Well, we made it back in one piece from our Colorado road trip adventure! Everyone thought (still thinks!) we’re crazy for doing it, but we are here to tell you it really wasn’t that bad – honestly! Of course it wasn’t without crazy moments – like Gage yelling from the back seat “I need to go pooooooooo!” – but we learned that a road trip with toddlers and babies is totally doable if you set your expectations to a reasonable (read: low) standard. Based on our experience, we’ve come up with the following travel tips that will help your road trip go more smoothly so that you can actually enjoy it!
Plan to stop plenty of times & have each stop take FOREVERRRRRRR
But seriously y’all – we built in 2 extra hours to our travel days on top of the google maps travel time. We used every bit of it! The kids wanted/needed to stop basically every 2 hours & each stop took 15-20 minutes minimum whether we were at a gas station, rest area or restaurant. I think this was seriously the worst part of the drive for me. I’m the type of person who would rather get in the car and make no stops and just get to the other end as quickly as possible. This was really hard for me to have to stop so frequently & then takes tons of time at the stop on top of it.
Once I sort of resided myself to this fact, though, it wasn’t so bad. I embraced the boys helping pump gas or clean the windshield. I tried to see it through their eyes and that using the squeegee to clean the windshield is ‘fun’ for them. Lol I also HIGHLY recommend letting them do some jumping jacks at each stop – or any other activity that lets them release a little energy. If you like to stop frequently, too, this won’t be a problem for you at all; but if you’re like me and prefer to just get in the car & get there, prepare yourself!
Forfeit your front passenger seat to be closer to reach everyone & Keep must-have items accessible.
Chance & I do miss the days of sitting next to each other just chatting away on a long drive. But we have found that it’s infinitely easier for one of us to sit in the back with the boys. We didn’t do this on a trip to Atlanta long before Beckett was born and my butt was climbing between the front seat and the middle row constantly. It was miserable & I vow to never do it again. Now we load the front seat with items like my work bag, extra pillows, etc. Gage’s car seat, which is usually in the middle row, gets moved to the 3rd row with Hunter & it leaves a seat available for one of us to sit in. Well worth it if your drive is going to be more than about 3 hours.
And I know “keep everything accessible” seems like a no brainer, but when you’re packing/unpacking the car a million times, sometimes you just want to make the sh*t fit in there however you can. But then when you’re flying down the highway at 75mph without an exit in sight, you’ll be glad you packed the car properly. I also really recommend this car organizer. It usually sits in the trunk of the car to keep all the things organized – you know, high chair covers, music class totes, extra snacks, backup diapers & wipes – but we move it to between the bucket seats when we go on long trips. You can adjust the size of the compartments with the velcro attachments. We had a section for snacks, a section for electronics and chargers, one for lovies and blankets and one for wipes, kleenex, napkins and easily accessible diapers.
Choose the right snacks (& get a portable vacuum)
We all know that kids can be pretty messy on a good day! We have two different kids with two totally different eating styles (Beck is still TBD). Hunter takes slow, calculated bites and prefers to stay neat and clean. Gage on the other hand prefers to shove as much in his mouth as possible, hope he doesn’t gag, and not worry about all of the crumbs and liquids falling onto his clothes. Hunter is my child in case that wasn’t completely obvious 🤣
We recommend sticking to just water in the car and taking snacks like goldfish, pretzels, bananas, apples, raisins/dried fruit, teddy grahams, gummy bears (not sticky gummy snacks), non-crumbly bars, dry cheerios, cheese sticks, and rolled up deli meat. Basically anything that isn’t sticky or going to make crumbs everywhere. Pouches are great, but I highly suggest grabbing this little neat device that keeps baby from accidentally squeezing it all out (it actually works!). We also really recommend these snack cups (in general, but especially in the car). They have a soft cloth-like top where the child’s hand goes in (so much nicer than those harsh plastic tops) and they even come with a lid that screws on, so if some snack still remains in the cup you can keep it fresh.
Additionally, if all else fails, keep a portable vacuum in the car. They are rechargeable, don’t take up much space & can be used on a moment’s notice in a variety of ways when you’re on a road trip with toddlers!
Make it more than just driving
While you will likely just want to get to your destination as quickly as you can, remember that keeping your kids strapped into their cars eats all day is only going to make them (and therefore everyone else) miserable. When planning your trip, try to build in some time for activities that will help break up the travel day and help everyone stretch their legs a little bit. It can be as simple as giving everyone some time in the pool when you finally get to the hotel or as big as spending the morning at the museum. During our recent trip, we stopped overnight in Hays, KS, which had a great little natural history museum – considering Hunter is a dinosaur nut, it was a no brainer. Even better, it gave everyone more to talk about for the rest of our drive (including us threatening Gage with “that T-Rex is gonna come get you” when he wasn’t being cooperative).
We hope you find these tips quick, easy & helpful! If you’re looking for more details on our favorite kids’ travel products, check out this post here 🙂
And if you’re reading all of this and thinking “screw that, I’d rather take a plane,” then check out this post for our tips on that!
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