Traveling with pets

When you are traveling a distance by car with a pet, it can be challenging to find lodging that is friendly to our furry friends. Many of us have driven a long distance on a given day and found the town where we wanted to lay our heads for the night, only to wind up going into the office of one hotel after another and seeing that dreaded sign: no pets. That is a horrible feeling, but there are ways to make sure that you never run into this problem again.

One of the things that sticks in the craw of many travelers who like to bring their pets along is the absurdity of no pet policies in the first place. If you have been on the road all day with your trained, adult dog, and you simply want to rent a room for a few hours and get some sleep, what is the dog going to do? If I’m a hotel owner, and I see a group of four college kids on spring break with an ice chest half the size of Texas, I would be a lot more concerned about my room than I’d be when a couple who are in their sixties approach the desk with their ten year old poodle in tow. Young children are also in many instances far more prone to accidents, or writing on the wall with crayons, than are adult Border collies or Jack Russell Terriers.

But I digress. The best way to be sure that you have a pet-friendly hotel room waiting for you when you are traveling is to be sure to plan ahead. Many of us like to have an open ended itinerary that allows for some flexibility concerning where we may stop for the night depending on how we feel as the day is winding down, and that is understandable. But when you are traveling with a pet, you really don’t have this luxury. Map out your route beforehand, decide where you will be staying at the end of each day, and use the Internet to make reservations at pet friendly hotels that suit your budget.