Jessie Main I A van travel across Europe with a dog

In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we talk about the amazing traveling adventures of Jessie and Nala. Answering questions: - What journey are they planning to take? - How did Jessie come up with this particular route? - Have they traveled a lot before this big expedition? - Is there anything specific they're looking forward to? - How does Jessie manage the temperature differences between cold Norway and warm North Africa? - How does she tackle dog food for Nala? - With all these activities - how does Jessie ensure that Nala gets enough rest? - After the first 2 weeks of living like this. How do they like it so far? - What has been their favorite moment so far? - How do they find those hidden local gems? - Where can we follow their journey? Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to live an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know in the comments what topics you want us to cover!

Blanka
Welcome to a new episode of our Unleashed podcast. Today, I'm here with Jessie and Nala, who are on a huge adventure this year. Could you tell us more about this adventure?

Jessie
Yes! We set off at the start of January. We are traveling basically for 12 months in our Land Rover. Me and my partner Dan and the dog. And, yeah, we came up north first to kind of have some cold, and do some skiing, some other fun stuff. And then we're going to head down, through Europe, out towards Turkey, get some sun and then along the south kind of Croatian coast into North Africa. Yeah. 12 months of driving around, having some fun.

Blanka
That does sound like a lot of fun and a lot of, like, different areas. How did you come up with this route?

Jessie
It's a very good question. We were reflecting on this the other day. We're not quite sure what made us decide to go to Norway first. But it's been amazing. The snow is really cool. And the rest of the trip, it was more like tying in, getting some warmth, but it not being too hot. And getting a kind of nice mix of cultures and hopefully getting out towards Turkey. It was going to give us a bit more of a mixture and variety rather than staying very western.

Blanka
Yeah, absolutely. Have you been also traveling a lot before? Because this is quite a big trip. I guess for Nala, it's a lot of new experiences, so she probably had to get a bit used to it beforehand.

Jessie
Yeah. I've done loads of abroad traveling before. But even when Nala was just six months old, I got my first van. And the two of us did a lot of traveling together around the UK. Just driving around, hiking, anything we could do outdoors, and just like spending time in the van together and chilling. So that sort of really got her used to it from a very early age. And that's where I found my love for being in the van and the freedom that it gave me.

Then when we met Dan, he’d done a lot more road traveling, and his dream was to convert the Land Rover, and I was like, yeah, I’m on board with this. So we did that together. And then, yeah, kind of created this route. We just worked out when we could make it happen, really.

Blanka
It sounds just absolutely fabulous. Is there anything you specifically look forward to experiencing together with Nala?

Jessie
It's all the time outdoors, everything that she loves to do. It's stuff that I also love to do and vice versa. So, if we can go and spend time hiking, wild swimming, camping—that's all stuff that she wants to do as well. So it's just having those shared experiences makes it even better.

While we’re here, the aim was for me to learn to ski, hopefully do some skiing with her. She loves the snow. And just watching her being in the snow is really enjoyable. And then in the summer, a lot more wild camping, wild swimming—yeah, the stuff that we can do when it's a little bit warmer.

Blanka
It is a big temperature difference like you mentioned here in Norway. Now it's quite cold. Later on, the places you will be going will be quite warm. How do you keep Nala warm in the winter and then cool in the summer in the car?

Jessie
In the winter, well, for both seasons, we've got so much insulation around the edge of the van and window covers, which really helps control the temperature changes. In the winter, she's all fleeced up, so she stays really snug. And we've got a diesel heater inside to keep us warm as well. So that's been quite good in the winter. We've not struggled yet.

The summer will be a little bit more of a challenge. But I'm not great in the heat either, so we’ll find places that both of us are fine. The insulation will help. We've got air conditioning when we're driving. And we also got a massive awning on the outside, so that makes a large shaded area.

Even in my old van, we’d park under a shade somewhere and then spend lots of time outside. If we can, we park near water. She loves to swim, so she spends the whole time swimming. If it gets too hot, we will just change the route. We're really flexible. If we need to, we can go up to a higher altitude, get into the mountains a little bit more. It'll just be cooler up there.

Blanka
That’s really nice. I think if you're really flexible, you can really just go where the weather is nice, where the conditions are good.

Jessie
Yeah, completely free—that's what I love about it. And we haven't been planning more than about three days in advance. So if we see the weather's bad, you know, we can turn somewhere warmer or, yeah, helps with the freedom.

Blanka
It sounds super cool. But another thing I was thinking about that might be a challenge—dog food. Like, how do you solve that? Because I guess you cannot, like, get the same food all over these countries that you're visiting.

Jessie
No. The food we were on at home, turns out, was only a British company. So, I mean, we're two and a half weeks in and we're on two different foods already. We've been trying to keep to a similar protein to kind of make it fairly stable, keeping with a fairly high-quality food. Just because she needs the energy and then transitioning the bags, like making sure that one food blends into the next one.

We're quite fortunate that she's not difficult with her food. She hasn't got certain requirements—as long as there's enough food going in, that's the main thing. It is like—food, and she will be happy. She’ll eat anything. The main thing is, when we're doing lots of exercise, we make sure that she's getting enough of it. Because she’ll just drop weight really quickly if not. So far, so good. We just keep it flexible and try to make some similarities between each one.

Blanka
You mentioned that you converted the Land Rover yourselves. Is there anything dog-specific you did to the van that might be a clever solution for others looking into van life with their dogs?

Jessie
Probably the most useful things we did—and probably would be the same for us as well—was adding an outdoor cold tap so that we can rinse her off. One of the big challenges is mud. So we've got outdoor washing facilities and some storage that we can store things outside of the vehicle. So things that are really muddy, really wet, can stay out rather than coming in and making everything damp.

We've also made sure she's kind of got a space that's hers. So, like, her dog bed—pretty much it's always in the same place. And that means that she kind of knows where she belongs. That's her place. And then it makes her a little bit more settled, I think.

Blanka
I like that! That’s very smart. I really like it. I would have never thought about it, but yeah, like when you're traveling so much, it's like constant change and everything. Even though there's the car, it must be nice for her to have this safe spot.

Jessie
Yeah, exactly. It's the same as you do in a house—just putting it in a small place and making sure that it doesn't move. Water's always in the same place. And then there's some routine there to keep her a little bit more settled. It’s a very small space that we've got, so we couldn't do as much as we'd have loved to. But we feel like we've had a good compromise, and so far, it's working really well.

Blanka
We have to follow up with another podcast episode at the end of the 12 months and see—are you still all happy together? Or was it too tight a space?

Jessie
We’re two and a half weeks in. So far, so good. Yeah. And we'll find all the problems then as well. Things that didn’t work. I’ll be able to advise on what not to do with a dog in a van!

Blanka
While you're traveling, it’s a lot of new places and activities. You can’t just leave Nala in the car like you might at home. How do you ensure she gets enough downtime as well?

Jessie
Yeah, it’s a balance. I guess we need rest days as much as she does. So if we are doing some big hikes or big adventures, generally we follow that with a bit of a down day—more like a toilet walk rather than a structured hike.

Also, there's so much admin that comes with van life. Doing everything takes so much more time. Even making dinner, washing up, finding somewhere to do laundry, doing a shop—it all takes longer. All of that time, she just sleeps. She sleeps all the time that we're driving as well. At the moment, we’re making good progress—that’s like an hour and a half a day that she’s just fast asleep.

So we balance it with how much time we’ve got to adventure and how much time we need to spend sorting the van and life admin. She’s really well conditioned for a lot of exercise. She’s grown up doing a lot of hiking, running, and sports. So actually, she can really do as much as we can do. If we’re tired, she’s probably tired. We just keep an eye on her—if she’s slowing down, we slow down. We’re flexible.

Blanka
That’s probably the way to go—otherwise, one gets so stressed. It sounds like this trip is about enjoying new experiences and visiting new places.

Jessie
Yeah, if we had time pressures and things, we’d lose a lot of the enjoyment. I think the best part is being free to stop somewhere nice, even if it wasn’t planned.

Blanka
How do you like it so far? These two and a half weeks—how has it been going?

Jessie
It’s amazing. We’ve really enjoyed Norway so far—it is absolutely stunning. We’ve had some really good weather and managed to do some incredible hikes. We’ve got some skiing done in the snow. So yeah, we’ve had a good mixture of activities already.

Blanka
Do you have a highlight? A favorite moment so far?

Jessie
Yeah, it probably has to be the Trolltunga hike. We were so lucky. The weather was incredible—sunshine all day. The snow was solid enough to make it a really nice hike. Clear skies all the way. The views on the top—the mountains, nobody else there. The winter dream, basically.

Blanka
Is there anything you’re looking forward to during this trip—something you really want to do, see, or visit?

Jessie
It’s hard because there’s so much. I’m really looking forward to getting towards the warmer countries—doing more wild camping again, bringing the tent, and just staying on top of a mountain somewhere. That is complete freedom to me, and I love that.

I also want to be a proper tourist in the van life—go to Cappadocia, see all the hot air balloons. That’s going to be a highlight as well. But I also love just stumbling across hidden gems. I don’t want to just go to all the tourist spots. I quite like finding local wonders that are just as beautiful but quieter.

Blanka
How do you find those hidden local gems? Do you ask locals, friends on the internet, or just explore?

Jessie
A bit of a mixture. We don’t actively seek out people for advice, but especially here, if we chat with people in a store or something, they often give out local tips. That’s how we found where we went skiing.

We also just drive and stumble across places. We often use Google Maps with satellite view—just scanning for blue waters or interesting spots. Sometimes, people on the internet give us fantastic advice. If they see we’re heading somewhere, they’ll message us, “Oh, you have to visit this place,” and we’re like, “Yes, okay!”

Blanka
That’s so fun! The internet really brings you closer to both places and people.

Jessie
Yeah, it would be a lot harder without it.

Blanka
I am so looking forward to following your trip! Where can others follow along with your big adventure for 2025?

Jessie
It’s all going to be documented on Instagram. You can find us at @nala_themainpup. That’s where I’ll be posting all the updates—when I get around to updating!

Blanka
I highly recommend everybody to check it out. So far, it looks amazing. You take incredible pictures, and it’s so fun following along.

Jessie
Thank you! Hopefully, we can keep it up and keep finding cool spots to share.

Blanka
Thank you so much for telling us about your big trip. I wish you the best of luck and a lot of fun. Maybe after 12 months, we’ll catch up and hear all about your learnings and highlights.

Jessie
Yeah, I’m sure there’ll be many. Thank you!