Jan 19 2009
Being Prepared Makes for a Better Family Trip For the Whole Family
When making a roadtrip with your family, the key to a successful trip is definitely planning. We have decided to make the drive as much a part of our vacation adventure as the destination. We treasure the time in the car as an opportunity to connect with and interact with our kids.
Before leaving on our trip, we make a basic outline of the areas we will be driving through and the types of activities which are available along the way. We encourage the whole family to be involved in researching the information. Everyone seems to have a more positive mindset about something they have helped plan! Knowing that we will be enjoying things along the way makes the drive seem less daunting.
Figure out how much time your child (and yourself!) can realistically handle in the car then stick to that each day. Too much time in the car can make the whole family grouchy, even if you have had fun along the way (too much of a good thing….). Most children can handle about 6 - 8 hours max. We don’t plan hotels along the way because we do not want to be tied into making a certain destination each night. We can stop wherever we need to, based upon the mood of the family. Oftentimes we find the kids are happy in the car and ready to travel even further than we expected. If we had a set hotel reservation, we would have to stop even if we all want to travel further. The flexibility is an important part of our road trips.
Another example of flexibility is to be willing to stop to see things along the way. Watch the roadside signs and you may find a ‘must-see’ tourist attraction! Some of our favorite trips have included stops at attractions that weren’t in the travel and tourism books.
As we have discussed in previous posts, pack along a good variety of activities. Busy kids are less likely to be bothered by the drive.
We pack a variety of snacks (some healthy and some not so) in a lunchbox for each child. We find parks or rest areas with picnic areas to stop at every few hours. The kids can munch out of their lunchbox then have some time to run around (pack along some sports equipment and the kids can get lots of energy out by playing ball or jumping rope). We find this allows us to save the money and time associated with a stop at a restaurant, plus eating light snacks seems to be easier on little tummies. We all look forward to a nice big dinner when we settle into the hotel each night.
The best thing we have found to pass the time on our long drives is talking, singing and laughing! It’s a great time to share family stories from the past (seems like so many of our favorite stories are from previous road trips). We share stories from before the kids were born, from our own childhoods, or stories that have been passed down in our families for generations. We switch to a radio station with music we might not usually listen to (like the oldies!) and sing along. My kids bring along some of their favorite joke books and keep us all laughing with a variety of really awful jokes.
Most importantly, we build memories to share on our next road trip. Memories they will hopefully someday share with their own children as they pass mile by mile on their way to the Grand Canyon or Disney World. Through our years of traveling our family has come to one major realization which has become a life lesson for us all. Our trips are as much about the journey as about the destination.
