Jim continued with his research. I think he secretly wants to take us to a more exotic location next time! This time he’s suggested we go on a cruise. It hadn’t even occurred to me that you could take a pet on a cruise, and I have to admit the thought of one of the dogs jumping overboard frightens me! (I can’t actually imagine letting Princess getting out on deck…it would be more trouble than it was worth, surely!)

Unfortunately for Jim, the idea of a cruise with the pets was nipped in the bud. Our research indicated pretty quickly that there aren’t any cruise lines which allow pets. Now, I quite understand this, I have to admit. While my pets are like children to me, I know that for some people they’re little more than pests. Besides, I don’t know how they’d travel on water! Can you imagine a seasick cat or dog on a seven day cruise? It doesn’t really bear thinking about!

Then Jim announced that the QE2 accepts pets on a limited basis. However, I was quick to point out that pets are restricted to kennels, meaning that for all the fun they’d have we may as well leave them at a kennel back home!

Of course, there are some charter companies which will allow pets, which could be fun. As long as the animals were familiar with water travel for starters, and as long as the trip wasn’t too long. (No more than a day or perhaps one night, I’d think).

The result? Cruises are out, as is a trip to Hawaii, at least as far as the pets are concerned. If you’re wondering why we bother bringing the pets at all (which is a common question, I’ve found) when we holiday, the simple answer is that since we started working our business from home, we’ve begun traveling more and more. And the truth is, the more we travel, the more we want to continue our traveling lifestyle. I mean, who wouldn’t? But to Jim and I, our pets are part of all that. To us, they’re like our children. If we’re not with them, we miss them, and they miss us! With all the traveling we want to be doing over the next few years, we really can’t consider leaving them behind to be cared for by strangers in a kennel. I guess that there will be the occasional vacation where we just can’t take them. I’d love to travel overseas, and at the moment we just can’t do that. But for the most part, they come with us!

So what next? We had a fantastic time at the pet friendly resort we visited, and fully expected our return journey to be much better than the initial trip was. Why? Because we had more time, and also because we were doing something a little different! I was actually looking forward to going camping (if you can believe that). Sure, staying in a luxurious resort is a treat, but there’s something about getting back to nature!