Road Trip, Rover-Style
The ‘rents (my hubby and moi) and our Lab just got back from a quick road trip to visit our Freshman at college and all I can say is: In my next life, let me come back as my pet, pretty please. As crazy as we are about our canine kids, this was actually the first time we ever brought one of them on an overnight. I’m guessing it won’t be our last and that we are, in fact, on the vanguard of the next hot travel trend. There are already lots of websites devoted to pet-friendly travel but all I did was Google “pets” “hotel” and the name of the city we were headed to and voila, out spit out a list of alternatives. We chose a Marriott, and hit the road.
Maggie, our 85-pound Lab, slept most of the two hours-and-change trip up the highway, save for a couple of critical pit stops. She didn’t ask “Are we there yet?” even once, and refrained from indulging in annoying games of “I Spy.” She didn’t care what radio station we listened to and never kicked the back of our seats. All in all, she was a delightful travel companion.
When we checked in at our destination, Maggie was greeted with a huge welcome travel pack containing the following:
A soft plaid dog bed
Plastic food and water bowls with matching tray
A container of 30 bacon flavored doggie treats
A grooming brush
A red squeaky dog bone toy
A package of “wee-wee” pads (I don’t even want to think what those were for; fortunately, they remained unused)
The people in our travel party were greeted with:
Three teensy bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion
Two bottles of water for sale at $4 a pop
So, how was it? We all had a blast; Maggie will definitely be back. Marriott can keep its doggie bed, though. Our canine travel companion has graciously agreed to make room for us on the big fluffy pillow-laden king-sized bed on our next visit.
Comments
I wish my dog was that good in the car. All Caesar does is whine and bark at ever single person we see. I couldn't be payed enough to spend two hours in the car with him.
We travel with our two labs all the time. Have you heard of Fido Friendly magazine? You can pick it up at our local Borders. Because of that magazine, we traveled to Telluride, CO where there are more dogs then people. On issue listed the top 10 ski resorts where pets are welcome.
We just took our two boys (3 & 4) on their first overnight practice trip. Only 15 minuts from home hotel with an indoor pool. They still were wild animals! It's gonna take a while before I am ready to travel with they again.
On the other side of the coin, I am a cat owner and have 2 fluffy ones I travel with. I am an international traveler and I take them with me when I go oversees and back. I stay at only pet friendly hotels and they only charge a small fee to let them sleep in the room with us. I think it is so great to travel with your pet because your not always worried about if they are being taken care of properly. BUt.. I must say as a HUGE!! tip.... If you have cats in a hotel MAKE SURE TO PUT THE DO NOT DISTURB SIGN on the door knob when you leave because the cleaners are not always aware of the animal inside and usually leave the door open when cleaning!!!!
My dog is very well traveled - he drove across country with me when I moved from San Diego to Boston and has been on countless road trips. He's even been out of the country - took him with us to Quebec for a weekend.
I highly recommend AAA's book on traveling with your pet. They list just about every pet friendly place in the U.S.
My husband and I travel with our two boys and our two labs everywhere, skiing, to the lake, they are excellent and well behaved and they love to go with us anywhere. It beats the kennel or leaving them home with a sitter and they get to be part of the family vacation.
Wow...i am so jealous of everyone who travels with their pets all the time. I HATE being away from my Lab. So, let me ask you this: what do you do if you want to go out to a restaurant? I can't see my Maggie being too happy alone in a hotel room. Or do you just bring food in? Just curious 'cause I'd love to bring her on more family trips!
We Travel with 14 dogs and now 1 kitten..We have a camper but they stay in the truck with us while traveling.we live in Atlanta and traveled all the way to Ohio with them...They were good all but one time they locked us out of the truck.....Than it snowed and iced in Ohio and they had to stay in the 1 bedroom camper with us...They were gold!!!They were so good!!!! We Love every one of them.......
This is a great article! We posted part of it over at Ask Patty!
http://askpatty.typepad.com/ask_patty_/2007/03/embedded_in_the.html
