… and other travel tips I learned from my time with Nesma the wonder dog.

Go to toilet before you leave the house
Nesma often forgets, and five minutes later has to take a crap at the side of the road. As a puppy, she can just about get away with it. But although toilet habits around the world vary greatly, you probably can’t.

Travel light
She carries little with her other than a multi-layer hair coat for temperature regulation and some ID in the form of a dog collar. This frees her up to spend more time and energy exploring. (And she’s not often delayed at the airport).

Make friends with fellow travellers
Nesma enjoys meeting people of both the human and canine variety, and likes nothing more than running up to random dogs and sniffing their bums. Note I am not suggesting you greet people by sniffing their bums. At least get the introductions out the way first.

Try exotic foods, even if they make your stomach turn
Nesma loves to chow down on a good poo. You probably don’t want to eat shit yourself, but trying foods that take you out of your comfort zone is what it’s all about, isn’t it. Isn’t it?

Curiosity can be a lifestyle (as long as you’re not a cat)
Nesma uses all her senses to explore the surroundings. If something looks cool, she’ll climb onto it, under it or inside it. If she hears something interesting, she’ll stop and listen a while. She follows her nose (no prizes for guessing where that often leads). You’ll rarely find her hiding away behind the pages of her guide book.

Running around is lots of fun
Though unless you are – a) training for the Olympics, or – b) on fire, I wouldn’t advocate running everywhere. Especially not around museums, through city centres, or anywhere people might think you’ve stolen that bag you’re carrying. But exploring your surroundings on foot is great, and how else are you going to follow your nose to something worth sniffing?

Having a companion is cool, but sometimes you gotta break out on your own
If we spent all our time together we’d go mad. Nesma’s not a big fan of juggling or poker, and thinks a computer keyboard is a fine place to shhleeeapppezzzz. Conversely, I just ain’t that into panting, drooling and, well, ya know…. So we set time aside to do stuff together we both enjoy.

Cultivate puppy mind and fully embrace the present
Forget Zen mind – that’s so 7th Century Imperial China – puppy mind is where it’s at. Stop a second and look around. Pretty cool, huh? Being outside is fun. Moving is fun. Going new places and seeing new things is fun. Rolling around in the dirt – fun. Scratching – fun. Doing nothing – fun. Set your defaults to “grateful” and “trusting” (though keep your filters in place), and shake your cares away for a while. Being alive is fun.

Can’t quite believe I’m asking this, but any other tips about travel (or life) that you’ve learned from your pet? Share in the comments!

{ 15 comments }