Everyone loves travelling and everyone loves animals - so it goes without saying that travelling with your pet is a dream come true. And these bloggers have made that dream a reality. Say meow, woof, ribbet, neigh, moo and, of course, hello to the nominees for Best Pet Travel Blogger of 2020.

Our expert panel hasn’t chosen their top pet travel blogger and favourite furry friend yet, but once they do the winner will be nominated to run for the British Travel Awards’ Best Blogger Award, sponsored by Teletext Holidays. 

She Gets Around

Blogger Name: Jen Lowthrop

Blog URL: www.shegetsaround.co.uk

Why Should I Win?

Despite only just getting a puppy of our own, I have been blogging about dog-friendly travel for some time and sharing stories and reviews of places we visit with our dog pals. We regularly dogsit Rowland and Baxter (family dogs) and now have our own little pup named Cookie to add to the mix.

I've worked with a number of hotels and travel brands on dog-friendly travel including Red Funnel Ferries to the Isle of Woof (Wight) and dog-friendly accommodation across the UK from Scotland to the Cotswolds. We also seek out dogs wherever we travel, from visiting our local country fair in the Peak District to dog sledding in Norway and Iceland.

Dogs have always been a huge part of my life and blog and I'm sure in numerous non dog related blog posts you are sure to find a few photos of dogs spotted along the way. Now that we have Cookie, my dog-friendly blog posts will only increase - next week I'm off to two dog-friendly hotels in Norfolk and a very dog-friendly beach.

I am a lover of all dogs, from dachshunds to dobermans and everything in between, and we regularly get questions about dog-friendly travel from readers and friends. Our little Cookie is a rescue from Romania and I can't wait to share more about her on my blog soon. She has her passport and hopefully when travel picks up again she will head abroad with us too. 

My Proudest Achievements Over the Past Year

Getting Cookie would definitely be my proudest achievement, but she is very new so blogs are incoming! With regards to the blog, a trip last summer to the Cotswolds with Rowland has proved really popular, especially in recent weeks as travel in the UK has opened up. This post includes a number of dog-friendly cafes and restaurants and even my favourite bookshop that is dog-friendly too. 

 

Bionic Basil

Blogger Name: Cathrine Garnell

Blog URL: www.bionicbasil.blogspot.com

Why Should I Win?

We should win the Best Pet Travel Blogger category because Bionic Basil® is, in our humble opinion, the most unique and entertaining cat blog in the world since its first post eight years ago. We consistently offer abundant diversity to our readers such as brain training, mindfulness, colouring mandalas and colouring books, crafting projects, adventure stories, fashion, art, travel, gardening, book reviews and many other things all with cats!

We focus on our readers' total blog experience and their enjoyment as we share a myriad of activities, all the while endorsing the joys of cat companionship.

Our blog mission is to bring a smile and a healthy dose of fun to our worldwide audience at least four days a week, and more if we have extra time. We love what we do and will continue to share all things feline for as long as we can. We thank you most sincerely for your consideration.

- Wing Commander Basil & The B Team plus our Purrsonal Assistant, Cathrine Garnell.

My Proudest Achievements Over the Past Year

We were recently notified that we're in the top ten pet blogs in the UK and in the number 2 slot for the second year running, which was especially amazing since I had a rather terrible accident last year.

 

Katzenworld

Blogger Name: Marc-Andre Runcie-Unger

Blog URL: www.katzenworld.co.uk

Why Should I Win?

I believe we should win this category as we provide a unique mix of fun travel stories for cat lovers who would like to explore cat-related places and tourist sites on their holidays, as well as important tips and advice on how to safely travel with your pets.

When it comes to our travel tips we always ensure that we thoroughly explore the local areas of interest and provide our readers with a fun but informative description, including how to easily find any destinations we may mention as well as how to prepare for the trip to make it enjoyable. Furthermore we like to find unique places of interest that are not necessarily covered by the general public such as the birthplace of the Maneki-neko in Japan.

For our tips and advice on safe travel we like to provide people with easy instructions on how to travel safely with their pets, which we try to make as inclusive as possible. Additionally, the fact that we also include travel tips for cats sets us apart from the general travel advice blogs and columns that often solely focus on dogs as it's a general misbelief that no cat likes to travel.

My Proudest Achievement Over the Past Year

The massive expansion of our Apple News channel, which now reaches more than 250,000 unique readers per month, reading 4 articles on average each!

 

Woof Wag Walk

Blogger Name: Sal Hay

Blog URL: www.woofwagwalk.co.uk

Why Should I Win?

Dogs are family and as such I believe that they should be included in everyday adventures and trips away so on my blog I try to showcase places that our canine companions are not only tolerated but positively welcomed. It's all about trying to encourage others to take their canine friends on holiday, have fun together and adventure to new places.


I live in Yorkshire - dog’s own country - so I am passionate about promoting Yorkshire as a dog-friendly destination as well as travelling elsewhere in the UK with my own dogs. I like to sniff out dog-friendly places that folk might not ordinarily visit such as the Ryedale Folk Museum in the idyllic village of Hutton-le-Hole.

We have plans to travel much more widely in the coming years and already have bookings to go to Devon, Cornwall and Northumberland next month, so there's plenty of great content to come. I have also written articles on my blog with practical advice, from what to do when your dog goes missing to recognising heatstroke and keeping your dog cool, all information that is vital to know when taking your pets away.

My Proudest Achievement Over the Past Year

I was thrilled to be invited to review Letheringham Mill in Suffolk, widely believed to be the dog-friendliest accommodation in the UK and the winners of the Visit England Dog Friendly Business award.

 

Le Corgi

Blogger Name: Aurélie Four

Blog URL: www.lecorgi.com

Why Should I Win?

I’ve been passionate about travel, good food and photography for as long as I can remember, and a decisive point for me was moving from France to London, which is an amazing base to travel to both Europe and also farther away. Travelling has opened my mind, making me discover different cultures.

Shortly after moving into our own home seven years ago, we welcomed a new family member who would change our world for the best: a fluffy Pembroke Welsh Corgi dog we named Marcel. We tried to travel without him for a while but quickly realised that we did not want to compromise between the things we loved the most: him and exploring. This is how our "corguide" (for "Corgi guide") series was born and Marcel became a "travel and food critic".

It took some adapting, and sometimes it would just not be fair on him to take him (i.e. travelling to extreme climates or flying long haul or to places where dogs are not that welcome - his welfare always comes first). However, two pet passports later (the first one was full so had to be replaced) we've been to 13 (technically 14) countries together and explored many parts of the UK and Europe we would probably never have discovered without him (dogs are so welcome in this country and there is so much beauty) and it's been pure joy.

We love to document these adventures on our social media and blog where we have a loving and supportive community (some we now call friends in real life) who love to travel - and love Marcel, of course. From giving tips, sharing our favourite destinations and working with some amazing travel brands and British tourism agencies to reporting for a London newspaper and sharing places that welcome dogs and places where they're not usually allowed (Marcel has been to a few), we're always on the lookout for the next adventure, far or close to home. 

We love to inspire others to explore, be kind, love unconditionally like our companion animals do, and make the most of the (always too) short times we have together with them. It means the world to us to get a message from someone in our audience from a place we visited to say that we inspired them to go there and that they thoroughly enjoyed it. Mission accomplished! 

My Proudest Achievement Over the Past Year

My proudest achievement over the past year was making my dream of a USA road trip with my partner and Marcel come true. We had just a few months to organise it so we could explore more of the country and also meet some of the online community we are a part of and, most importantly, have Marcel meet his "brother from another mother" Jasper, another Corgi who belongs to friends and has a degenerative illness. We overcame a few challenges to make it happen (the main one being our fear of the unknown) but with some preparation and improvising we did it.

During our two months there we did a loop on the West Coast followed by crossing the country and ending with a transatlantic crossing from New York City back to the UK. It was all self-funded (a combination of our savings and calendar sales) bar our stay in Las Vegas, which was in collaboration with the USA tourism agency Visit the USA. We saw some stunning sights, met amazing people and whilst coming back just before the pandemic started was ill timing (as our savings were mostly gone and Pierre, my partner, was in the process of finding a new chef job) it was also perfect timing - we have the memories to hold on to now. When it is safe to travel again we actually hope to do this trip again to see the places we couldn't last time - perhaps with a campervan this time!

Most recently we've tried to use our "voice" and influence in support of the travel and hospitality industries, which have suffered so much during the pandemic, by reminiscing about those places we enjoyed and that welcomed us in the hopes we’ll inspire others to visit them when they reopen and are safe to travel to.