Hello-again, Milan! Or should I say…Ciao! And hello-again to my blog! It’s been a year-and-a-half since I’ve posted on here, which makes me sad. But I thought for such a big life-update: taking one of my dogs abroad for the first time ever, it was blog-worthy to post about.
A brief life update, as a lot has happened since October 2024: new relationship, broke up with the man, big new corporate job, traveling the world, etc…, but back to bringing Momo to Italy, it was a whirlwind of a decision I went back and forth on. Even as I was doing all of his paperwork, I didn’t even know if I’d actually bring Momo to Italy until the night before my flight, when I thought…heck, I’ve done all the paperwork, so I might as well go through with it.
This trip is my second time in Milan, Italy, but it’s Momo’s first trip abroad ever, which makes it feel like a completely new experience.
Normally, travellers spend anywhere from six months to a year planning a trip to Europe. For me, this chill-turned-multi-city Italian adventure was a rather spontaneous decision. But I think subconsciously, there was a reason I wanted to do this now.
Society tells women that our lives begin once we found our person, our happily ever after. But after leaving my last relationship, I came to the obvious realization that I don’t need anyone, let alone a man, to actually live my life. I have everything I need to do exactly what I want, on my own terms, right now. This trip was my way of proving that to myself. That my chapters can be whole, beautiful, and deeply fulfilling without waiting on anyone or anything. And the best part? This time, instead of being someone’s plus one, I had my very own, a very special one. With Momo by my side, I had all the companionship, all the agency, even if this guy can’t take any of Instagram photos. He can model them with me.
At first, planning a 3-week trip to Italy in 3 weeks, I wasn’t all that daunted. After all, I was just in Italy 9 months ago, so how difficult can it be? Turns out, planning a 3 week trip in 3 weeks by yourself without any help (besides AI lol) is indeed a daunting, tiring, and ambitious ordeal, and I honestly had no idea it would be so much work. On top of that, I had to handle all of Momo’s paperwork, which was a lot of steps but thankfully quite straightforward. But I’ll admit, without the help of AI, I don’t know if I could’ve done it all. Planning this–what I think many would deem–last-minute trip to Italy was a caffeinated-fueled blur of a speed run. Every single day, I was emailing hotels, cancelling hotels, figuring out outfits, buying last minute outfits. It was a massive headache. I frequently stayed up until to 2 or sometimes even 4am finalizing the minute details of what I called my luxurious Italian summer, which you can already see, behind the scenes, is not so glamorous. Oh and yes…this was not a budgeted trip.
But as they say, don’t let anyone talk you out of a once-in-a-lifetime $5K trip to Italy, that $10K will be the best $20K you’ll ever spend!
Jokes aside, bringing my Pomeranian son into Italy, Momo’s paperwork turned into the most important item of the entire trip; I even felt like it was more important that my own passport. But simply thinking about the details of travel certificates bores me (now that the time pressure of it is gone, my what-is-likely ADHD brain will not allow me to go there lol), so I won’t detail it in this post. The main takeaway is taking Momo to and from Italy is much easier than I’d anticipated, and in terms of intercontinental travels and cross-country Italy trip with a furbaby, we were blessed with a smooth-sailing journey!
That said, for anyone who even lightly follows my online presence, you already know that I have traveled with both Mimi and Momo since they were puppies. Too bad airlines don’t have a frequent flyer program for furbabies because both Mimi and Momo would be Platinum status by now. And so, because we fly multiple times a year, Momo already had a lot of practice going into Italy for the long-haul flight. It wasn’t like we were going from zero to a hundred, and we eased into it with a four-hour flight from Texas to Newark, and then about seven hours from Newark to Milan.
Looking back at the whole journey, I still can’t believe I am living my dream of taking my Pomeranian to Europe. Most of all, I am so proud of Momo and how he handled his first international trip. Overall, he is such a well-behaved boy, and on this trip, he behaved superbly. I’m so grateful to him for making traveling with him so easy on me. On the plane, he mostly just slept the whole way, with some breaks for snacks and water, and FYI I don’t medicate either of my dogs when traveling; and so he didn’t experience much jet lag once we were in Italy. Upon arrival, he strutted confidently into his first international city, as if the Prince of Texas had officially arrived in Italy.
So…let my Honeymoon with my sweet boy Momo begin!
Being here with him has felt so seamless. Sitting at Terrazza Duomo 21 was such a pinch-me moment, just enjoying our afternoon with the iconic cathedral right in the backdrop, realizing everything had somehow come together. It was surprisingly warm for late April, and Momo wasn’t the biggest fan of the heat, but we kept him in the shade with plenty of cold water, got the beautiful pictures I hoped for, and enjoyed the view.
Next stop…finally visiting the top of the Duomo in Milan.
xx, vt
// tags: Vivian Tang Milan Italy Black Pomeranian Momo, traveling to Italy with dog, Europe travel, Pet travel to Europe, Flying with a Pomeranian internationally, International pet travel tips
