We travelled loads before having kids and since they were born we continue to travel albeit slightly differently. You might have seen our previous post on tips for flying with kids, I thought id set out some tips for travelling by road with kids. Recently we had a discussion about how many miles a year we do with them and at a guess we think it would easily top 10,000 and that’s not including the school runs, the activities etc.
1- Snacks
Regardless of the method of travel we always have plenty snacks on hand. My pair are reasonably fussy eaters and can be a little prone to car sickness so im very careful about what snacks they have on the road.
What works for my pair is rice cakes, anything too heavy or sweet can lead to them feeling sick but rice cakes seem to be a winner. Oldest loves the Kelkin rice cake bars and the youngest loves the yogurt covered mini rice cakes. They are also very handy snacks for out and about and lunch boxes.
2- Netflix
Downloadable Netflix was a revelation on our trip to Niagra Falls last year. I found it really great for passing the last hour or so of long car journeys when the boredom and tiredness start creeping in. The great thing is you don’t need wifi to be able to watch just download before you go. The current favourites in our house are:
- Sid the Science Kid
- Story Bots
- Harvey Street Kids
- Horrid Henry
The download is active for a day or so and they you just have to connect to wifi to renew it. I love it!
3 – Making sure car roadworthy
Pic Credit: Pixabay
This goes without saying and is paramount in my book. Starting with ensuring the car seats are fitted properly. The RSA regularly do check it fits road shows in local carpark so worth getting it done. The Dada Fairy is incredibly safety conscious and rightly so, he will check the seat before departing as well as the usual, oil level, petrol and very important that the tyres are roadworthy.
Places like Calmac Tyres sell good quality tyres at reasonable prices. Don’t forget other aspects of car maintenance too such as the lights, brakes, oil and regular servicing. Neither myself nor the Dada Fairy know much about cars so we ensure we visit the experts like Calmac to make sure our car is in the best possible shape for transporting our precious cargo. Safety cannot be compromised so always build in sufficient time before commencing your journey. Allied to this is making sure the garage you use is reputable, is appropriately approved/ certified and uses quality parts. If in doubt don’t be afraid to ask that question of them.
An additional consideration of course it to keep all emergency numbers to hand including also insurance details.
4 – Planning
Maybe its inbuilt in me but I have to plan! I do my research in advance and plan for example, where we will stop for lunch or where we could a toilet stop or even or very long journeys we plan were to stop at for example a picnic area or playground. I also make use of the AA roadwatch web page to check for traffic updates. It just makes it that bit easy and saves the inevitable time wasting searching for somewhere and usually in our house an argument when the gang are tired and hungry. Never a good combination!!
If anybody has anymore tips to add do add them in the comments.
Note: This is a collaborative post however I retain full editorial control. All words (and miles) are my own.
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