Imagine it! Just you, your husband, and your precious children. Cuddled up together for 11 hours (or maybe even 3 days) of pure togetherness. Idyllic, right?

Except I forgot to mention you’re cooped up in your car or minivan, trying to ensure the shared bag of trail mix doesn’t get dumped between the seats where the raisins will become a permanent part of your upholstery, stopping only for potty breaks at dirty gas station restrooms where you have to wait in line for the key while distracting your toddler who is declaring “I’m gonna pee my paaaants!”, and all the while attempting to maintain your ever-loving mind as Frozen plays endlessly on the iPad in the backseat.

AHHH, THE ROAD TRIP. WHAT A GLORIOUS FORM OF TRANSPORTATION.

Two years ago, our family drove from the Vancouver area (on the West coast of Canada), all the way to Nashville, TN, in less than 4 days. We covered 4225 km (2625 miles). Did I mention we have five children, ranging in age from 10 years right down to 7 weeks old at the time?

Even more insane, on the way back in late October, we took a detour to visit friends in our country’s capital city, Ottawa, before crossing back over practically all of Canada. It was a whopping 6334 km (3936 miles).

And we survived, people. We actually survived. No child sustained injuries from being thrown out a window (don’t tell me you’ve never thought it). We all still love each other and even intend to travel together again in the future. This is how we did it.

ROAD TRIPPING WITH KIDS… HOW TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE AND YES, EVEN ENJOYABLE.

1. UNDERSTAND UPFRONT THAT IT MAY NOT BE ENJOYABLE AT TIMES.

I know, I’m contradicting myself right off the bat, but this is important. While your trip can and will go well overall, you will have moments where you want to stick your fingers in your ears while curling up in a fetal position.

You will have times where you are all genuinely starving and yet the only, only thing you can find is a fast food outlet, and despite your absolute aversion to processed, factory-farmed food cooked by an apathetic teenager, you will eat it anyways, because you’re hangry and if mama doesn’t get food inside of her soon, somebody’s going to get thrown out a window (wait, did I say this already?).

You will wake up in your cheapo motel room and groan at the fact that you just scored a marvelous 5 1/2 hours of sleep for the second night in a row, because oh yes, you need to get up and keep driving.

This is OK. This is normal. Road trips have their challenges.

I’ll confess that sometimes I’m not the best at lettings these challenges roll off of me. But I think that going into it knowing that some of it will be hard makes it easier to handle when the hard actually happens.

2. AGREE ON YOUR DRIVING PACE.

It can be challenging when you and your spouse have different ideas about how fast you want to get there and what kind of stops you’ll make along the way.

Ryan and I are pretty different in this regard. I’m more likely to want to make real stops and actually sit down to eat. He’s more of a “let’s just get there” personality. With little kids and a nursing baby, we have to compromise, of course, because stopping is inevitable.

We just try to talk openly about it and each day make fresh decisions about where we’ll stop, when and for how long. I try to be easy going about shorter stops than I prefer. He tries to be OK with stopping more than he would like. If we both try to give, it generally works pretty well and we can tackle the trip as friends, not frenemies.

3. CONSIDER SEATING ARRANGEMENTS.

Make sure each child has a place to rest their head for night driving or naps. Kids with car seats that still have high backs can go in middle seats, while older kids not in carseats are better beside windows they can lean a pillow on.

If you have a baby or toddler, it’s also helpful to have them within arms reach of a big kid, who can help to give them a toy that’s fallen or put a soother in their mouth or simply talk to them and try to keep them from screaming while you look for a place to pull over.

4. TRAVELING WITH A YOUNG BABY

I nurse every single time we stop, even if it’s close to baby’s last feed, just to take advantage of every single chance to nurse. We also don’t look for formal stopping opportunities (ie. proper rest stops or restaurant, etc.) but will use any old parking lot or even a safe spot on the side of the road if necessary, and I’ll just nurse in the front seat.

I change my babies on the front seat, to avoid having to find a bathroom with a change table (though I take advantage of them when I find them). It’s not super fun, but it works. I’ve even perfected the art of changing a baby right on my lap. Tricky, but possible.

We also found on this trip that Oliver sometimes cried because he was lonely (this was when he was 4 months old). Things that helped at various times included a mirror on the headrest in front of him (so he could see himself), a colorful dangling toy to look at as well as one strapped to the side of his carseat that he could hold or chew on, soothers (he’s not big into them but sometimes he would take it), and playing music or a podcast that he could hear (sometimes this also helped us when he was crying and there wasn’t much we could do about it).

5. AUDIOBOOKS ARE THE BOMB.

They’re seriously fantastic, especially if you don’t want your kids glued to a screen the whole time.

I love getting interesting kids books or classics from Audible (this is my affiliate link, but it gets you two free books with a 30-day free trial) and putting them on my phone (with the Audible app, shown above). Some winners with our kids lately have been the Ramona Quimby series and Henry Huggins (both by Beverly Cleary, and brilliantly read by Stockard Channing and Neil Patrick Harris), the Chronicles of Narnia, the Mysterious Benedict Society, and the Magic Tree House series (this is slightly younger in appeal – good for 4-9 yrs).

I make sure I have at least a few pre-downloaded (over WiFi at home or overnight at a hotel) before we drive. You don’t want to download them over data unless you’re desperate. We also love the Story of the World audio recordings, and bring the CDs along with us as a way to get in a little history while we travel (even Ryan and I enjoy listening to them).

We adults also enjoy a good audiobook and at times we’ve listened to various books together, and then had great conversations about them afterwards. Ryan and I have a slight preference for listening to podcasts together, so we tend to go with those instead, but the principle is the same.

6. MOVE WHEN YOU CAN (AND HOW TO EARN STRANGE LOOKS AT GAS STATIONS)

Every single time we get out, I do stretches and jumping jacks and encourage my kids to do so (encourage might be too gentle – I may occasionally step into drill sergeant mode, but I can always tell the difference in them after).

This is important enough to me that I do it anywhere and everywhere, even right in the middle of a gas station lot (for the record, my husband thinks I’m super cool).

Everyone feels better when we get out and move, even if it’s only for two minutes. Staying as active as possible is so important, not only just to feel better and help the kids get out their wiggles, but also to prevent sore muscles and tension headaches from long hours stuck at the wheel.

7. STOP AND DO SOMETHING FUN

We had fairly limited time to make both of our incredibly long drives, but still found ways to sneak in a bit of adventure.

On our drive there, we took a few hours one afternoon to visit Mount Rushmore as we made our way across South Dakota, which was amazing. We had fun trying out Thomas Jefferson’s ice cream recipe (OK, I had my doubts about the authenticity of this claim, but it was a good excuse to eat ice cream nonetheless).

On our drive back, we had to cross the USA/Canada border and going through Niagara Falls added only two hours to our drive time, so we made the detour. We got in late at night, stayed at a local hotel, got up early to walk to the falls, took some photos, and had a 30-minute boat ride out into the mist. It was slightly rushed, but 100% worth the effort. The falls are incredible and the boat ride really made the visit for us.

Although there are genuinely amazing sights like this to see all along your travels, even the smaller places are worth stopping for. Go eat at a cool looking road side restaurant. Pull over for scenic photo spots along the way. Visit a small museum you stumble upon. Anything that adds to your sense of adventure and helps you to savor the trip, not just the destination.

8. FIND YOUR BALANCE WITH KID ENTERTAINMENT

For shorter trips, we don’t do a whole lot of iPad or movies. In fact, sometimes we don’t offer screens at all. I should note that our family is bizarre in that a shorter trip for us is very relative. Our kids cheer when we tell them we’re only driving 7 hours today, not 15, or that we’ll get there in just one day of driving, not four. So take the word “short” with a grain of salt. 

On longer trips, though, especially when we’re trying to make fast progress and we just need a happy van (and sane parents), we pull out the iPad with pre-downloaded movies and let them go to town.

When we stayed the night at a friend’s house on one of our trips, our dear friend Mark gave us the gift that keeps on giving…  the longest charging cord for an iPad we’d ever seen. It reached the back of our minivan with ease. Bless his heart.

The rest of the time we let each kid pack a backpack with some coloring books or notebooks and a pencil case, favorite small stuffed friends or figurines, lego (yes, it’s a bugger to clean if it spills, but it does provide so much entertainment value we’ve deemed it worthwhile), etc.

Do our kids still get bored sometimes, especially when we’re saying no to screen time? Sure. They’re regular kids. But the more we stick to our guns and encourage them to get creative and find ways to entertain themselves, the better they get at actually doing just that.

9. MINIMIZE MOTION SICKNESS

4 out of 7 of us get motion sick (myself and the toddler included). I like the MotionEaze essential oil blend, and we also use peppermint oil. Ginger oil is supposed to work well, but we’ve never tried it.

Sometimes we buy candied ginger chunks from the health food store, though most of our kids don’t care for them. Any brand of ginger capsules will also help. We find that opening a window and getting fresh air helps a lot, and those who are prone to getting sick aren’t allowed to read or look at screens on windy roads.

Road trips are also the one time when our kids are allowed gum (which we typically avoid because of the awful ingredients in conventional brands). I try to find a brand made with xylitol if I’m thinking ahead (usually only health food or supplement stores carry it), but in a pinch, we’ll buy peppermint/spearmint gum at a gas station.

As an adult that struggles with motion sickness, I do 110% better by driving through a windy stretch rather than being a passenger, so Ryan always lets me drive during those times.

10. STAY AWAKE

I won’t tell you not to use stimulants like coffee (and lots of it) to get through. We found that we had to. But coffee’s not the only way to stay alert. Other things we found helpful:

• coconut water (very hydrating)
• green smoothies (even the bottled ones)
• eating plenty of protein
• opening the window for fresh air
• pulling over at rest stops to take a brief walk or do jumping jacks (this really is my silver bullet)
• playing lots of podcasts/music/audiobooks to keep our minds busy

Most importantly, never push yourself if you feel that you’re truly that tired. Always stop and trade places, pull over to get out and stretch or buy a coffee, or even decide that you’re done for the night and find a place to sleep. We had hoped to pull a couple all-nighters to make faster time and in the end didn’t think we could do it safely, so we stopped to grab 6 hours of sleep at a hotel then got up and started again. Much better than driving dangerously.

We also kept an adult pillow in the passenger seat and both tried to take at least one nap per day. I don’t sleep particularly well in cars, but I will nap if I’m tired enough, and some sleep is better than no sleep.

11. START YOUR DAY AT THE GROCERY STORE

On our way to Nashville, Ryan did a big Costco shop and stocked up our van with several types of granola or Lara bars, nuts and trail mix, gluten free crackers, beef jerky, healthy breakfast cookies, carrot sticks, snap peas, etc. It was awesome to start out with so much food, because it meant we could just pass food back (or up to the ravenous nursing mama) and keep going when tummies started rumbling.

On our way back home, we didn’t have this big stash, but after a couple days got wise and began our mornings by finding a grocery store and picking up things like grapes or mandarin oranges, baby carrots, hummus, corn chips, bars, trail mix, etc. (Hint: choose a grocery store beside a coffee shop? Win-win :). One morning we even got fresh buns from a bakery, deli meat, mayo and cheese slices and made ourselves “breakfast” sandwiches so we didn’t have to go to a restaurant, which was lovely.

12. LET KIDS BRING PILLOWS AND BLANKETS

Even small pillows are helpful, if you don’t want full sized pillows taking up space. Our kids really like being cozy and the 3 year old would even pretend he was in a “fort”, plus this helped them to sleep during night or early morning driving.

13. GET THEE A GPS

We discovered this crucial tip halfway through our round-the-world travels. Because getting lost is one of THE most frustrating and stressful things ever, especially when you’re already tired on a long road trip.

Now we never venture out without our Tom-Tom GPS (we use this in countries where our cell phones don’t have data and we pre-purchase the country maps we need) or an iPhone for Google Maps or Waze (our fave GPS app).

We nicknamed ours “the marriage saver”. You’re welcome.

14. DON’T PRE-BOOK YOUR HOTELS

If you’re driving for multiple days and know that you’ll need to sleep somewhere, it’s great to have a goal of where you want to get to, but even better to leave it open-ended.

Each night, we’d start looking at the map around 7 or 8pm, to get a feel for how far we thought we could get. Most nights we stopped between 10-12pm (usually closer to 12, to get in extra hours while the kids and baby slept). Whoever wasn’t driving would pull out their cell phone and use the Booking.com app to look up a place to stay in the town that we thought we’d reach.

Booking last minute often gave us cheaper prices and we’ve never had a problem finding a room. For larger families, double check the hotel/motel’s policies about children. Many will let you have unlimited extra kids under 16 for free, so long as they stay in the beds provided (ie. no extra beds/roll-away cots provided by the hotel). But also, some hotels are strict about number of people in rooms and it’s better to know than ahead of time and choose somewhere different, rather than end up having troubles once you arrive.

We travel with kid-sized sleeping bags and pillows, so we can pay for a cheap 4-person room with two double or queen sized beds (maybe a couch if we’re lucky), put the baby/toddler in a playpen, and the extra kids on the floor in sleeping bags.

So long as I double check the hotel’s policies, we’ve never had a problem with this. Now that our kids are getting bigger we do sometimes require two rooms, but not everyone has 5 kids like we do, and by booking last minute and being willing to stay in cheap roadside motels/hotels (so long as the reviews aren’t horrible) we get by for relatively cheap.

15. MEMORIALIZE YOUR JOURNEY

Social media makes this not only easy, but so fun. Instagram is my platform of choice for capturing moments while we travel and making a record of them.

While I have plenty of people who like to follow along with us as we travel, I’ll confess that it’s mostly for me. I take photos of places or things I want to remember, and love to look back on what I shared during our trips.

And if you’re Facebook lazy like me, but want to share with friends and family who aren’t on Instagram, just set up your IG account so that you can post each photo over to your Facebook page as well. Easy peasy.

Create hashtags for the places you’re in, or make a special family travel hashtag that others can follow and you can use to sort out your own posts. I also use the location feature so that each photo states exactly where it was taken.

And that’s how we survive road trips with 5 kids! In fact, not only have we learned to survive them, but they’ve become something our family loves to do. They help us travel further and more often because of how much money they save us over flying!