For over 20 years we've traveled the globe freely without kids or pets by either motorcycle or 4x4 Safari truck, to over 100 countries, and we were happy.
In April 2020 we started fostering during lockdown. Cool was our 3rd charge, at the time he was just another homeless street-dog who had been living an an outdoor kennel/shelter for nearly a year. When he arrived to our home on May 4th, he was very frightened, and we agreed to watch him until the end of May, when we planned to begin our drive from Budapest, Hungary to Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
He was a cool pooch, and we saw why the charity gave him his name. It was about 2 weeks later when a foster opportunity appeared, didn't seem ideal, and then quickly fell through. We were bummed for him, and decided to take a break and go camping. We all needed to breathe. This video captures the moment we decided we wanted him to be in our lives, permanently.
Mr Cool's Adventures is one of the best things that's happened to us. We take him everywhere, by motorcycle, bicycle, rollerblades, etc.
It took nearly 6-months before we discovered he is a Puggle = Pug + Beagle.
In April 2021 we bought a campervan in exchange for the Defender, and Mr Cool certainly enjoys the new rig. In Oct 2021 we bought a motorcycle, and had a custom carrier box built so Mr Cool can travel long-distance with us. He loves the wind in his ears! (though not wearing goggles).
As of August 2023, he's traveled some 80,000km across 35 countries on 3 continents by 4x4, campervan, and motorcycle. Oct 2023 will be his first flight - Europe to Colombia to begin a 5-6 month road-trip through South America.
Join the Adventures here: instagram.com/mrcoolsadventures/
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NOTE: When we formally adopted him, it was under the condition that the shelter or charity would watch him every winter from Dec-March while we escaped winter and traveled for ~3 months in warm climates. Although they agreed, that idea is now not possible... We won't travel without him, which does mean our winter plans to ride motorcycles again in New Zealand and SE Asia have been modified to go other places and do things together.
He's too heavy to fly in cabin, and this breed may not be allowed in cargo, so that's a hurdle we'll have to overcome for travel back to South America in 2023.
Will we miss out on some opportunities? Of course, but we'll discover different ones together - we've learned over the years that travel (and life) is all about a collection of choices/compromises that makes us happiest.
Instagram: instagram.com/mrcoolsadventures/