Last month I took a small vacation about four hours away to Mammoth Cave, KY. I cannot tell you how many times I was asked “Mommy, are we there yet?” My dreams of my little ones sleeping the entire trip unfortunately didn’t come true.
Traveling with children can be hectic. With some planning in advance you can make your trip a little less stressful.
Bring Something to Keep Your Kids Occupied
One of the best investments I have made is buying a Kindle. I initially wanted the Kindle to help save money on the cost of books, but my girls now love it too. We have downloaded several games on it and most are educational. Playing games on the Kindle or on my phone can keep them busy for hours.
Other options to keep your kids occupied are to bring a book if they are old enough to read, let them bring music to listen to, or magazines to read. My girls also like talking on the phone to family members. My youngest begs to call Grandma all the time. You can download an app like Rebtel’s wifi calling app to save minutes and make cheap international calls while you are traveling.
Play Games
My kids are pretty young so we stuck to easy games that we could play on our trip. We played “I Spy” a couple of times and my oldest daughter thought it would be fun to count how many red cars she saw.
“I Spy” is a great game to play on a trip. It can keeps entertained for a long time. (Although after about an hour parents may get sick of playing it.)
Bring Snacks & Drinks
If you are flying you won’t have the ability to stop at a gas station to grab snacks for hungry kids. Instead you can pack kid friendly snacks in your carry-on bag.
If you are driving to your destination you probably want to minimize stops at the gas station as much as possible. The cost really starts to add up when you are constantly stopping at a convenience store for food and drinks. Pack a bag full of snacks and a small cooler full of drinks to take with you.
Keeping Children Happy
I would also recommend that once you get to your destination that you stay at a place that has a pool. The pool was pretty much the only thing my kids were interested in. When you are ready to relax you can take your kids to the pool and lounge in a chair while they swim and make friends with other kids.
Also, don’t veer too much from your normal routine. If your kids always take baths and go to bed at certain times, stick with it. If you let your kids stay up late because you are on vacation you may end up with tired and cranky kids the following day.
Glad to hear about your vacation!
We just came back from our vacation it was over 5 hour drive. My 3 year old did pretty good. He was happy playing games, watching movies, and counting red cars. Our 7 month old was a different story on our way there. He was hard to entertained I guess. On our way back home he slept majority of the time and was more content. Not sure why.
Might I add bringing a puke bucket for out of the blue car sickness? Yeah, we get that. It’s awesome.
When my kids were this age, I invented the ” Let’s See Who Can Hold Their Breath the Longest Game” ! Of course, I cheated and would just breathe. Anything for a moment of quiet !
~ Christie
LOL. Sometimes we play the “who can be the quietest” game. It usually work for about ten minutes!
Good for you guys for taking a vaca, Alexa! We use all of these tips when traveling. We also have a DVD player in the car, which is HUGE for long trips. We don’t let them use it while just tooling around town, so it’s a special occasion thing for longer trips only, and therefore the kids really think it’s special when they get to watch TV in the car. 🙂
My kids love the Kindle. It has been a great investment. The only problem is they fight over it to much. But they color and play games on it and it can hold their attention for hours.
I second the DVD player. I have been on a few car trips with my sister and her little ones (3 and 19 months) and there is some magical, calming power than can be found in watching Finding Nemo (my nephew’s favorite move) repeatedly.
I have definitely watched finding Nemo more than I care to admit lol It is a cute movie though.
Another possibility? Find a side hustle you can use to finance your travels. My husband and I are musicians (classic rock/country) who play at small- to mid-size venues throughout Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. This has enabled us to visit a lot of places we might not have been able to under normal circumstances, plus makes routine travel expenses such as mileage, lodging, and meals tax-deductible!where can i find cheap flights