We have decided to take our cat, Salsa, with us on this trip. In general, cats are not your usual roadtrip companions (we hear you!) but before making this decision we had done our research and spoken to a specialist travel vet at the Clerkenwell Animal Hospital, who were most helpful in alleviating our fears and getting the furry monkey prepared for 4 months on the road. She needed an update to her vaccinations, new pet passport, rabies injection and de-worming. This ordeal lasted a month with repeated visits, as not everything could have been done in one go. The last visit was to obtain travel certificate and an anti-insect collar. Eastern Poland’s forests are known for the ticks so we didn’t want to take any chances. The collar we were after wasn’t available in the UK so we used our team in Poland (aka mom and dad) to help us source that.

We have also trawled the net in search of testimonials from people who have travelled with their feline pets. There are actually people out there who are as crazy as we are to have taken their cats on the road with them, and both parties survived. Phew!

There are various considerations to take into account such as: cats running away, overheating, wellbeing, stress… a lot to take on whilst on the road but, on balance, we thought it’s worth giving it a go. Worst come to worst – we will leave with our family in Poland or UK. She might love it or hate it – but we won’t know until we try!

So far so good – Salsa’s been doing a great job checking the blind spot for the driver….