Federica Carr returns to London with sidekick Amber ready to share some final thoughts about their adventures riding the trains across Europe.
We got back to London in one, or rather, two pieces. Amber and I had made it all the way down and back up to England via France, Switzerland and a good part of Italy.
Here’s a list with links to all the blog posts in the Continental Canine miniseries followed by some concluding thoughts about the trip:
Was it worth it?
Of course it was. I cannot vouch for her though and my husband doesn’t miss a chance to tell me off for putting her through a perilous, long, tiring journey; yet seeing her happy as larry in our Italian garden, chasing lizards and butterflies all day, resting on the grass or barking at the neighbouring unfriendly dogs, filled me with joy. I truly hope it made it worth for her too.
She is a great travel companion because she’s calm, well behaved, and never complains. I loved every minute of our adventure.
For anyone thinking of following our footsteps, here are some stats and further information to complement our previous posts which can hopefully help plan a similar trip. It is fun and takes a bit of organising but it is a different and interesting way of traveling for sure.
I would not hesitate to do it again. In fact, if my husband lets me, I will take Amber to Italy again next summer!
Some random rail related stats
- Most expensive train ticket: Thello private cabin, 180 euros
- Best train: Frecciarossa Milano – Roma, 1st class
- Most scenic route: Milano – Zurich
- Most beautiful station: Milano Centrale
- Best station food: Mercato Centrale, Roma Termini
- Quickest train ticket office: Milano Centrale
- Most helpful train ticket office: Roma Ostiense
- Best station for dog loo break: Milano Centrale’s main entrance
- Most confusing station: Zurich HB
- Most unpleasant journeys: on the tube, of course
- Longest queue to get dog’s ticket: Zurich HB
Cost
Overall, it is high. It cost me around £1000 return, with roughly the below break down:
- Pet Taxi services: £125 each way + the cost of the Euro Shuttle (around £140 each way in our case). Good to note that this booking is refundable until close to the day of travel and changeable (depending on availability)
- Thello private cabin: 180euro
- Other trains: ticket range from 11euros (Roma – Formia one way) to 120euros (Milano – Roma 1st class).
- Rail tickets for Amber: around £50 in total excluding 50euros for Thello which was not requested in my case. Note, Frecciarossa were running an offer for August 2018 of 5euro flat fee per journey, or it would have cost more (50% of the standard fare).
- Hotels: around 100euros per night (Paris / Milano)
- Food and refreshments: around £80 including dinner in Paris
If two people travel together, then it’s way more convenient as the most expensive costs (Thello and the pet travel service) do not change with two or possibly three people.
Practical info
How I booked my trip
- To book Pet Travel Service I emailed them directly then did it all over the phone with a nice lady called Stef who is super helpful.
- To book any European train, Loco2 is a great site. I booked my French and Swiss trains via them.
- I booked Thello on their website
- I booked my Italian trains directly with Trenitalia (their app is really good too).
- I booked my UK trains via Railtrack
- I booked the hotels via booking.com
- Given all the moving parts of the trip, I used Tripit.com to keep track of everything
What did I pack?
Some basic stuff to make our journey more comfortable:
For me
- Backpack with various pockets
- Multi plug charger
- Solar phone charger
- Ipad with downloaded movies& catch up TV
- One book (more, it would have been too heavy!)
- Keep-Cup
- Snacks (Nakd bars)
- Printed copies of all trains, in order of need
For Amber
- Muzzle. It is mandatory in continental Europe on trains although I was never asked to put it on her
- K9 harness and short, clip lead to use in busy areas
- Roll up soft mat
- A sarong to use on beds for her to sleep next to me (she only did on the Thello)
- Bottle of water with attached bowl
- Silicone collapsible bowl
- Small tins of dog food and some dry food for the duration of the journey
- Poo bags (goes without saying!)
- Brush
- Plastic spoon
- Dog treats
- Wet wipes & tissues
- Calming spray
Thank you for following our journey on tikichris. We’d be happy to answer any question via the comments below.
