5 Tips for Traveling with Your Dog (On a Budget)

1. Prioritize

This is the number one rule for traveling, period.  Whether you have your dog with you or not, I support always taking a little time to roughly determine your priorities for each trip.

Why is establishing your priorities so important to traveling on a budget?  Well, you can make your budget stretch pretty far when you know where it’s going and why you want it to go there!  If your priority is to sleep comfortably in a hotel bed, that is totally cool.  And if you prefer to spend less on lodging so there’s more money for different priorities, then pack a tent because we’re going camping!

My personal priorities are food and activities.  When I’m traveling, I want to do ALL. THE. THINGS.  And I don’t want to worry about cooking.  (Let’s be honest – I hate cooking under normal circumstances.  No way am I doing it on vacay.). That means I set aside more of my budget for food and fun, and look for deals on lodging.  Usually that means camping or traveling with friends so that the AirBnB isn’t too pricey.  

2. Research.  Research.  Research.  

When you’re traveling with a dog, research becomes ten times more important.  You need to know if your lodging is pet friendly, unless you don’t mind sleeping in your car for that night.  You’ll also want to know the climate and daily temperatures in case it will be too hot to leave your dog behind for human-only activities.  When traveling with dogs, a little research can be the difference between life and death for your dog.  

3. Bring extra food.  

Probably for you.  But most definitely for your dog.  Your car might break down.  You might get lost on the way home.  You might just want to extend your trip.  If any of these things happen, you can eat at a McDonald’s for dinner, but it might be more difficult to find your dog’s food if you run out.  At a minimum, I bring an extra day’s worth of food.  

4. Budget for more than you’ll need.  

There’s always some fun and unexpected activity that pops up during vacations.  If you build in a buffer, you’ll be able to do it and stay in budget!  An added bonus:  if you don’t spend your entire budget, then you have restarted your vacation fund for your next trip!

5. Be flexible.  

This probably goes without saying.  You’re traveling with a dog.  At least one thing – or thirty seven – won’t go according to plan.  And that is okay.  Just be ready to roll with it!

6. Have fun!

How lucky are you to be able to travel and experience new places with your favorite pup? Enjoy it!