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We currently have our vehicle insured with Sterling Insurance. We have 365-day cover, including fully comprehensive green card cover for most countries we have travelled through or will travel through. The exception has been Kosovo, where we had no option other than to purchase third-party insurance. This will also be the case when we get to Georgia and Armenia.
When arranging our vehicle insurance, we spent time speaking directly with Sterling to work through the details and make sure the policy matched our plans. Diane, having previously worked in the insurance industry, has a good eye for policy wording and can dig into the details to make sure the cover genuinely fits our lifestyle.
A few thoughts when it comes to insurance, whether that’s health, travel, or vehicle cover:
• Shop around, but also speak directly with insurers or brokers and discuss your plans in detail. It takes time, but it’s time well spent.
• The cheapest policy isn’t always the best policy. The important thing is that it provides the right cover for the way you travel.
• Consider the value of your vehicle, the value of your travel plans, and your own tolerance for risk when deciding what level of cover is appropriate.
• Be completely transparent. Failing to disclose relevant information can create problems if you ever need to make a claim and, in some cases, could invalidate your policy.
What travel insurance do you use?
Our travel insurance is a one-way policy with True Traveller. We chose them because their cover suited the way we travel. Many travel insurance policies are designed around shorter trips and can limit a single journey to 30, 60 or 90 days. As we’re travelling continuously for much longer periods, that wasn’t particularly useful to us.
True Traveller offered a policy that allowed us to travel for an extended period while still providing the medical and other travel cover we wanted. We were also able to arrange the entire policy online, which made things considerably easier when we were preparing to leave the UK.
For us, having proper travel insurance is an essential part of travelling long-term. European healthcare arrangements such as an EHIC or GHIC aren’t a substitute for travel insurance, and once you’re travelling beyond Europe there are obviously no such arrangements to rely on. We therefore make sure our policy covers the countries we’re travelling through and, importantly, the activities we intend to undertake.
We don’t regard travel insurance as something to buy simply because you’re required to have it for a visa or border crossing. Medical treatment abroad can be extremely expensive, and repatriation can cost considerably more, so it’s one of those expenses we would rather have and never need than discover we needed after something had gone wrong.
The exact cover, exclusions and conditions will depend on the policy you purchase, so it’s important to read the wording carefully and make sure it actually matches the way you intend to travel.
This is probably one of the questions we get asked most often.
For UK citizens, the basic rule is that we can spend 90 days in any rolling 180-day period in the Schengen Area. It isn’t 90 days per country, and it isn’t simply 90 days followed by 90 days out. It’s 90 days across the whole Schengen Area, with the calculation constantly looking back over the previous 180 days.
The trick, if you’re travelling long-term, is to keep an eye on the calendar and plan ahead.
We call our approach the “Schengen Shuffle”. We move in and out of the Schengen Area, spending time in countries outside it while our Schengen days gradually become available again. For us, that means countries such as Morocco, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Turkey can become particularly useful when we’re travelling around Europe.
One thing to be aware of is that the day you enter Schengen counts as a day, and the day you leave counts as a day too. So if we cross the border on a Monday and leave on the following Monday, that’s eight Schengen days, not six. Every day spent inside the area counts, regardless of how much of that day we actually spend there.
We also try not to use every available day. As we travel, we generally aim to leave around 7–10 days “in the bank” rather than running the clock right down to zero. That gives us a useful safety margin and, more importantly, some flexibility if we suddenly need to travel back into Schengen, perhaps because of a route change, a family commitment, or simply because we need to get somewhere.
The other important thing to understand is that your unused days don’t suddenly appear all at once. As older days fall outside the rolling 180-day window, they become available again. So someone who has spent 90 days in Schengen doesn’t necessarily have to stay outside for another 90 days before being able to return. It depends on exactly when those previous days were used.
We keep a running record of every entry and exit and work out our position before crossing a border. It sounds a little obsessive, but when your home has wheels and you’re moving between countries, knowing where you can legally be is rather useful information to have.
And there’s one final point worth remembering: crossing from one Schengen country to another doesn’t reset the clock. Once you’re inside Schengen, you’re essentially travelling within one zone for the purposes of the 90/180 calculation. The Schengen days only stop accumulating when you leave the Schengen Area altogether.
It can sound complicated, but once you get your head around the rolling 180-day calculation, it becomes fairly manageable. For us, it’s just another part of planning the route.
We use the European Commission’s official short-stay calculator alongside our own records. The rules can be complicated and individual circumstances can differ, so always check your own position before travelling.
Here’s what we’ve learned about the paperwork and travelling with dogs between the UK, Europe and beyond.
🇬🇧➝🇪🇺 UK TO MAINLAND EUROPE
If you are a resident in Great Britain and travelling to the EU with your dog, you need an Animal Health Certificate (AHC), issued by an Official Veterinarian in Great Britain.
There have been important changes to the rules since we started travelling. From 22 April 2026, EU pet passports can no longer be issued to residents of Great Britain. If you live in Great Britain, you should therefore check the current entry requirements carefully rather than assume an existing EU pet passport will be accepted for your outward journey.
An AHC must be issued within the 10-day period before you enter the EU. It is valid for that initial entry and can then be used for onward travel within the EU for up to six months. It can also be used for re-entry into Great Britain within the relevant validity period, provided the conditions are met and the rabies vaccination remains valid.
You need a new AHC for each separate journey from Great Britain to the EU. If you leave the EU and later want to return, the requirements depend on where you have travelled and the documents your dog holds, so check the rules before leaving.
AHCs can be expensive, so it is worth comparing prices. Searching for “Animal Health Certificate Folkestone”, for example, brings up vets who specialise in pet travel.
There is also a useful Facebook group called AHC – Animal Health Certificate UK, which is worth joining for current experiences and recommendations.
Always check the latest official requirements and confirm the documentation accepted by your ferry operator or Le Shuttle before travelling, as the rules can change.
🐾 EU PET PASSPORTS
If you already have an EU pet passport, keep it. It may still be useful for documenting your dog’s identification and vaccination history, and EU pet passports can still be used for eligible return journeys to Great Britain.
However, since the rule changes of 22 April 2026, residents of Great Britain should not assume that an existing EU pet passport will be accepted for entry into the EU. Check the current requirements before travelling.
Make sure the microchip details and rabies vaccination records are correct and up to date. If a rabies booster is given outside the EU, check with an authorised vet how it affects the validity of the vaccination recorded in your passport.
🌍 TRAVELLING BEYOND THE EU
If you are heading outside the EU, as we did when we travelled to Morocco, you need to check the specific requirements of the country you are entering.
This is where things get more complicated, because different non-EU countries have their own import requirements and certificates.
Don’t assume that an AHC issued for travel from Great Britain automatically covers you for entry into a non-EU country or for your subsequent return to the EU. The paperwork needed for each part of the journey may be different.
If you are planning to leave the EU, check the requirements for entering your destination and returning to the EU before you set off.
🐶 RABIES TITRE (SEROLOGY) TEST
This is one to plan well in advance if you’re travelling outside the EU and may need to return with your dog.
A rabies antibody titre test may be required when entering the EU from a non-EU country that is not on the current exemption list. Check the latest EU list and entry requirements before travelling.
The test measures your dog’s antibody response following rabies vaccination. The blood sample must be taken by an authorised vet and tested by a designated laboratory. The result must meet the required threshold of at least 0.5 IU/ml.
Once a satisfactory result has been obtained, the test generally remains valid for the dog’s lifetime, provided rabies vaccinations are kept continuously up to date. The important point is not to let the vaccination lapse. If there is a break in vaccination cover, a new primary vaccination and a repeat titre test may be needed, with the relevant waiting periods applying again.
How we handled this with our two dogs
One dog was approaching the end of their rabies vaccination period, while the other still had around a year to go. In May 2025, a French vet gave both dogs a rabies booster so that their dates were aligned.
We continued travelling and, in early July, visited a Belgian vet for the titre blood tests. We then returned to the UK and received the positive results within about a week.
When we next returned to Europe, we went back to the Belgian vet, collected the paperwork and had the results recorded in their EU pet passports.
The good news is that once you have a successful titre result, you don’t normally need to repeat the test, as long as the rabies vaccinations are kept continuously in date.
📋 A SMALL BUT IMPORTANT DETAIL
Check every rabies vaccination entry carefully if you have an EU pet passport.
The vaccination entry needs to be properly completed, with the required details, signature and stamp. Our French vet hadn’t completed the vaccination entry correctly, but the Belgian vet spotted the problem and helped us get it sorted.
It’s exactly the sort of small paperwork detail that could cause problems at a border if nobody notices it.
🇪🇸➝🇲🇦 SPAIN TO MOROCCO
When travelling from Spain to Morocco with dogs, you need to check Morocco’s current animal import requirements and obtain the appropriate veterinary health documentation.
We were issued the relevant veterinary paperwork in Spain before travelling.
Some people tell us they were never checked when arriving in Morocco. That wasn’t our experience. The customs officer was particularly interested in the rabies vaccination date. The rest of our paperwork only received a quick glance, but it was still checked.
So our advice is simple: have everything in order, even if you hear that nobody checks.
🐾 AND FINALLY…
Travelling with dogs absolutely affects the way we travel. We look for places where the dogs can swim, avoid the hottest cities in summer and think carefully about temperatures, shade and how much walking they can comfortably manage.
But having them with us is also one of the best parts of travelling. They’ve seen a lot of the world with us and, wherever we are, they’re home.
This post is based on our own experience of travelling with Smee and Lexi and is intended as a practical guide rather than official advice. Pet travel rules can change, and requirements vary depending on where you’re travelling from and to, so always check the current official requirements before you travel.
Useful official sources:
Details coming soon.