Does your ideal vacation include your furry family members? For many Americans, Fido and Fluffy are essential participants in family outings. But they can pose some challenges when it comes to travel arrangements. Concerns range from locating pet-friendly establishments to finding reliable trip planning information and advice.
For these travelers, the newly released edition of Traveling with Your Pet: The AAA PetBook® — available in print and digital versions — offers a solution they can trust. The annually updated guidebook contains detailed information for finding and selecting the right place to stay. Plus, the 718- guide is packed with a wealth of additional resources for planning pet-friendly vacations.
“A great vacation with pets requires careful planning,” said the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Group Manager for Travel Kim Wilde. “The last thing travelers want to find on arrival is their pet exceeds the hotel’s size limit or requires extra fees. AAA collects these details to help prevent unwelcome surprises. We’re pleased to provide traveling pet owners with handy tips and insight along with reliable travel information.”
Whether travelers want affordable, comfortable hotels near favorite recreation spots, or luxurious accommodations that extend the royal treatment to two- and four-footed guests, they’ll find it in Traveling with Your Pet: the AAA PetBook. The book includes pet-friendly AAA Approved and Diamond Rated lodgings throughout the U.S. and Canada. Listings include fees, permitted pet sizes, conditions of stay and pet amenities for properties across every Diamond Rating level.
For outdoor enthusiasts, the book lists more than 600 pet-friendly campgrounds plus dog parks and attractions and national public lands that allow pets. Readers will also find useful tips for preparing four-legged travelers for the road or air and handy information about pet etiquette, insurance and emergency animal clinics.
“We know pets are very much a part of our guests’ families. As such, we want to welcome pets and their owners to our more than 1,600 pet-friendly properties,” said Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Best Western. “We are proud to be listed in The AAA PetBook, an exceptional resource, and to sponsor the annual AAA PetBook Photo Contest to help showcase pet travelers in action.”
Two Southern California pooches are featured on current The AAA PetBook. The first-place winner, a Tibetan terrier named Lady, GCH Starlight’s Lady in Waiting, from Torrance, is pictured on the book’s back cover on a scenic overlook at beautiful Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. As a show dog Lady is used to being the center of attention, but she doesn’t always have the luxury of being able to see the sights. “When we extended our trip last year to go to Crater Lake, Lady had a blast!” said owner Cassandra Basgall. “Our dogs are our family. It’s hard to leave home without them.”
The second-place winner, Maggie, an American Eskimo/Pomeranian mix from Placentia, is featured on the book’s spine in a photo taken during a trek through Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. “Our dogs are our kids. We try to take them whenever we can,” said owner Wendy Gillroy. “Maggie doesn’t even mind the long drive as long as we’re going to be outdoors.”
From its outside covers to a special 16-page insert, the guide features scenic, smile-provoking photos of pets enjoying safe travel — a reminder to snap a candid of your dog or cat during this year’s vacation. The current AAA PetBook Photo Contest sponsored by Best Western is open for entries, now through Nov. 30. Each year, winners are selected to appear on the back cover and spine of the next edition and also receive cash, pet treats, copies of the book and a Best Western Travel Card usable worldwide. See inside The AAA PetBook for details, or access official contest rules, an entry form and the contest photo gallery at AAA.com/PetBook.
Beginning on page 361, this year’s special insert includes photo contest entries of:
- Sunny at Channel Islands Harbor (Thousand Oaks owners Roxanne and Ryan Maley)
- Sandy in Mammoth Lakes (Pasadena owner John Plummer)
- Cooper at Dead Horse Point State Park in Moab, Utah (Perris owner Jean Younger)
- Max and Linda at Hendrick Point, Calif. (Tustin owners John and Diane Hollenbeck)
- Eli vacationing in Yosemite (Huntington Beach owner Dora Shaleb)
- Yoshi visiting Yosemite National Park (Rancho Cucamonga owner Jean Mumbleu)
- Valerie at Crater Lake Oregon (Lake Elsinore owner Christa Biddle)
- Dakota at the San Gabriel Mountains (Huntington Beach owner Jason Harper)
- Kelo at The Grand Canyon (Los Angeles owner Takako Muramatsu)
- Storm at Big Bear Lake (Chino owner Cindy Bradford)
- Gunner at Summerland Beach (Stevenson Ranch owner Sabrina Gauss-Trinh)
- Lucy vacationing in Sedona, Arizona (Yorba Linda owner Diane Seitz)
- Jackie on vacation in Wyoming (La Quinta owner Christine Jones)
- Bailey at Mammoth Lakes, Lake Mary, (Claremont owners Gary and Pam Garfield)
- Norma and Gunther at Lake Arrowhead (Silverado owner Jaimie Davis)
Traveling with Your Pet: The AAA PetBook, 14th edition, is available at many AAA and CAA offices as well as select bookstores and online booksellers. The suggested retail price is $18.95. The digital edition, available at online booksellers, carries a suggested digital retail price of $9.99.