TORONTO — From dogs to cats to pot-bellied pigs, we thought we’d seen it all when it came to Emotional Support Animals flying the friendly skies alongside their owners. Then along came the peacock.

Feathers flew early in 2018 when a United Airlines passenger was denied boarding because she insisted her peacock, Dexter, join her in the cabin as her emotional support peacock.

Dexter the peacock, also reportedly an artistic muse, wasn’t the only animal making headlines, and headaches, for airlines in recent months. In October there came news of an emotional support squirrel, and going back to November 2017 there was an emotional support pig (did that duffel bag just oink?) and in this classic from January 2016, an emotional support turkey.

According to news reports, Dexter the peacock passed away in July 2018, just six months after his brush with fame. While we mourn the loss of Dexter, there’s no lack of offbeat travel stories to keep us going as we wind down the final hours of 2018.

Here’s a roundup of some of our favourite quirky travel stories from the year. We call them our #5s because they always run as the #5 news story spot in Travelweek Daily. 

So this just happened: Woman and her peacock denied boarding a United flight

A passenger demanded a window seat so the flight attendant did this

Stop what you’re doing and watch this video of an Irish singing donkey

In this Quebec town, you’ll need your passport just to cross the street

What goes into a beer hotel? In-room taps and shower minibars, obviously

Passenger asked for water on a budget airline but was served this instead