A man has spent $23k traveling around the world with his two cats – visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris and exploring the canals in Amsterdam.
Owner Lazar Joksimovic, 27, got his two British Shorthairs, King Louie and Todd, in 2023.
Since then, Lazar, and his wife, Kathleen Cheng, 28, a medical student, have taken their cats to 10 countries – including Siberia, Spain, France and Mexico.
The cats will travel with Lazar and Kathleen by plane in the aisle, either sitting on a chair or in a carry-on.
Lazar said he will pay upwards of $600 a trip for King Louie and Todd to travel with them.
He said the cats love traveling so much that he could not imagine leaving them behind.
“When we got Todd and Louie, we trained them to be adventurous around the city,” Joksimovic, a content creator, from Chicago, Illinois, said. “Chicago is a loud city, and when we got them, we gradually exposed them to the sound of the city. I wanted to take them everywhere with me, they enjoy going out and exploring. Louie is constantly begging to go outside. I have always loved traveling, so I thought why not take them with me.”
In August 2023, Joksimovic brought home King Louie, and the following month, he got Todd.
As he wanted to be able to take them traveling, Joksimovic would take King Louie and Todd around Chicago to get used to loud noises.
“After getting them, we used to go to parks and shopping malls to get them used to loud noises,” Joksimovic added. “They were very adaptable. a week after getting them, we started taking them outside. We gradually exposed them to noisy environments like shopping malls and the city center.”
Louie and Todd’s first trip was to Lazar’s home city of Toronto, Canada, before Lazar and Kathleen took them to Mexico City in April 2024.
Lazar said the four-hour flight was “easy” for them, and Mexico City felt “very peaceful” compared to Chicago.
“They were eight months old when we went to Mexico City, we were there for five days,” Joksimovic shared. “It was a four-hour flight. They did very well, by then they had gone around all the loud areas in Chicago. For them, Mexico City felt very peaceful, the key is to get the cats desensitized to loud environments so they are used to it.”
After visiting Mexico City, Lazar took Todd and Louie on a European trip – visiting Hungary, Netherlands, Croatia and Montenegro.
He said that Louie and Todd loved strolling through the streets of Paris and exploring the “tranquil” canals of Amsterdam.
Paris is much quieter than Chicago, and the cats loved strolling through the streets,” Joksimovic claimed. “They loved the bridges, it gave them a nice viewpoint of the surroundings. In Amsterdam, the canals were so tranquil, they loved sniffing the air around the canals and watching the boats go by.”
When it comes to flying with Todd and Louie, Lazar said that on average he will spend $600 on a pet care ticket for both the cats.
He said some countries also ask for proof of rabies vaccine and a travel health ticket, which can cost up to $500.
“A pet care ticket in general with American Airlines and most European airlines are $150 so a round trip with them both will be like $600,” Joksimovic said. “One of the biggest costs we have is the travel health ticket we have to get for them. That can be up to $500, and it is only valid for one trip.”
Lazar said some of the challenges that they have faced when flying is when Todd and Louie aren’t allowed out of their carrier, but said that most airlines have allowed them to sit on the seat next to Lazar.
“At the beginning, Louie was very skittish, he was not very chill like Todd,” Joksimovic added. “For Louie we took him out every day for half an hour because he would get nervous about loud noises. One thing Louie hates is being confined to his carrier on the plane. When we haven’t been able to take him out, we feel bad as he doesn’t like it very much.”
List of countries Louie and Todd have travelled to:
- France
- Spain
- Netherlands
- Hungary
- Montenegro
- Croatia
- Serbia
- Romania
- Mexico
- Canada
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