Annie is nearing 5 months old and has traveled well with me to my son's college football games. It is a 5 hour drive to his school and I just went to one that was 4 hours away yesterday. She is the greatest little traveler! She sleeps most of the time as I am driving. I have a great carrier that doubles as her car seat. I have a car seat too but for a long drive I wanted her to stay enclosed. She is pretty small yet, to be in the bigger car seat. She stays in the carrier when I unzip the end facing towards me -- she feels like she is free, but if I had to slam on the breaks she would still be inside the carrier. It has stiff sides so it provides a little home away from home for her. I stop every 2 hours for potty break and offer her water and food every hour. She does not seem to eat much of anything as we travel but I keep offering anyway. She usually will take a few sips of water. She will eat a treat so I make sure to still give her after-potty treat.
I eat at fast food places where I can just eat from the car or when I take my son out, we choose restaurants with a patio. So far, they have all let me have Annie table-side as long as we were out on the patio. I don't really ask as much as I tell -- "It's okay if my puppy comes in, as long as she stays in her carier and we only eat on the patio, right?" Then they always just agree with me.
She has been great in hotel rooms at night. I take along pee pads and a few baggies just in case. She also loves the football games. We had a warm one where I took a blanket and made her a shaded area beside me so that she would not get too much sun. But yesterday was cool, and she enjoyed the fresh air. She looked so pretty in her little dress. She also seems to thrive on all the extra attention she gets.
Traveling with Annie is really no problem at all. I do have to consider her when I think about where to eat or what store I might go into. But she is so well-behaved, I could get by with taking her about anywhere. I do have a stealth carrier that she is not easily seen in, but I don't like taking her places where they do not want dogs. I have made the exception of sneaking her into Walmart, but I try to stay clear of the food section.
I think you will be surprised at how well our little ones travel. I know I worried a little the first time. I did not want it to ruin the trip but I wanted to take her with me. I am glad I did!