding dog-friendly fine dining places.

🐾 Documents and de-worming: Even if you have any of the EU Passports, rabies vaccine must be up to date. If you DO NOT have any of the EU Pet Passports, make sure you have a HCA (Health Certificate for Animals) European vets all know what is required as soon as you say you are returning to the UK. Make sure it is at least 24 hours before entering the UK and not more than five days. The UK will be reissuing Pet Passports again. It’s rumoured to be soon. If you don’t have to take a trip before then, it’s worth the wait as a HCA is rather costly and can only be used per journey.

And from personal observation, I am delighted that they are serving oat matcha in several of the countries! LOL!