Summertime Travel Tips with Your Kids

Isn’t traveling just exhausting? There is so much preparation involved and then the driving or flying time. If you are taking a long road trip with the kids in tow, it can sometimes be enough to send you over the edge. I know because I have been there so many times. Living the military life has meant travelling and lots of it!

For our move to Texas, since me and the kids are leaving before my husband, my dad is flying in to help me make the 20 hour drive to Texas. Me, my dad, my 3 kids and our dog all in the car for 20 hours. This will be a moment in time that will go down in history for my family. It should be lots and lots of fun!

One thing that makes travelling so much easier is being organized about it. When we leave the house to go on a trip, you better believe I have lots of things to keep the kids busy and many ideas to help pass the time. Here are some summertime car travel tips that I use personally and also some that I got from The Container Store’s website:

• Stay at a hotel that has a pool. We usually try to break up our trips into two or three days. When we make reservations or stop to find a hotel, it must have a pool! This helps all of us unwind after being in the car, and swimming also makes the kids extra tired. What is it about a hotel room that winds children up? One more thing, check the pool before you decide to stay there. We stayed at one place where the pool had white foam all in it. That’s usually not a good sign.
• Let your kids help pack. No, I’m not crazy. Letting your kids help decide what clothes they want to bring and what items to play with in the car actually does help. When I started letting my kids pick their own things, they brought items I would have never thought of and usually it kept them occupied. There are some toys and clothes that kids do not like to leave behind.
• Bring an emergency pack. Pack a little bag that has ointment, bandaids, tylenol, motrin, sunscreen, hand sanitzer (for those lovely convenient store bathrooms), stain removal pen and a sewing kit.
• Plan when to leave when it’s best for your children. I know this advice won’t work everytime. If you are taking a shorter trip, possibly leave when it’s your little ones nap time. Sometimes it’s best to leave really early in the morning when all you do is lift your kids from bed to car in their pjs. If you’re lucky, you might get a couple of hours of quiet travel time. We tried to drive during the night once and it was one of the most miserable trips we ever took. We ended up trying to find a hotel room at three in the morning. Nobody was happy with anybody. Good times. Good times.
• Get a new movie at certain stops. I know this may sound pathetic and down right expensive, but this has worked like a charm for us. You can find very good priced movies along the way at certain stores. If watching 3 movies in one day will get us there all in one piece with half a smile on our faces, then I am all for it. I know some families who do not agree with this and they like to play car games with the kids. We do this too, but not for 20 hours. We would all be annoyed with each other. Just do what works for you.
• Play games. Yes, I did just mention this. We have a nice balance of movie watching and game playing. My brother-in-law is great at coming up with fun car games. One of them is trying to guess what animal the person is thinking about by asking yes or no questions. When they came and visited us a few months ago, they made the drive from Texas to Georgia and I think they played that game for several hours. Then when they got here, he wanted to play it some more with my kids! He has more energy than anyone I know.

Do you have any summertime travel tips? If so, please share. I know I could use some more. June 9th is just around the corner!!