I used my days off a couple of weeks ago to make hotel reservations for our trip up and back to Vermont and Maine in July. What is usually a fun task for me – comparing prices, and finding the best hotel deals – turned into two days of nearly utter frustration at times.
A drive up to Vermont from Nashville requires two nights on the road, but a couple of months ago YaYu called and asked if we would please come through Philadelphia and pick her up because she couldn’t afford to get to Vermont otherwise (she’s a research assistant and her pay is meager). We said of course although it added an additional day to the trip, so Brett recalculated our route and we adjusted our budget. Brett’s sister and her husband are going to the wedding as well, driving over to Nashville from Texas where we’ll join up and caravan up to Vermont together. They also have a dog that will be coming along, and they were fine with the Philly detour.
So with my trusty computer and my calculator by my side, I set out to find places for us to stay along the way. We and our in-laws agreed on a maximum price point for each night for lodging that was affordably pet friendly and offered a free breakfast.
How difficult could this be? I thought.
I quickly discovered it was going to be very difficult. Most hotels where we wanted to stop met either one or two of our criteria, but hitting the trifecta (price point, pet friendly, free breakfast) proved to be impossible. What happened over and over was I would (finally) find a pet-friendly hotel that offered a free breakfast, but when the date for our stay (mid July) was entered the price went skyrocketing. Most hotels though had only two of the three things we wanted.
I eventually found a good (name brand) hotel in Roanoke, Virginia, our first night’s stop, where the price dropped when I put in our date. The hotel is both pet friendly and offers a free breakfast, and the nightly price is low enough that even with the additional pet fee we will be within our budget. The in-laws were happy with the hotel and we reserved our rooms.
I foolishly thought our next evening’s stop, Philadelphia, might also provide some similar prices and options for a night. However, after a couple of hours of checking prices I was almost ready to give up the entire trip. There was nothing that fit our needs nor our budget, at least nothing anywhere near where YaYu lives. After nearly pulling out my hair in frustration, I thought to myself that it really was too bad YaYu couldn’t fly to Boston and ride up to Vermont with her sisters. This option had been problematic as Meiling and K don’t drive and would be riding up with WenYu and her partner; there wouldn’t be room for YaYu. I went ahead and looked at flights anyway and found a non-stop one for one-third less than our hotel budget! I communicated with the girls and this time they agreed to drive her up to Vermont after all. A short while later I had YaYu booked on the flight.
Brett figured a new post-Roanoke route with Scranton now our destination for the second night. Once again, hotels that fit our needs either did not exist nor if they did, were completely unaffordable. I was about to give up and admit we were going to have to spend above our budget when I got the idea to check Airbnb. Within minutes I had found a lovely house just north of Scranton that accepted dogs. The cost for our half of the rental (taxes and fees included) would be $10 less than our nightly budget! I communicated with my sister-in-law who quickly let me know they would happily split the cost for the Airbnb. The reservation was made and with that our trip up to Vermont was set.
All’s well that ends well! When I added everything up, including the cost of the plane ticket, we are are spending $82 less than we had budgeted for the trip up to Vermont. And, without the detour into Philadelphia, we will be saving on gasoline expenses as well.
While it was worth it in the end, searching was a beyond frustrating experience this time. I did not have fun doing it like I usually do (and was extremely grateful we already have hotel reservations in Maine). It felt the whole time that I had lost my travel mojo. I’m thinking now though that what I encountered over and over is just a sign of the times and what comes along with traveling with a pet, a new experience for us. I’m relieved to be finished with this part of the trip and am happily surprised things turned out as well as they did.
However . . . I still have to make reservations for the trip back. Wish me luck!
The Occasional Nomads 
Yes, it is increasingly difficult to find lodgings with a dog. And when we do, the pet fee varies and, in some places, is quite high. You were also lucky to find an Air BnB that takes pets. Several have told me that they keep their lodgings “pet free” for potential allergic guests. But the “little darlings” are worth it, right? 😂🤨😍
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Pet fees were all over the place, ranging from $15/night to $250/night! We are averaging around $25/night, although in one location we are paying $75, but we didn’t have much of a choice (and the room was thankfully very affordable and breakfast is free). The Airbnb was a real find, and a huge savings.
We have looked into pet boarding nearby, and there is nothing appropriate for our little dog. And, we have been hearing horror stories about some pet sitting services in the area, so our little guy goes with us for now.
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I do think travel is just more challenging now and adding a pet makes it more so. Glad you worked it out!
We’ve talked about traveling with our dog but I have two reservations (no pun intended…ha!). She’s pretty needy and I would find a week of boarding her to be a good break. And pet friendly places have often had a cat visit which sends my allergies into overdrive really quickly. So when we travel, she will have to visit the “pet spa” near us. 🤣
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I don’t know what caused more problems when it came to finding a location to stay: the pet fee or the hotel rates. Both were all over the place and it seemed if we found a good rate at a hotel, the pet fee was exorbitant and vice versa. The trip home turned out to be more difficult than our trip up to NE – I have a post coming about the budget.
We looked into finding a location for our little pup *for one day* and there is nothing appropriate around here for a little dog. Absolutely nothing. So, he goes with us for now.
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We find pet boarding to be too cage oriented for our dog or quite expensive — and more so since Covid hit. We had a kennel that we relied on for our last dog, but they appeared to have high turnover of young assistants. We brought two doggie meals for each day we were away, each in its own ziploc bag. When we came back, half of them were returned to us. Someone thought he was only fed once per day. We were incensed and never returned. Thus the Pet Spa we use now, but it does add to the cost of any trip, so it’s a big consideration.
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I really need to do more research and find out what’s available in our area. We only had a short time before and could find nothing suitable for Kai – everything we found seemed to feature giant dogs, and Kai gets very nervous around big dogs (although he loves the little ones like himself). I’m going to talk with our groomer and with our vet as well to see if they have some recommendations for something appropriate. Thankfully we don’t have a lot of trips planned in the coming year, but he is expected to attend the wedding in Vermont (Meiling even bought bow ties for the dogs to wear!).
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Hello, I do all of our travel planning as well. Currently planning a trip to Shetland. I Had a similar experience finding a tour guide for a couple days. It was weeks of stress. Glad you were able to work it out. Sometimes plan “C” is the best plan.
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We gave ourselves a fairly generous budget for lodging, but it was still crazy (and difficult) finding good places to stay. We did go over budget, but not by too much, so will have to find other places to cut back during our travels (which I’m pretty sure we can do).
I envy your trip to Shetland!!
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Hi Laura!I think your search was also complicated by traveling during peak summer vacation season. Obviously the timing for this trip is dictated by the wedding, but you will have more control over timing in the future.BTW, I am in my 17th month of nomading around the world thanks to being inspired by you and The Senior Nomads!!On Tuesday I arrived in Perth, Australia after spending 16 weeks traveling in SE Asia. I was/am so happy to be in a clean, well-organized country. SEA was amazing, fascinating, intense and challenging, and I wouldn’t change it for anything!I wish I could do the train trip that you took, but it’s not in my budget. My plurge here is a night on Rottnest Island where I hope to get a selfie with a quokka!Back to bed for me. Sending you lots of light and hugs.Libby Wilson Sent from my T-Mobile 5G Device
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The summer dates did not help one bit, but it was shocking sometimes to see how much higher they were than now. A couple of places were lower though, so who knows? I’m glad we had already booked our hotel reservations for Maine because those were quite a bit higher now, and only a couple of rooms were available (not necessarily pet friendly either).
Your travels sound wonderful, and I do envy you. I often wonder where we would be if we hadn’t come to Tennessee. We absolutely LOVED Perth and were so glad we got to go there and wished we could have stayed longer. There are a few places in SEA we’d love to visit, but don’t know if we’ll get to go now or not. Never say never though! Can’t wait to hear where you are off to next!
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Do you have a blog for others to follow along on your trips?
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This is my one and only blog. I will be posting on our NE trip in the summer, and a more local trip next month.
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Sorry, I meant that for LibbyW.
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sounds like you need an RV. re-do your travel plans as if you were going in an RV. pets are free. breakfast is a bowl of oatmeal. heat up the water in a microwave.
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An RV sounds cheaper, but we would a)need an RV; b) potentially need a bigger car to pull one. We have discussed owning an RV ad nauseam, and have accepted it just not what we want to do – we would not be happy. So, we will suffer a bit a pay a bit more to stay in hotels with our dog for our short trip.
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I’m planning a trip to FL in July and I had quite a time trying to find hotel reservations. I’ve never used Airbnb but I considered it for this trip and still couldn’t find anything that wasn’t some crazy high price. I finally ended up getting a reservation at a hotel I’ve stayed at before. I compared the price to what I paid the last time I went in 2020 (right before the pandemic) and it’s $800 more now for the same length of time, but I guess that’s how things are now.
I’m actually from an area about an hour north of Scranton. I left there many years ago, but it’s nice up there in July.
Happy Belated Birthday! I was super busy the week you posted about it and never had a chance to congratulate you.
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I agree that prices were high all over these days, but it was still sort of surprising to see how high. Often when I got to the actual hotel sites I can get a better price with either a military or senior discount, but in many cases those gave me a higher price! I ended up using Expedia again because they had the best prices, and as a member I accrued enough points to get a huge discount on one room. The whole process though was very frustrating and discouraging overall. I was so happy to find that Airbnb, and that YaYu could fly up to Boston – the airline ticket was a big savings over what we would have spent for a night in Philadelphia (as well as the extra gas that detour would have required).
Thanks for the birthday wishes – I had a great one this year!
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This season in New England is fierce!
I’m glad things have worked out. As someone who lives in western Massachusetts, I’m sorry she is flying into Boston to then head up to Vermont….only because I know coming out of Bradley airport is so much easier when heading anywhere into Vermont. And an easier airport as far as traffic
But! I don’t really travel anymore so what do I know?
Glad your plans are set and hope everything is perfect for the celebration!
Anon in Mass
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We are prepared for there to be crowds, long lines, etc. everywhere we go in Maine but this is our big chance and we’re taking it!
WenYu lives in the Amherst area, so it’s fairly easy for her to get down to Logan to pick up YaYu (especially since she’s done it so many times). The only worry is that Yalu’s flight arrives at rush hour, but WenYu has said it’s a good time for her so we’ll see.
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Did you consider Amtrak? Despite train travel issues I love traveling on Amtrak. One is train stations are usually easier to get to in downtown areas, luggage allowance is so generous and free, price is generally reasonable (Philadelphia to Boston around 80.00? With multiple times a day. ) generally very comfortable and can move around. The negatives are can run late, general upkeep is a little worse.
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I did look at Amtrak for getting YaYu up to Boston, but there were no seats available on the pretty much the whole day (and definitely at the times) we wanted. YaYu is taking the train back to Philadelphia though – she was able to get a good price on the return ticket a while ago.
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Amtrak goes Philly to Harrisburg for $35. Easy to reach station from I-81.
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The goal was to get her up to Boston with her sisters, so we’re all happy with the flight we found and the price. Seats were unavailable for the trip up, but she booked early on Amtrak for her trip back and got a great price.
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Traveling and having dogs is expensive whether you take them with you or board them. We’ve had dogs since we were married 40 years ago and tried traveling with them early on but discovered that was stressful for them and us and they were happier at a kennel as long as it’s a place they love. We had a bad experience with a pet sitter once so stick with boarding.
The trick is to find a good kennel. We ask for recommendations from neighbors with dogs and our vet, then read a lot of reviews and tour what looks promising. We also board them for one night a few weeks before their first stay so they can be familiar with the caretakers and facility and we can see how they do there. Once we find the right spot we take them for daycare once a month or so if they’re not boarding so they continue to think of it as a fun place. It’s a lot of upfront effort but worth it in the long run for peace of mind. Both when on Kauai and now here in Ventura we’ve been lucky to find great places that only kenneled the dogs at night and kept them in small play groups during the day.
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We honestly just don’t know enough here (yet) to find a good kennel, but it’s on our to-do list for after we get back this summer. We’re going to check with our groomer (she only does small dogs) and our vet.
We had a wonderful pet sitter for our pugs when we lived in Portland. They stayed in her home with her two pugs and had the time of their life there. We took them over before travel for play dates and the experience went well. The sitter sent us frequent pictures and updates as well. However, it was EXPENSIVE. So, we’re looking for something a bit less posh but with the same loving care – I know we’ll find someplace here. Kai is definitely going to Vermont and Maine – he’s expected to attend the wedding, and we’re booked at a pet friendly hotel in Maine. He’s a pretty good car traveler too, but these days will be longer than what he’s experienced before so we’ll see.
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To add to what TexKauai said above, my brother has a dog and had to do the same thing where they had to ‘audition’ various kennels. Around here, you can’t just board the dog, you have to go in advance and go through a whole intake procedure where they run the dog through various tests to determine if it will do well in a group environment. If the dog passes, then you have to do the daycare TexKauai mentioned a few weeks before leaving the dog there for a longer stay so the dog is acclimated. Some places will have a live stream video all day where you can watch how the dog is doing whenever you want and some will take video or photos and send them to you on a regular basis during the stay. I was surprised how involved it all is.
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This was our routine when it came to finding a pet sitter for our pugs. We actually met the sitter we used a few times with her pugs when we were out walking (she lived in the next neighborhood over from ours), but then heard from others how wonderful she was. She was fantastic. We just don’t know enough here yet to find a good sitter, but are going to start with our groomer and vet, and go from there. So far our daughter-in-law has taken care of Kai during the day if we want to go somewhere, and he’s going with us to NE, but we’ll need someone reliable next year if we want to go to Mexico.
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That internet search you performed would have exhausted me. I am glad you got what you needed, finally.
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It was exhausting and not much fun. The return trip was almost worst, but all our reservations are set, thank goodness.
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Traveling right now can be crazy pricey. I’ve only been booking flights, but they have been 2-3x prices from typical peak (we’re looking at flights to/from Bay Area to Portland) & there are much fewer options than pre-COVID. It’s the most we’ve ever paid for flights, including peak routes at Christmas. No good options available.
I’d imagine traveling with a pet would be much more complicated. Glad you found options!
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It really is expensive now, and finding accommodations in mid-summer just made things more complicated and expensive as did having our little guy along for the ride. Spoiler alert: the trip back was worse. We ended up over budget, but thankfully not by too much, and it really was the best we could do, so no regrets.
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Glad you finally worked it all out. I agree about summer rates being much higher…. I tried to find a place for a few days before Memorial Day weekend. The hotel we usually stay at was crazy more so we went the Airbnb route too.
Our daughter has a dog and they found a house sitter through a mutual friend. He worked remotely, so was there to let the dog in and out throughout the day, plus brought in the mail, etc. The cost was pretty reasonable. Maybe something to consider in the future….
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It’s funny that when we decided to get a dog we thought we’d be traveling all over with him, but realize now that’s not possible. We’re going to have to find a reliable pet sitter and accept that we’ll be paying more for lodging when he travels with us. We’re unsure about what we’re going to be able to do with him along in Maine, but will make the best of it and learn a lot as well.
Your daughter’s set up sounds ideal, but Kai is not a stay-at-home-on-his-own dog, and we think a small group pet sitting situation for him would be the best. Otherwise, he goes with us.
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