Ireland is the one of the "least dog-friendly places I’ve ever been”, a traveller has said after a year journeying across Europe.
After COVID restrictions were lifted, Ariana Dunne decided she “just wanted to get out” of Ireland.
During the pandemic, she had worked remotely and realised how easy it was to work effectively from the comfort of her home.
With her 40th birthday approaching, she decided it was time she and her dog, Molly, had an adventure together.
“I just thought if I’m going to be remote in Lucan, I might as well be remote in Paris or Florence or Marbella in Spain,” she told Moncrieff.
“I packed up the car as soon as I could and myself and Molly hit the road.”
In total, Ms Dunne visited 11 countries during her extended trip and was pleasantly surprised by how welcoming everyone was towards Molly.
“Europe is so dog-friendly,” she said.
“After coming back, Ireland is one of the least dog-friendly places I’ve ever been.
“Everywhere I went, she was welcome; I used to get my hair done and my nails done and she’d sit on my lap.
“She was allowed in all the shops; in Italy, they have special shopping trolleys with little pictures of dogs on them that you can pop your dog into.”
Ariana and Molly. Image: Ariana DunneThe pair travelled around in what Ms Dunne describes as a “reliable” Honda and the driving turned out to be much less stressful than she had anticipated.
“I’m a life coach and I often say worrying is such wasted energy,” she said.
“The thing that I worried the most about before leaving was driving and it turned out to actually be one of the most enjoyable parts of the experience.”
Human company
Nor was she lonely, finding it easy to meet people in whichever city she happened to be staying in.
“Everywhere I went, I met people and I made friends,” she said.
“I would go and do walking tours, food tours, bike tours.
“There’s a lot of expat community Facebook groups, so I would have joined them or go to a local quiz night.”
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Main image: Ariana Dunne and Molly.
