My 3-Month Travels around UK in Summer 2025

My Original 2025 Travel Plans

I actually had no intention, nor even a passing thought, of returning to the UK this year. In 2024 I spent five full months exploring Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland. And I had previously visited England three or four times over the years. In essence, I’d already explored all the UK countries.

I was planning, as always, to press on visiting new countries in my quest to visit all the nations of the world. I certainly had no interest in spending more time in countries I’d already explored.

I started 2025 in the Middle East, having arrived in Dubai, UAE in early December, 2024 and then exploring all the little countries in the region for two months.

Then I headed back to Europe for another 90-day allotted Schengen Zone visit (with a short unexpected side trip to Istanbul in February). I had planned on visiting three European countries again this time, but ended up spending my entire three months traveling around Switzerland, plus a day-trip to tiny Liechtenstein.

My plan after EU was to head down to Capetown, South Africa and then gradually work my way up the east coast of Africa over the course of several months. That would pretty much fill up 2025 with explorations of new countries.

Quite unfortunately for me, that plan was quickly thwarted. First I discovered how expensive flights are from Europe to Capetown. I was really shocked since I somehow believed flights were relatively cheap from Europe. Boy was I wrong!

Then I found out that the weather in South Africa June-July was cold and rainy. I also discovered that pet sitting positions there were far and few between. Finally, I remembered that South Africa is pretty dangerous. Given all those factors, I scrapped that plan, at least for this year.

Why I ended up in UK again this year

After I gave up my South Africa plans, I searched all over for new countries to visit outside the Schengen Zone but close to Europe and also not too broiling hot during summer months.

Unfortunately for me, I’ve already visited nearly every country near Europe but outside Schengen. I could not figure out anywhere else to go except back to UK!

And, in fact, UK has a score of benefits. To start with, London is probably the closest, fastest and cheapest place outside EU to fly into from Switzerland. It’s only a two-hour flight and mine cost just $150 US, including all my luggage. Sold!

Secondly, as I quickly re-discovered from 2024, UK is probably the easiest place on the planet to secure pet sitting positions. At any given time, there are about 3500 pet hosts around UK actively searching for pet sitters! Compare that to Switzerland at about 30 hosts, Holland at about 50 hosts, Sweden at about 20-30 hosts…and so on across all the European countries.

After I reluctantly decided to return to UK, I began searching for pet sitting gigs. I very quickly secured several sits in England. After my recent troubles finding pet sits in Switzerland, the UK search was like magic!

Since I resigned myself to visiting UK yet again, I soon realized that I could take advantage of the situation by visiting a bunch of wonderful, beautiful & famous places in England that I’d never seen before. Places like Oxford, Cambridge, Chester, the Lakes District and Isle of Man. Suddenly, I was excited to further explore England! I felt I’d made the right decision.

Setting up my UK 2025 Travel Route

First, I decided exactly where in England I wanted to visit. Then I began a thorough search of pet sits in those places. Along the way, I inadvertently discovered a few other wonderful places that I never knew about. Places like beautiful St Albans, just north of London, and Salisbury, a Medieval town closest to Stonehenge.

I also contacted a few of my hosts from last year and asked them if they needed a pet sitter during June-August. One of them did and invited me back! Yeah. That’s a pet sit in Porthcawl, Wales, on the southern coast of the country, taking care of three adorable tiny dogs.

Within only two or three weeks, while still in Switzerland, I had already secured a series of pet sits in most of my target destinations, which filled up my schedule from late May through the end of August! Even I was surprised at how easy and smoothly it all went. Soon I was all set to explore many wonderful places in England and to re-visit the beautiful southern coast of Wales again.

My 2025 UK Travel and Pet Sitting Route

Here’s my route and pet sit locations…

London

Quite handily, I landed my first pet sit in London for one week. That made my arrival into England in late May relatively fast and easy. From Heathrow Airport, it was just one hour by metros – directly from the airport! – to my hosts’ home in Brixton.

I had the pleasure of looking after two wonderful dogs in a stunning, art-laden home, situated in a quiet residential neighborhood, just one block from a massive 126-acre city park. I enjoyed long daily walks with the dogs through that lovely park.

Salisbury

As I noted above, Salisbury is a place I accidentally discovered while searching for pet sits near Bath. When I saw photos of the town’s gorgeous Medieval buildings, I was sold on the place.

I also found out that Salisbury is the closest city to famous Stonehenge. Wowie, I’d get to visit Stonehenge! In fact, my host offered to take me there before they left on their vacation!

Porthcawl, Wales

This is a return pet sit for me. I looked after the hosts’ adorable cat-size dogs last year in September. I loved the hosts, their three super cute doggies and the gorgeous Porthcawl coastline. I was really excited to get back to the doggies and coastal walks & bike rides.

In fact, I’m here now as I write. It’s just as wonderful as I remember last year. Another spacious house in a quiet residential neighborhood. It’s just a 10-minute walk (with the dogs usually) to the beautiful, rugged coastline. The hosts also left me an electric bike, which I’ll ride out along the coast too.

Bath

Bath is a famous town in southwestern England that was built by the Romans. It’s full of beautiful beige sandstone buildings, Roman baths and other Roman ruins.

That’s my next destination, where I’ll look after two more lovely dogs for two weeks and also explore stunning Bath town.

St Albans

This is another stunning Roman town located just north of London. It’s another English place I accidentally discovered while searching for pet sits.

Oxford

No need to introduce the renowned university town of Oxford. I’ve been wanting to wander around Oxford University campus for decades. I’ll finally get my chance this July.

Chester

Chester is a gorgeous little town that I discovered randomly while living in Manchester in summer, 2009. I made a day trip to Chester, but only got a quick glimpse of the stunning historic architecture. I vowed to get back to Chester one day to spend more time admiring the beautiful buildings. Finally I’ve got the chance.

As an added bonus, I’ll also get to meet up with a pet sitting host couple from last year. I took care of their cat and two dogs over in Rhuddlan, Wales last October. The hosts and I really hit it off and have stayed in touch.

Unfortunately, they don’t need a pet sitter during the months I’m here, but they did agree to drive over to Chester to meet me while I’m there. I look forward to that.

Arnside

Arnside is a tiny coastal community situated on the southern edge of England’s renowned Lakes District. The practically wild area surrounding the village is Arnside and National Landscape. The main activity there is hiking along the broad beaches, wetlands and vast meadows. y

Isle of Man

Isle of Man is a tiny rocky island situated in the Irish Sea, midway between England and Northern Ireland. The island is a self-governing British dependency and is listed as a country in the UN list of nations.

By visiting Isle of Man, not only will I get to explore a stunning island with an intriguing history, but I’ll also get to add one more country to my list.

Benefits of exploring UK this summer

As you can see, my unexpected travels around England this summer are affording me many great benefits. First of all, it was really easy to secure a series of back-to-back pet sitting gigs. That means I’ll be hanging out with many wonderful dogs and a few cats, too.

Secondly, I will get to visit several amazing towns, cities and other destinations in England for the first time, including Stonehenge!

And one final bonus is the opportunity to meet up with one of my very best friends for a few days. Kat and I met in Bali back in 2001 and have been friends ever since. We’ve met up in several countries over the years. I’ve stayed at her house near Sydney, Australia and she’s visited me at my parents’ homes in the US. But we haven’t been able to coordinate a visit since early 2015, when I was last in Australia.

As it turned out this year, Kat recently flew into London, just one week after I did. We’re both here in England! She’s moving around, visiting various friends in the UK before heading to Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. At long last, we’re both in the same country at the same time!

So she’s going to come visit me for a few days in Porthcawl, Wales, while I’m pet sitting three tiny adorable doggies. Of course, I asked my host beforehand if that would be ok. Quite happily, she agreed. So next week I get to hang out with one of my very best friends in Wales! I never expected that to happen because of my travels around the UK this summer.

It all seems like it was just meant to be.

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You might also like:

Introduction to Wales

My First Observations of Scotland

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