1. Take at least one long road trip with your family before your children leave home.
2. A two-hour drive doesn’t count as a road trip.
3. Whatever electronic rules are in place at home go out the window the minute you step into the car.
4. Seasons of TV shows are far better bang-for-your-buck then movies. In other words, 572 minutes or entertainment versus 90 minutes for almost the same price.
5. Favourite TV shows for teens: Boy Meets World, The Brady Bunch, The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Home Improvement, Smallville, Malcolm in the Middle. Also, will somebody please release The Wonder Years on DVD, already?
6. If you don’t have a built-in DVD player in your car – we don’t – a laptop works just as well, and the screen is actually bigger.
7. A dual charger keeps everyone happy and powered up when travelling by car.
8. Road maps are essential. Even if you have a GPS.
9. Program all potential stops and destinations into your GPS before leaving home.
10. It’s crucial to have a good selection of music available for the car. Inevitably, you will run into stretches of highway where not a single station tunes in properly.
11. Make a family road trip CD. Ask each person to choose five songs of their liking and burn them all to one disc. Label the album with the destination and year of your vacation (“South Carolina, 2014”) and keep them as a memento of your travels.
12. Play games! Road trip bingo, travel versions of popular board games, Would You Rather, etc.
13. Read, read, and read. Comic books are ideal and sometimes easier than something huge like Harry Potter.
14. Keep a pack of wet wipes in the car, no matter how old your kids are.
15. The same goes for napkins and garbage bags.
16. For young kids, fill small bins with toys, books, activities, games, etc. Swap them out every two hours and replace with a new bin to keep things interesting.
17. Pack plenty of snacks. More than you think you will need. And treats! After all, you are on vacation.
18. Another note about snacks: no food on sticks or skewers allowed. You don't want to give the kids tools to use for poking each other, and you know just as well as I do that when you're packing for a big trip you don't have time to make the food look cutesy.
19. If you have the space, fill a cooler with ice and drinks. It’s so much better/easier than buying them on the road.
20. However, do buy some snacks or a meal on the road. That’s part of the fun.
21. Keep your camera handy.
22. Insist the kids where sandals. They will always want to take their shoes off and the smell of sweaty sneakers isn’t conducive to spending 15 hours in the car. Plus, when you stop it’s easier to slip them back on the feet.
23. Plan at least one surprise. It could be an unexpected movie/TV show to watch, snack, or pit stop.
24. Ten hours is pretty much the longest amount of time anyone should spend in a car. If you trek is longer than that, break it up into two smaller drives.
25. However, when faced with the choice of stopping overnight on the drive home, or pushing through to get it over and done with, opt for the latter. You’ll thank yourself for the extra day at home before you have to get back to reality.
Great list Jan!
Packing snacks/drinks is a great way to save money so you can splurge on the things that matter to you (whale watching etc.) Now if there is a great local market or diner I'd rather try that out than dishing out for drinks throughout the day. Packing water bottles for everyone helps too. Some places will even give you a big cup of ice to keep the water cool.
Carol Harrison @greatmealideas
Posted by: Carol Harrison | 07/19/2014 at 04:54 PM
I love these ideas too, Jan! Especially #1. We did some cross- Canada trips when our kids were young. We also had back-of-seat storage for each of them (you can buy at Canadian Tire: it hangs on the seat in front of you). So many ideas and great memories.
Posted by: Carol S-B | 07/20/2014 at 10:02 AM
Great tip about the ice, Carol!
Posted by: Jan Scott | 08/04/2014 at 05:14 PM
Oh, yes! Love the back-of-seat storage idea. Thanks for the reminder!
Posted by: Jan Scott | 08/04/2014 at 05:14 PM