Let’s Go! It’s time for our family road trip! We won’t get far without our road trip essentials and that is why we came up with 10 Do’s and 10 Don’ts for the family road trip. Everyone in? Here we go!
Road trips are one of the best ways for families to get away to great destinations while saving a little on transportation. Our family has taken countless road trips and through them all, we have learned the road trip essentials and so we wanted to share them with you.
Our favorite road trip was driving from our home in Wisconsin to Georgia to Orlando to the Florida Keys, to Savannah and back home. We took fourteen days to enjoy the ride and all the destinations on the way. We sang songs, read books, played games, watched movies, got lost, got found (LOL), used too much cell data pulling up google maps, and saw so many friends and family. It was such a great trip. We loved all of it!
Road trips are perfect for reconnecting as a family and traveling to a destination in an affordable way. We have taken a road trip for a few hours and road trips that take multiple days. Road Trips are sorta our thing. That’s why we wanted to share with you our road trip essentials. We love to plan out the trip, map it out, pack for the trip, create fun activities and playlists and then enjoy the journey. The Road trip essentials listed as Do’s and Don’ts are listed below:
We have 10 Do’s and 10 Don’t’s for planning your family’s upcoming road trip.
Do Pack with a purpose for your road trip. The essentials for the car are…well…essential t for the possibilities in the car. This is the number one on the road trip essentials list. Make a checklist of everything your family could possibly need in the car for the trip. Start with food, snacks, then plates, napkins, forks, knives, paper towels, and wet wipes. This list is essential to a smooth trip. You want to be able to plan for any mishaps or needs on the road, and the more you plan for them, it seems the less they will happen. But be ready! Make your checklist and keep revising it as you road trip more and more.
Road Trip Perfect Length
Do decide on the perfect length of your road trip. Road trips can be just a few hours, days, weeks or even years (yes, there are people who live on an everlasting road trip!) The length is usually determined by the destination and how much time you have off of work. It’s essential to take a few shorter trips before you jump into a 14-day excursion.
Interesting Places on the Road Trip
Do plan out interesting places to stop on your road trip. Let’s be honest sometimes we need to just get someplace and stopping at attractions just aren’t in the cards. However, sometimes we have a few hours here or there to enjoy the beautiful country we live in by making a few stops. Children need stops on road trips! As your children become older and more experienced road trippers they will last in the car longer. Don’t let that stop you from putting some great “on-the-way destinations” in your plans.
Road Trip Vehicle Check-List
Do make sure your vehicle is in tip-top road trip shape. If you were taking an airplane you would expect that someone had checked the safety of the plane. On a road trip it is essential to check all the major safety points of your vehicle. Tires, lights, oil, belts, spark plugs and sounds all get thoroughly checked out before every trip. We keep our truck in great shape year-round so that there are not any surprises right before or during the trip.
Road Trip Activities
Do plan activities, games, and crafts for your road trip. This is probably the most fun thing on our list, right? We love to find fun things they like, year-round and then save them for our long road trips. Sometimes we will even wrap them up in wrapping paper and have them open the gift when we cross a state line. It’s always a surprise and they never expect it to happen. We have fun car games we like to play as well as some individual activities when everyone needs a break from all the togetherness. Plan this right, and your trip will go smoothly.
Road Trip Playlist
Do create a road trip playlist. Create a few different playlists that represent everyone’s music taste. Now that our kids are our a little older they want a say in what songs we listen to in the car. A great idea we got from our friend Sarah Hamaker was to let each kid curate their own playlist that will light their heart on fire. It’s so exciting to know your turn is coming up for your playlist, then share it with your family. Of course, there is some music we don’t like, but we give each kid their turn and then add a few extra songs to our own playlists.
Road Trip Read Aloud
Do bring a great read-aloud book. My kids still love it when I read to them aloud. I tend to use fun voices and inflection in my voice, so I guess I can’t blame them. They are honing their read-aloud skills too so sometimes I get a break. We have read Percy Jackson, Star Wars and other fun high-interest books for our boys. As long as they keep asking for it, I will keep reading.
Planning your Road Trip Route
Do spend time mapping out your road trip route and possible alternatives. Our family finds it fun to pull up Google Maps, put in our destination then look for possible stops along the way. We each grab a device and do our own research then come together and talk about it. When my kids were younger I did all the research and they liked most of what we did. Now, they get a chance to suggest places. It’s fun for them to get all excited about their choices.
Visit Friends and Family on Road Trips
Do visit friends and family on your road trip. Don’t let time to connect with people pass you by while you are rushing to your destination. Some of our best memories are visiting friends and family on the way. Sometimes we might stay overnight or just stop in for a visit. We might meet at an area attraction or go to their house for board games and movies. Whatever it is I don’t want to miss out on seeing people we don’t normally see when we are driving right by their homes.
Road Trip Overnight Stops
Do decide if you want to book hotels ahead of time. This is one of the road trip essentials that encompasses safety. If you are going on a multi-day road trip then think about your overnight stays. Sometimes it works perfectly to stay at a friend’s house, sometimes we need a quick in and out hotel and sometimes we want a fun water park resort for a great night’s stay. The best case is that you are able to plan ahead and make reservations. We have waited until we are about three to four hours away and booked through an online app. The one time we tried to just find someplace within an hour ended in a disastrous overpriced horrible night’s sleep. Never, will we be stuck in that situation again.
Road Trips and Cell Phones
Don’t rely on your smartphone for your only map. Cell coverage can still be spotty in many areas throughout the United States. We can tell you from our own experience that relying on a cell phone for maps can be a huge inconvenience to your family, not to mention dangerous. The best option is to use a GPS either in your car, or something portable you bring in and out of your car. We even jot down some major directions on paper, just in case.
Watching Videos on Road Trips
Don’t use screens to babysit your kiddos for more than 25% of your journey. Putting the arguments about if screen time is good for your children or not, on the topic of road trips screens may help to break up the time. We usually buy a few new movies for a road trip which is so exciting for our kids. Then we break up the total time of the road trip and divide the movies up into that time. Our kids look forward to watching their new movies. And yes, we look forward to a little quiet.
Packing Food for Road Trips
Don’t Pack food that will spoil or be easily squished on a road trip. This road trip essentials tip comes from the story of the mushed muffins. I was packing for a road trip and I read in someone’s blog about some amazing muffins they made for breakfast. They sounded delish, so amoung all the craziness of packing, I decided I would whip up some muffins for the ride. Then I put them in a zip-lock bag to seal in the freshness of these yummy muffins. Well, that bag, although placed lovingly into the food box, became a target for cereal boxes and nut jars. Eight hours in I called for the muffins, “Bring out the muffins please!” Well, the bag was smushed, the muffins were crumbs and even though we did spoon them out and eat them my momma’s heart was hurt. When we returned from that trip I bought some plastic containers that we use exclusively for foods that would easily get squished.
Road Trip Schedules
Don’t wing it, if you have children under the age of 10. Nighttime sleep, meals, naps, and movement are what create a happy child. If your children are under the age of ten we recommend that you schedule out your road trip as much as possible. We found that our kids had a hard time napping in the car on long trips which then made our overnight stop just unbearable. We added on an hour to every day and scheduled an hour-long movement break. That might be a hike, a play center, playground, beach stop or anything that required a lot of movement. Then once back in the car, they would tucker out for a nap. This helped make our overnight stay much better. Once we discovered this pattern we scheduled every day on a road trip this way. It looked like this wake up super early, get in car, eat breakfast, play a road trip game, read a book, watch a video, snack, look outside time, Songs, lunch in the car or out, movement stop for one hour, back in the car, naps, games, craft, and then ready for our overnight stop. It works like a charm.
Road Trip Warnings
Don’t stop at just any gas station. Choose a brand you are familiar with, stay on the main highway if possible, and even check out Google reviews. Gas stations can be scary places and we have heard horror stories. Be careful and think through your gas station stops. Stay together and stay safe.
Attractions to see on a Road Trip
Don’t let once in a lifetime opportunities pass you by on your road trip. I have a few regrets about not stopping at various opportunities to see and experience places of interest. At the time while we were driving by I remember feeling like, meh, it’s not that big of a deal. We might have been hungry, or sleepy or maybe trying to meet a deadline to arrive someplace and so we drove by. But now as I look back I think “Really, we wanted lunch so we missed the St. Louis Arch.” or “We didn’t want to miss the sunset at a specific location so we drove by Sanibel Island>” It just doesn’t seem like a good decision looking back. Now, we try so hard to not miss the things that we love for our schedules’ sake.
Road Trips and Eating Out
Don’t eat out for every meal on a road trip. The first reason is financial, it just doesn’t make sense to spend $30-$40 for each meal, when there are so many more fun things to spend your money on for a road trip. Second, the food at restaurants has too much salt, preservatives and just not things you want swimming around in your belly on a road trip. Third, if you have young kids being at a restaurant is just another time to make sure they are behaving. Fourth, it slows the trip down to stop for every meal. Fifth, we find we don’t even want a full meal while just sitting in the car for hours. These are our goto in the car meals cheese, sausage and crackers, cold homemade pizza, fruit, veggies, cold hamburgers, nuts, berries, frozen smoothies that thaw while driving and are ready for lunch and more and more.
Phone Chargers on Road Trips
Don’t forget the extra phone chargers and car phone chargers. As travel bloggers, we may go through more cell phone battery than the normal family. I always have back-up chargers for hotels and the car as well as external batteries charged and ready to go.
Cleaning Up during the Road Trip
Don’t leave all the garbage in the car till the end of the ride. I know this sounds so logical, but our first long trip was a mess. We had two boys under 4 who almost continually ate throughout the trip. It was a rough 24-hour road trip over two full days of driving. We arrived at our location and got the boys out of the back and then had to spend an hour cleaning up the boy’s area. It was just so overwhelming. From that point forward we made sure all garbage was taken out and the kid’s area was wiped down (especially under their car seats!) Sometimes we will even go to the vacuum at the gas station and vacuum that up a few times on the trip.
Road Trips are Family Time
Don’t rush to your destination or back home. A road trip essential is to remember that a road trip is not just a way to get to your destination. I recorded this podcast about the importance of bonding with your family on road trips, I would love for you to hear it here. The road trip its self is the destination and such an important part of the journey. Use the road trip time to fall in love with your state or your country. Spend time connecting with each other. Our son Cooper loves to get a joke book from the library and read us jokes throughout the trip. Mason loves country music and his playlist is always so thoughtful and he loves to share the songs with all of us. Make your road trip just as important as the destination.
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