By A. Campbell

Good morning! Or shall I say, Bonjour! Buongiorno! Bom dia! Dobro jutro!

My name is Alice and I’m a Beagle mix preparing to celebrate my 14th birthday this month. My Mom and I will spend the big day celebrating with friends in Central Park and at night we’ll turn our attention to planning our next European excursion. Three guesses as to where we might be heading! We absolutely love to travel together. You might even call me the Pupper West Side’s answer to Rick Steves – an inspiration when it comes to exploring lesser-known parts of Europe and taking every opportunity to appreciate new cultures, languages, foods and traditions.

Like Rick, I even created my own travel blog – Adventures of Alice Bug – dedicated to sharing lessons from my European and U.S. travels as a way to inspire fellow pups and their parents. If you ask me, the most important part of traveling is to approach every adventure with the right disposition – an open and curious mind, flexibility, and respect for other people and cultures. If you want to learn about how to best prepare for pup-and-parent airplane travels, you can peruse my research and recommendations.

Over the past eight years, I’ve visited Portugal, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Croatia, and Canada and traveled extensively throughout the United States. The most dog-friendly place I have seen so far was Pula, Croatia. Located on the southern tip of the Istrian peninsula, Pula was a gorgeous city with lots of opportunities for Mom and me to spend time together. We enjoyed dog-friendly beaches, a tour of the local castle and Roman ruins, a food walking tour and olive oil tasting, and even a sunset cruise.

While it may seem like my life is full of jet-setting travels, most of my favorite haunts are right here on the Upper West Side. Each day, Mom and I take a long, meandering stroll through Central Park. We love to wander near the reservoir or explore quieter stretches of the park around the North Woods. On the weekends, we kick off our days with coffee from Peaky Barista for Mom and a Starbucks pupuccino for me. We’ll browse the displays at The Strand and Home Goods before meeting up with friends to dine al fresco at Buseo 95 or The Consulate.

I can’t begin to count all of the things I love about life in NYC. The attention and head pats, the great friends (hi, Chester!) and opportunities to meet new pups (hi, Pablo!), and the fact that there are so many dog-friendly places to enjoy. And of course, NYC is a great launch pad for my next European trip: Austria, here we come! “The hills are alive, with the sound of muuuusiiiccc! AwwwooOOOoooooooOOO!”

Read all of our Pupper West Side interviews here!

If you think your pup deserves a shot at neighborhood fame, we encourage you to reach out to Audrey at pupperwestsideuws@gmail.com to be considered for a future profile on West Side Rag and follow your fellow Pupper West Sider’s adventures on Instagram at @pupper_west_side_uws

If readers are interested in becoming pet owners, we encourage you to consider adopting or volunteering to be a foster parent with one of the many shelters and nonprofits based in and around New York City. These include but aren’t limited to Muddy Paws Rescue; Animal Lighthouse Rescue; Animal Care Centers of NYC; NYC ASPCA; Humane Society of New York; Bideawee; Social Tees; Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue and Animal Haven.