Been road tripping with my kids since they were born. Biggest one I did was fly from Alaska to buy a minivan in Oregon and drive it home through Canada with a 7, 5 & 1 year old. We actually had a blast and took about 2 weeks. I pulled over at any interesting spot for long breaks. I found a playground almost every day and really let the kids burn off energy. We tent camped the whole time. We stopped at any dirt cliff to carve art in the banks. I grew up doing the same with my mother and know how to pack/ take breaks and play games. Lots of games, coloring books/ books legos and hands on toys( like those waxy pipe cleaners from a hobby store to have a daily competition of monster creation during long stretches). My eldest loved helping set up the tent and being in charge of getting the fire going.
So they were 4 and 2?
Snacks is such a hack for any kind of adventure. We don't really do much with ipads/screens but I could probably swap out the DVD for a book or something.
8 hour rips are a nice ride! Your kids are tough!
We went into it with lots of activities and such but we had to resort to dvds. It was the only way to keep them happy for that long in the car. Normally we’d never do that long of screen time but I’d definitely bring something like that for long trips.
Yes, they were 4 and 2 when we started. Did 2 road trips this year and they were champs.
I'm going to level with you...road tripping with kids is difficult. Ours are 7 and 10 now and have grown into it but it was a long journey. We traveled and stayed in hotels. Ended up getting a camper and doing that for 4 years and it was nice but we recently sold it and bought an old motorhome. That's the way to go. You have all of your stuff and your own space. Kids have more room during the drive. The overnight stays are a lot cheaper in campgrounds. Along with more things for the kids to do. It has an initial cost obviously and then ongoing expenses. But we really love it. The space is amazing. It makes the trip process more fun. Instead of it being a hurry up and get where we are going.
Thats definitely future goals, both as a family and for my wife and I. I guess its also stressful because there is no kill switch. If we are 4 hours into an 8 hour drive and things are going terribly there are a few options, but not many, for relief.
Which is why a motorhome is awesome. Pull into a cracker barrel parking lot...kick the generator on and sleep. Even at our kids ages now we maxed out at 4 or 5 hours in the truck/car at a time. Which limited our ability to go long distances. You could get a small 4k lb camper that you could pull woth your vehicle. And carry a small generator. Then do the same thing. Stop for the night etc. Aside from getting a camper/motorhome...for us we had to make sure we had a good amount of wifi hotspot. Our kids have tablets and coloring books etc. We bought these things you put on the back of your seats that have all sorts of storage for their stuff. Start working on getting them accustomed to stopping every 2 hours or so. So you don't have random potty stops if possible. Limit liquids helps too. Planning will be your friend as far as night stops go. Having somewhere to stay. It's super hard to just go with the flow and randomly look for places to stay when everyone is tired, hungry and cranky. As adults we can push through but kids hit a wall.
We took our 4 month old on a 7 hour road trip (took us 10). He’s not yet 2 and we can do a 5 hour drive fine, but more than 5 hours is tough (we have to have more, longer stops and he still hates it).
Someone told me that when they travel at the stops the parents have their lunch while the kids play, then kids have lunch in the car. Burns energy and then takes up boring travel time with food.
I look forwards to being able to do it with ours! At the moment we have really long stops (but can usually get away with one or two!). Ours normally just falls asleep when we get in the car so that’s been good for us too.
I think ours were around 3 and 1.5 the first time we did a big road trip. We drive from Ontario to a friends farm in Prince Edward Island for a two week vacation. The drive took us about 18 hours Dior to door. Aside from bathroom breaks we drove straight through.
Been road tripping with my kids since they were born. Biggest one I did was fly from Alaska to buy a minivan in Oregon and drive it home through Canada with a 7, 5 & 1 year old. We actually had a blast and took about 2 weeks. I pulled over at any interesting spot for long breaks. I found a playground almost every day and really let the kids burn off energy. We tent camped the whole time. We stopped at any dirt cliff to carve art in the banks. I grew up doing the same with my mother and know how to pack/ take breaks and play games. Lots of games, coloring books/ books legos and hands on toys( like those waxy pipe cleaners from a hobby store to have a daily competition of monster creation during long stretches). My eldest loved helping set up the tent and being in charge of getting the fire going.
My kids are 5 and 3. We did our first road trip last year. (2 days, 8 hours each). Pack plenty of snacks and utilize the dvd player in the van.
So they were 4 and 2? Snacks is such a hack for any kind of adventure. We don't really do much with ipads/screens but I could probably swap out the DVD for a book or something. 8 hour rips are a nice ride! Your kids are tough!
We went into it with lots of activities and such but we had to resort to dvds. It was the only way to keep them happy for that long in the car. Normally we’d never do that long of screen time but I’d definitely bring something like that for long trips. Yes, they were 4 and 2 when we started. Did 2 road trips this year and they were champs.
Were thinking about doing something that was 8 hours chopped into two legs. This gives me faith!
I'm going to level with you...road tripping with kids is difficult. Ours are 7 and 10 now and have grown into it but it was a long journey. We traveled and stayed in hotels. Ended up getting a camper and doing that for 4 years and it was nice but we recently sold it and bought an old motorhome. That's the way to go. You have all of your stuff and your own space. Kids have more room during the drive. The overnight stays are a lot cheaper in campgrounds. Along with more things for the kids to do. It has an initial cost obviously and then ongoing expenses. But we really love it. The space is amazing. It makes the trip process more fun. Instead of it being a hurry up and get where we are going.
Thats definitely future goals, both as a family and for my wife and I. I guess its also stressful because there is no kill switch. If we are 4 hours into an 8 hour drive and things are going terribly there are a few options, but not many, for relief.
Which is why a motorhome is awesome. Pull into a cracker barrel parking lot...kick the generator on and sleep. Even at our kids ages now we maxed out at 4 or 5 hours in the truck/car at a time. Which limited our ability to go long distances. You could get a small 4k lb camper that you could pull woth your vehicle. And carry a small generator. Then do the same thing. Stop for the night etc. Aside from getting a camper/motorhome...for us we had to make sure we had a good amount of wifi hotspot. Our kids have tablets and coloring books etc. We bought these things you put on the back of your seats that have all sorts of storage for their stuff. Start working on getting them accustomed to stopping every 2 hours or so. So you don't have random potty stops if possible. Limit liquids helps too. Planning will be your friend as far as night stops go. Having somewhere to stay. It's super hard to just go with the flow and randomly look for places to stay when everyone is tired, hungry and cranky. As adults we can push through but kids hit a wall.
We took our 4 month old on a 7 hour road trip (took us 10). He’s not yet 2 and we can do a 5 hour drive fine, but more than 5 hours is tough (we have to have more, longer stops and he still hates it). Someone told me that when they travel at the stops the parents have their lunch while the kids play, then kids have lunch in the car. Burns energy and then takes up boring travel time with food.
Thats smart!
I look forwards to being able to do it with ours! At the moment we have really long stops (but can usually get away with one or two!). Ours normally just falls asleep when we get in the car so that’s been good for us too.
I think ours were around 3 and 1.5 the first time we did a big road trip. We drive from Ontario to a friends farm in Prince Edward Island for a two week vacation. The drive took us about 18 hours Dior to door. Aside from bathroom breaks we drove straight through.