Unless you’re traveling to your vacation destination in an RV, most likely you’re going to have to spend some time doing extra research if you want to take a trip with your pet.  What is the easiest way to find out which hotels allow cats and dogs?  Is there always an additional fee?  Should you bring a crate?  Do you know if your pet is healthy enough for air travel?  You may want to explore the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego with your dog on Monday afternoon, but what if you want to spend all day Tuesday at SeaWorld with your human friend? 

Well, Traveling with Your Pet: The AAA PetBook has plenty of information to help you begin planning your pet-friendly vacation, including contact info for a few popular attractions like SeaWorld which, incidentally, has a first-come, first-serve pet facility available for a “nominal charge.”

Traveling With Your Pet is valuable because AAA has done lots of research for you.  It lists more than 13,000 AAA-rated hotels and motels in the U.S. and Canada that accept pets, including contact info and highway directions to each lodging facility.  Geographic listings of dog parks and emergency animal clinics are also included.  The introduction provides advice to help you decide whether or not your pet is fully prepared for car or air travel or a camping trip (400 campgrounds are listed).  The At Your Destination section mentions that some “properties may impose restrictions on the type or size of pet allowed, or they may designate only certain rooms, such as smoking rooms, for travelers with animals.”

Since there are many things to consider, reviewing this book before you start calling hotels or randomly searching websites, especially if you’ve never traveled with your pet before, will prepare you to ask the right questions and make well informed decisions appropriate for you and your companion.  If you'd like to share your own experiences or suggestions for pet-friendly traveling, please feel free to comment below!

Additional info for traveling internationally with your pet can be found here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22097847/.  Tip: Sandy Robins is a pet lifestyle writer.  You can read her articles by going to www.msnbc.com and typing her name in their website search box.  Here's one of my favorite articles:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22300755/.