I have claimed the title before as being the least travelled person in the world, and while there may be some truth to that, I do have experience when it comes to LONG car rides with children. I may not have seen much of this old world but I am very familiar with the route from our home to Dave’s parents all 571 km of it. We have made this trip a few times a year for 15 years now. We started making the trip as a young married couple, only we lived near Dave’s family then and made our way East to see my family. Over the years we have grown in numbers and almost 5 years ago we moved closer to my parents so now we make the same trip in reverse.
We have picked up some travelling tips along the way, that I’d love to share.
First if you are taking a road trip and it is at all possible avoid travelling on a long weekend and if you can travel mid-week you will have less traffic on the road and when you do make stops the service centres will be much emptier.
To make things go smoothly when travelling with children plan ahead as much as possible. Brainstorm about the worst case scenario and then problem solve ahead of time. If you have a young children that are potty training or have just trained, bring along a potty chair and the necessary items you’ll need. You never know when a little one might need to go. Do you have a child with high energy levels and the though of a 7 hour drive is terrifying? Plan ahead, eat a breakfast that is low in sugar and other trigger foods, have him or her run some laps to get the wiggles out before you set out. Plan stops along the way, where they can run off some energy. When we were travelling as kids in the summer my Dad would pull off the highway and find a school we’d have our lunch and play on the swings for a bit before hitting the road again. You could do a google search for parks in the cities you’ll be passing for possible places to stop.
Food and drink, you can spend a small fortune on take out when travelling so pack as much as you can. There are all sorts of drink boxes available today. Maybe you all have your own water bottles, pack those. If I can I love to take snacks that are not crumbly. Grapes, Cheerios, cheese, raisins, wraps, my guys love kielbasa sausage cut in coins. Bring wet wipes or some damp wash clothes in a Ziploc bag. Pack a lunch, you’ll save lots of cash.
For years I would run around a few days before we’d go away making lists trying to remember everything I needed. Finally, I thought why do I write a list every time we go. I finally made a Master Travel Check list. You are welcome to print it out and use it too. It is suited to our family and you may want to edit it, and make your own, but at least it gives you a starting place.
This past Christmas I decided to make the children their own travel bins. I made some covered clip boards (I still need to post about the clip boards) with little draw string bags that had mini pencils in them. 
The bins had a couple little surprises a drink and a few snacks, there was room for them to add a few of their favourite things to take on the trip. The bins came from the dollar store along with the stickers for their names = affordable.
I found this cute vintage I spy game on-line I printed it on card stock and then laminated it my children had a fun time playing I spy with each other. Click on this image and you can print one out too.JSIM I Spy Fun sheet
I stay on the look out through the year for good travel games, over the years we have put a lot of miles on our vehicles but we have never travelled with portable DVD players or hand-held video games. It is possible to have fun driving with little ones without these electronics. We do have a CD player in the car and will often listen to music and stories as we travel. Our children have made up a game called, ‘I have an animal,’ basically they think of an animal and the others guess what it is, in a similar style to 20 questions. Hannah usually ends up telling everyone what her animal is but they have a lot of fun doing it.
If you have a bigger trip planned in the near future and are looking for tips on travelling as a family I have found a neat site that has all sorts of helpful hints for travelling as a family. Go check out Family Travels on a Budget. Hope this makes for stress-free travels!!
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It's so difficult to travel with kids! Mine puked in my friends car and it was a good thing I had a paper bag in hand since we just came from the store. Otherwise, I would have been cleaning vomit off from my friend's car
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I love the idea of the bins. When I was a kid my parents always packed us a bookbag with surprises in it for our 10 hour annual trip to see my aunt. It was always so fun looking in to find a new book, a fun activity book, snacks and drinks. I like the clipboards though-that would be very helpful in the car. I also think it's a great idea to pack your own food/drinks/etc. We always pack a cooler and a snack bag-saves a ton of money!
I'd totally forgotten about the bins you made..what a great idea, and now that we'll have a van soon we'll actually have space to put some! I'll also have to print off that eye spy..
Thanks for the great ideas!
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I had not thought about stopping at a school to run off energy for the kids. Great tips. We bought portable DVD players and they have leapsters too. We love to play I spy and find the alphabet on the signs and license plates.
We drove to Florida from Michigan 2 years ago. This next time, we will be flying because they kids got so antsy. But we take 3- hour driving trips now and these tips will help out. Thanks for sharing!
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Good Post!! Traveling with kids is alot of work, we went on a 5 hour trip last year, with a 1 yr old and older kiddies, my older kiddies were entertained with there PSP games, reading books. The little ones kept asking are we there yet, and my baby wanted out of her car seat. But we did make it
Great post!!! You are such a thoughtful mom to make each child a customized bin. It must cut the arguing over who got what considerably! Thank you, too, for the shout out. Today, I'll be blogging about packing that attitude!
Happy travels.
Karen
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I really enjoy traveling with my kids. Of course, I only have 2! I'm inspired by your bravery to travel with so many children! Part of the fun for me has always been the planning and trying to prepare for what their needs might be. Apparently, I like the challenge and feel good when they express a need and I have exactly what it is to fill it. However, as they get older and more independent, I've let them start packing for themselves and oddly enough their foresight is not quite as developed.
Great ideas and suggestions you've offered. And Family Travels On A Budget is one of my new favorites as well!
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Great ideas, Cheryl! We've traveled quite a bit with our kids, too. Some rest stops actually have play sets for the kids, too. Not many, but some. Thanks for your tips. They are all good. Like the idea of the bins, too.
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Hey Cheryl, I just wanted to contact you, Sister Sha is going thru something, and thought since you have been thru so much that you might want to pray for her. I shared who you were with her, directed your blog to her. Just thought I'd let you know…..I posted her blog on my blog. You have a ministry of encouragement to so many and I wanted her to meet you.
Love, Marlece
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What a fantastic post! I stumbled this for you because I liked it so much! I love the tips and the illustrations you included! SO helpful! I really need to come up with a good solution for what to do when my son needs to go potty "on the road." He's never used a little travel potty before…even when we were training him we used a step-stool thing with an attached potty seat so he could use the real toilet. I don't think he'd be able to go in a little plastic one in the car! LOL
But we did have an emergency recently on the way home from swim class. We were on the highway and he suddenly screamed that he needed to go potty. I ended up speeding through a yellow light to get to a back road where I knew there would be an empty parking lot, and then he jumped out of the van and peed on the lawn of a local business. I held up the swim towel around him just in case there was anyone who could see. To this day I wonder if our activities were picked up by a security camera somewhere! I bet the night guard had a good laugh!
Anyway, I'm stopping by from voiceBoks Members to Remember (I'm about 3 days late…but better late than never!) I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend! I'm following!
Smiles, Jenn @Misadventures in Motherhood
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