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Planning a trip with your pet can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. This page gives you a simple, travel‑ready guide to help you prepare with confidence. You’ll find a quick checklist, practical tips, and a few smart reminders to make the journey safer, smoother, and more enjoyable for both you and your furry companion. Whether you’re hitting the road or taking to the skies, consider this your go‑to starting point for stress‑free pet travel.

Your Airline Pet Travel Guide

Every airport has its own rules for traveling with pets, and these can vary by location, airline, and whether your trip is domestic or international. Use this section as a starting point, then always double-check the latest information with your airline and the airport you’re flying through.

Pet Travel Rules & Airport Guidelines

General Airport Rules

• Pets often must remain in carriers inside the terminal.
• Some airports require proof of vaccinations or health certificates.
• Service animals usually follow different rules than pets.
• Security screening may require pets to be carried or walked through scanners.

International & Special Rules

• International flights may require health certificates and microchips.
• Some countries enforce quarantine or strict entry rules for pets.
• Breed or size restrictions can apply on certain routes.
• Always review both departure and arrival airport guidelines in advance.

Pet Relief Areas

• Most major airports now offer designated pet relief areas.
• Some have indoor relief stations past security.
• Locations are usually listed on the airport’s website or terminal map.
• Allow extra time to find and use these areas between flights.

Your Pet Travel Takeaway

Pet travel requirements vary by destination and mode of transportation, but understanding the basics helps you make informed decisions. Reviewing the guidelines for driving, airports, and airlines ensures you’re ready for a smooth, well‑planned trip with your pet. With the right preparation, you can reduce stress, avoid last‑minute surprises, and create a safer, more comfortable experience for your furry companion. Whether you’re heading out on a quick road trip or preparing for a long flight, a little planning goes a long way toward making every journey enjoyable for both of you.

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It’s no secret that the motorsports scene is incredibly male-dominated, both on the track and behind the scenes. Despite these barriers, women throughout history have pushed back against limited resources and widespread prejudices to compete and achieve their goals in racing. Although we can’t showcase all the groundbreaking women in motorsports, we’d like to highlight a few who paved the way for those who followed. 

Eva Mudge (1880 – 1964)

Geneva Delphine Mudge, better known by the stage name Eva Mudge, was a famous vaudeville performer born in Michigan in 1880. Her father, R.C. Mudge, was a businessman who also acted as Eva’s manager. But what does this have to do with motorsports? Well, R.C. Mudge held an interest in the automobile industry and obtained a patent for a flue construction with the Locomotive Company of America. He passed his interest in automobiles down to his daughter, who later became the first woman in the United States to obtain a driver’s license in 1898 in New York. Eva was also potentially one of the first female racecar drivers and rode a gas-powered Locomobile during a race on December 31, 1899, when she skidded off the road and knocked down five spectators.  

She was later named “A Skilled Chauffeuse” in the December 1900 edition of The Automobile magazine. An excerpt reads, “Miss Eva Mudge, whose portrait is given as she appears in her electric runabout, is a chauffeuse both expert and assured, who knows how to drive an automobile anywhere that it will go, and is not baffled by a short-circuit or a faulty contact.”                                                                          

Maude Yagle (1883 – 1968)

While it’s important to highlight female drivers, those who worked behind the scenes to build the events are equally important. Maude Yagle was the first woman to own a vehicle entered into the Indianapolis 500. She was the second entrant in the 1929 Indianapolis 500 and entered the race under the name M.A. Yagle, in hopes of concealing her identity as a woman, but her gender was quickly discovered before the race.  

She faced public backlash, with a male journalist writing, “Horrors! Women are trying to break down the last male stronghold in the sports and automobile world!”  

 Although she was a car owner, she was denied access to the pits along with female timekeeper Alice Hoofman-Trobeck, and instead had to communicate with her crew by passing notes through the fence. It wasn’t until 50 years later, in 1970, that women were allowed in the pits. Despite these challenges, she and her driver, Ray Keech, secured a victory in 1929. Maude Yagle is the only woman owner to win the Indy 500 to date.  

Shirley Muldowney (1940 – Present)

The “First Lady of Drag Racing” is none other than Vermont-born Shirley Muldowney (1940 – Present), also known as “Cha-Cha.” Her love for racing began in her teens, when she joined local street races in Schenectady, New York.

“School had no appeal to me,” Muldowney said. “All I wanted was to race up and down the streets in a hot rod.”

Later, Muldowney built her motorsport career in the high-risk world of drag racing, making her professional debut at the Fonda Speedway in 1958. In 1965, she became the first woman to receive a drag racing license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), breaking a long-standing barrier in the sport.

“NHRA fought me every inch of the way, but when they saw how a girl could fill the stands, they saw I was good for the sport,” said Muldowney. “The fans were wonderful. They made me.” 

In 1973, she became the first woman licensed to drive a Top Fuel dragster. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980, and 1982, making her the first person to claim the title three times. She found great success in the sport despite resistance from competitors and racing officials who believed women did not belong in Top Fuel competition. She retired from racing in 2004 and has been inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. In 1983, Bonnie Bedelia played Shirley Muldowney in the movie “Heart Like A Wheel,” based on Muldowney’s career.

Janet Guthrie (1938 – Present)

Iowa-born racecar driver Janet Guthrie was the first woman to compete in not just one, but multiple notable racing series. Before starting her career as a professional racer in 1972, she bought a Jaguar XK120, which inspired her to compete in gymkhana, field trials, and hill climbs hosted by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). These races eventually led to her winning two class victories in the 12 Hours of Sebring.  

In 1976, Guthrie became the first woman to compete in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, finishing fifteenth in the World 600. She competed in 33 Winston Cup races over the course of her career. In 1977, she became the first woman to compete in the Daytona 500. She secured the title of Top Rookie in the 1977 Daytona 500 and finished in fifth place in the 1979 Milwaukee Indy 500.
 
She achieved all these milestones while racing in relatively underfunded vehicles. In 1978, she finished ninth in the Indy 500 in her $120,000 vehicle while competing against teams like Penske, which had budgets of about $2.3 million. The financial realities forced her into retirement. “I didn’t decide to quit racing, believe me, I was forced out by a lack of sponsorship,” Guthrie said in a 2005 interview with Automotive DriftBreath.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Guthrie said, “Males are getting sponsorships and women can’t. That sounds unfair. But who cares about fair? … Sponsors want the publicity that racing brings. But a successful woman driver will get 10 times the attention that a man will get. So, now, what really is important?” 

Over the course of her career, she proved the argument that women couldn’t handle top-tier racing wrong, paving the way for women to compete professionally. Guthrie’s helmet and racing suit are now located in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. She is currently in the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, and the Sports Car Club of America Hall of Fame. 

Lyn St. James (1947 – Present)

Lyn St. James was the first woman to be named Rookie of the Year at the Indianapolis 500 after her 1992 race. She was 53 during the 2000 Indianapolis 500, one of her last races. During this race, she was the oldest driver in the field, challenging attitudes against not just women in motorsports but also older race car drivers. 

Her racing career began in 1973 in an Amateur Sports Car Club of America race. This spurred her determination to compete in the IndyCar series, a dream she accomplished in 1988, with the help of driver Dick Simon. Simon provided the car, while St. James worked hard to secure a sponsorship. After being rejected by more than 150 companies, she finally secured sponsorship from JCPenney.

Later on, St. James pursued a partnership with Ford after seeing an article titled “Ford and Feminism” in Car and Driver magazine. She finally achieved a meeting with the company in 1980, where she met Ford public relations executive Walter Hayes at a Ford dealer show.

In 1992, St. James became the first woman to gain the title of the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. Throughout her career, she achieved numerous victories, including two class wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, 17 IndyCar starts, and a class win at the 1990 12 Hours of Sebring.  

Although she no longer races today, she remains in the public eye and advocates for women’s continued participation in motorsports. St. James is a co-founder of Women in Motorsports North America and encourages women to participate in motorsports as drivers, engineers, representatives, media, and in other roles. 

“There’s still work to be done. And I’m going to keep pushing until I know the next generation doesn’t have to fight the same battles I did.” 

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Windshield wipers. Car heaters. Turn signals.
What do all these have in common?

In honor of National Women’s Month, let’s take a moment to recognize some of the incredible innovations created by talented women throughout history. We may take these innovations for granted, but they impact our vehicles and our world in significant ways.

Let’s dig in!

The Humble Windshield Wiper

The windshield wiper is a perfect example of an invention people use every single day, yet rarely consider how it became a common (and essential) automotive feature.

Picture this…

The year was 1903. It was a frigid, snowy day in New York City. Mary Anderson noticed that streetcar operators had to open a window to see through the snow that had accumulated on the front window. Some operators even stopped the streetcar to get out and clear their windshields by hand.

Mary had an idea she quickly patented: a lever inside the vehicle that controls a spring-loaded arm with a rubber blade at the end. The lever, which had a counterweight to keep the wiper in contact with the window, could move the blade across the windshield, removing rain or snow.

The windshield wiper was eventually adapted for automotive use. In 1922, Cadillac began installing windshield wipers as standard equipment on its cars.

So, next time you take a drive through the rain or snow, thank Mary Anderson for your clear view of the road.

Turn Indicators and Stop Signals

While many people likely assume that innovation occurs only in a lab or by an engineering team, that assumption is far from the truth.

Florence Lawrence, one of the original Hollywood movie stars, came up with a significant innovation: The turn signal.

She was known at the time for her many short films known as “one-reelers,” typically shot in a week. In the early days of Hollywood, many actors and actresses didn’t receive credit for their work as they do today, yet Florence’s face was recognizable, so she became known as “The Biograph Girl” (named after the film studio where she was on salary).

In these early days of automotive, cars were quite expensive for most consumers. Fortunately (for all of us), Florence had both an interest and the means to be an early enthusiast.

Her first accessory innovation was the “auto signaling arm.” Despite being the first of its kind, this feature was curiously similar to modern turn signals, with the driver operating buttons on the dash which raised and lowered arms on the rear fender of the vehicle.

The secondary component was a stop sign on the rear of the vehicle, activated by pressing the brake and raising a sign to notify other drivers of her intention.

It’s remarkable how these simple innovations are still incorporated in today’s vehicles. Though the technology has advanced, the basic idea is the same: Signal your intent to other drivers and reduce the chance for accidents. Thanks, Florence Lawrence! Now, if we could only solve the issue of drivers who fail to signal.

The Car Heater

For this innovation, we must go back to 1893.

Margaret A. Wilcox, born in 1838 in Chicago, was a mechanical engineer in an era when very few women held such a position. She was an avid inventor, creating multiple home appliance solutions. Her most significant idea, however, was not related to cars at all, at least at the time.

In Chicago, winter weather can subject railcar workers to dangerously frigid temperatures. Margaret had an idea to fix this problem.

After tinkering with the idea of harnessing heat from the locomotive’s engine and routing it to the train cars, she successfully filed U.S. patent number 509,415, the “car heater” on November 28, 1893.

Her patent would not find commercial success due to the lack of temperature control, which caused railcars to overheat. However, her innovations inspired similar heating solutions for automobiles. Automotive engineers followed Wilcox’s designs in 1917 for Jordan Automobiles of Cleveland, and in 1929, Ford introduced the first factory-installed heater in its Model A.

Thank Margaret A. Wilcox the next time you feel comfortable and cozy behind the wheel while all around is white with snow.

The Transparent Invention

Katharine Burr Blodgett was a prolific physicist and inventor. She had many notable achievements, including becoming the first woman to receive a doctorate in physics from the University of Cambridge in 1926.

She was closely involved with General Electric (GE) throughout her life, and her father even served as a patent attorney for the company. After her graduation from college, she returned to the company as a research scientist, where she partnered with Irving Langmuir (a Nobel laureate and National Inventors Hall of Fame® Inductee).

Her work built upon Langmuir’s discoveries, creating multilayer anti-reflective coatings on glass, and thus, Blodgett successfully produced the world’s first completely transparent glass, or “invisible glass.”

This invention was key to the glass used in automotive applications, such as windshields and windows, among many others.

The Langmuir-Blodgett technique was patented in 1938 (U.S. Patent No. 2,220,860) and has essentially remained unchanged since Blodgett’s discovery.

While Kathryn Burr Blodgett’s innovation may have been transparent, we can clearly see the impact of her achievements.

Movie Star… and Inventive Genius

Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth… these are all technologies that, in the 1940s, would likely have been considered science fiction, yet we use them daily in modern vehicles.

What I find even more incredible is that the technology that made these innovations possible, frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS), was invented and patented by Hedy Lamarr, the famous movie star.

Her life (which could be an entire movie in its own right) was marked by perseverance, cultural struggles, and commercial success. However, some of her most notable and lasting work was done in her free time between shoots.

Lamarr’s first marriage was with Friedrich Mandl, a prominent arms dealer. At the time, in the late 1930s, she attended an arms deal and discovered that the Navy desired a guidance system for torpedoes that could not be jammed by enemies. Working with composer and pianist George Antheil, she created a design for an FHSS system reminiscent of a piano roll. Lamarr submitted the idea to the National Inventors Council (NIC) in late December 1940.

On June 10, 1941, she successfully filed the design as U.S. patent 2,292,387, also known as “Secret Communication System.” Lamarr granted the Navy free use of the patent, but they declined to use the technology at the time, claiming it was too large for the intended application.

FHSS technology is prevalent today, with many wireless systems leveraging Lamarr’s innovation.

While Hedy Lamarr’s filmography may not be familiar to modern audiences, her work on FHSS technology impacts many wireless systems today. It’s difficult to imagine today’s automotive landscape with wireless connections, for which we can thank Hedy Lamarr.

A History of Innovation

While my list may be short, hundreds of thousands of women throughout history have contributed their lives to advancing the technology used in vehicles worldwide.

Without these important women, the world and its automobiles would be very different.

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The term “miles per gallon,” commonly abbreviated as mpg, is the distance a vehicle can travel on one gallon of fuel. Understanding your vehicle’s fuel efficiency can help you budget for fuel costs, plan road trips, and identify potential maintenance issues. Fortunately, calculating your car’s mpg is straightforward.

Why Does MPG Matter?

Knowing your car’s mpg gives you a better understanding of the vehicle’s efficiency and range. A higher mpg means you can travel farther on one tank of gas, meaning fewer stops to refuel. Lower-than-normal fuel efficiency can indicate issues such as improper tire pressure, inefficient driving habits, or a maintenance problem. While manufacturers typically include mileage estimates in the vehicle’s specs, these ratings don’t always reflect real-world driving conditions, which is why it’s important to calculate your own.

There are several ways to measure your vehicle’s fuel efficiency, but we recommend using the full-tank method to determine mpg.

Step 1: Fill Up Your Tank Completely

Filling your gas tank completely gives you a consistent starting point for your calculations. It’s much easier to begin with a full tank than to estimate how many gallons you already have.

Step 2: Take Note of Your Current Mileage

Many cars have a trip odometer separate from the vehicle’s overall mileage. We recommend using this feature if it’s available, since it will save you an extra step later. If you own an older car that does not have this feature, you can simply note your car’s mileage when you fill up. If you drive a newer car, its instrument cluster might have a fuel economy indicator that displays mpg in real time.

Step 3: Drive Normally

Follow your usual routine. In general, the more you drive, the more accurate your mpg calculation will be.

Step 4: Refill the Tank

The next time you’re at the gas station, fill up completely once again. Take note of the exact amount of gas needed to refill the tank.

Step 5: Record Your Updated Mileage

Check the odometer to see how many miles you’ve driven since this process started. If your vehicle has a trip odometer, you won’t need to manually calculate your miles. If not, subtract the original mileage from the current mileage. This will tell you how many miles you traveled.

Step 6: Calculate Your MPG

To get the mpg figure, divide the miles driven by the number of gallons used. For example, let’s say you drove 250 miles since the last fill-up, and the car used exactly 10 gallons. You would divide 250 by 10, which would equal 25 mpg.

Final Notes

Calculate your fuel economy regularly to get a sense of your average mpg and be aware of fluctuations that might offer a clue to a mechanical issue. Keep a log and track measurements for local versus highway driving, driving conditions, or seasonal changes.

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