LTM: Let’s get back to your career. How did you transition to covering pet travel?
KEC: Traveling has always been my thing. Even when I covered the [Los Angeles] Lakers, I never missed a game as a beat writer. Some editors like their writers to take a break during the season so their writing doesn’t get stale—it’s a lot of games. But I said, “no, I am going to work every day, and then take the entire summer off.” So that’s what I would do; I would travel for three months.
I always wanted a pet that was small enough to travel with me. [At that point] I didn’t know cats could travel, so I pretty much knew I would have a dog.
I spent some time covering celebrities, but tired of it, so I started dabbling in travel writing every so often. By the time I moved to Italy, in 2003, I had had Lucy for two years, so I started pitching stories on pet travel. Oh, my gosh, there are hotels that cater to pets? Let’s write about that. Now there are doggie dining menus at hotels? Let me write about that. Whatever I was coming across, I would write about it.
LTM: Do you think you came into the travel world at a time when these trends were taking off? Or do you feel like you started to notice it more?
KEC: I think the trends were taking off. It wasn’t that I didn’t see other people traveling with their dogs [when I started]. But now when I go to the airport it really is unusual if I don’t see another dog going through security. I started the website [in March of 2012] mainly to help other people avoid the frustration that I had been going through for years.
And I’m a journalist first and foremost, so while there are a lot of dog travel sites out there, there’s nothing like mine. No one else delivers the news—the facts. That’s why I call my website the luxury travel resource. It really is a resource; it’s for people who want to know about not just where their dog can get a blueberry facial, but how safe is the airline they want to transport their dog on as baggage, because that’s something that’s overlooked way too much, unfortunately.
LTM: Speaking of…Small pets can go in airplane cabins nowadays, but what about bigger dogs? Have things changed for the better? Are there more options available now?
KEC: The airline industry is getting better at transporting pets as cargo, but it still has a very long ways to go. There are still too many deaths.
People say, “Oh, my dog is healthy, and received a health travel certificate from the vet.” But the thing is you don’t know how your dog is going to react when it’s in that situation. They get stressed out and something happens to their heart even if they’ve never shown any inkling of a heart problem before. So I don’t recommend [transporting your pet in the cargo hold] unless it’s absolutely necessary.
LTM: What’s the best transportation method for traveling with dogs?
KEC: The best method is in a car—and if you take your car in the dog, you must, must, must secure your dog and use a harness.
