Let me start with the thing that feels most honest to say first: this blog almost didn’t happen.

Not because I don’t love travel – I’ve been hooked since my first solo trip in 2018 and haven’t really stopped since. And not because I had nothing to say – if anything, the problem was the opposite. But for a long time, I was so busy helping other people plan their holidays that I never quite got around to writing about my own.

So here we are. New chapter. Same dog.

Why This Blog Exists

(And Why It Looks a Little Different Now)

If you’ve been here before, you might notice things have changed.

For the past couple of years, Cookie Travel Club was a travel consultancy – I helped clients plan their holidays, built itineraries, sourced hotels, and generally took the stress out of booking. I loved it. I met brilliant people, planned incredible trips, and learned an enormous amount about what makes a holiday really work.

But somewhere along the way, I realised what I really wanted to do was share my own experiences. The actual trips. The things that went brilliantly and the things that definitely didn’t. The restaurants I’d go back to and the ones that looked better on Instagram than they tasted in real life. The honest, unfiltered version of what it’s like to travel as a normal person with a real budget, a suitcase that’s always slightly too heavy, and a dog who thinks every rest stop is a new adventure.

So that’s what this is now. A travel diary, not a brochure. Honest, personal, and occasionally chaotic – as the tagline says.

What to Expect Here

A few things you’ll find on this blog:

Real itineraries. Not vague “spend a morning here and an afternoon there” suggestions, but actual day-by-day plans based on trips I’ve done myself. What to see, how long to allow, where to eat, what I wish someone had told me before I went.

Dog-friendly travel. Cookie comes on a lot of trips, and I write about that honestly – the planning it takes, the places that genuinely welcome dogs, and the ones that say they do but really mean “as long as it’s tiny and doesn’t move.” As we head into our first European road trip together, there’ll be a lot more of this coming.

Destinations for normal people. I’ve been to some beautiful places, but I’m not staying in £1,000-a-night villas or flying business class. I’m travelling on a real budget, making thoughtful choices, and finding that the magic is rarely in the most expensive option anyway.

Honest opinions. If I didn’t enjoy something, I’ll say so. If something was overhyped or underwhelming, I’ll say that too. The internet has enough content that only tells you what you want to hear.

What’s Coming

The blog launches this week with three posts. This one first. Then, a look back at the trips that have shaped how I travel – from my first solo adventures to last February in Tromsø.

And then: the one I’m most excited about. Taking Cookie to Europe for the first time in ten days meant months of research – post-Brexit vet requirements, Eurotunnel bookings, pet-friendly hotels across four countries. It was a lot. In the process of pulling it all together, I realised I’d essentially built a guide that would have saved me hours if someone had written it first. The next blog post is about that journey: the research, what I discovered, and an honest overview of what travelling from the UK to Europe with a dog actually involves.

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