More Car Travel Tips

I recently took both kids to Spokane to visit my college friends while my husband worked on stuff around the house. According to mapquest, this drive was an anticipated 6 1/2 hrs. Having made it 100s of times in college I knew this to be true...if you don't stop for more than 1 quick coffee/bathroom and 1 gas/bathroom breaks. So, I allotted some stopping time and guessed the drive to take 8 hrs allowing for 3 (1/2) hr breaks. Wrong. The way there took 9 hrs and we stopped 6 times, 4 of those hours and 4 of those stops were from Tri-Cities to Spokane (usually took me 2 hrs in college). {sigh} BUT, the kids did great. I know I shared a post before {here} about car travel with kids, but I wanted to share some of the things I learned about taking LONGER car trips.

1. Completely disregard how long it SHOULD take. This sounds obvious, but if you have expectations, you will only find yourself frustrated.

2. Plan on a few places to stop and stretch legs/get the wiggles out. It's easiest if you know the route, but if you don't, solicit friends/family to help. If you can find a few places that have playgrounds or a park to run in, you'll have much happier kids.

3. Test the DVD player BEFORE you leave the house. If you don't, make sure you have a smart phone with gps to the nearest Target. Enough said. 

4. Make sure you have some cash with you. If you're in a rush but need immediate coffee, you don't want to have to look for a drive thru that accepts card.

5. Sit in the driver's seat and test arm distances of items you'll need before you leave. You don't want to be hunting around for things blindly or trying to reach for something just beyond your finger tips. Next trip I'm considering buying one of these.

6. Bring several new toys to bring out after you get sick of hearing "Are we there yet?". The $ store is a great place, or the $ bins at Target. Also, keep some things for the return trip!

7. Music is wonderful.  Even if you remember to bring more than 1 CD, plan on hearing the same song 100 times. 

8. Be silly. See tip #7. Especially important if you forget to do tip #3. 

9. Bring a small cooler with some healthy snacks (string cheese, sandwiches, etc.) and some extra sippy cups of juice or milk. This really comes in handy when the first sippy cup has been gone through within the first 20 minutes. And also helps mommy from eatting so much of the junk.

10. Don't pack a whole lot for yourself.  Once you get the pack n play, toys, dvds, bikes, cameras, etc. you will not have any room left. In fact, you'll be busting at the seems...stuff overflowing. Or, get a bigger car ;)


11. Remember tip #1. If the kids are upset, stop again...and again...and again. And if you have to, wait until they fall asleep, grab another cup of coffee, turn up the Veggie Tales music (maybe with some headphones) and be silly all by yourself...to help keep you awake of course :)

Planning for a car trip with little ones

Recently I've been braving taking the kids on some solo car trips. I started out with a close distance...only 3 1/2 hours away. Keep in mind my kids are 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 so these tips won't necessarily work for older kids. Regardless, here are some pointers I wanted to share when traveling alone with kids...

1. Pray the kids take a nap on the drive.

2. Bring extra binkies to keep in the center console because inevitably one will end up flying through the air and out of reach. 

3. Pray for naps.

4. McDonalds play places are a great place to get wiggles out.
5. If you see a naked child coming out of the playground at McDonalds you might want to consider removing your children from the playground. It is possible that the naked child pooped on the slide.
6. Pray the kids take naps.
7. Bring an unseen movie to put in the player.
8. Plan on hearing said new movie 4 times throughout the drive without actually seeing the movie.
9. Let the kids pack a travel bag...it's much more exciting when they are the ones picking out the toys.
10. Bring lots of special snacks and keep them within easy reach.
11. Don't bring any snacks you don't want to spend the drive eating because you will inevitably eat all said snacks throughout the duration of the drive in order to stay awake--even if the snacks consist of 1/2 a bag of pretzels, a bag of m&ms, countless handfuls of teddy grahams, skittles...should this go on?
12. Pray the kids take a nap.
13. Plan on hearing "are we there yet?" every 20 minutes after the first 1/2 hour passes.
14. Again, pray for nap.
15. If you're fortunate enough to have kids actually take the much prayed for nap, drive. Drive fast. Do not stop. Shove another handful of pretzels in your mouth and DRIVE.