Road Trip Survival Guide

With the impending summer holidays on the horizon and the prospect of a long family car journey ahead, is the question ‘are we there yet?’ filling you with horror? Have no fear, there are ways to keep your children entertained in the car without always having to resort to the use of technology. The professional domestic cleaning company, MOLLY MAID, has some suggestions to help you survive your family road trip! The key to road trip survival is in the preparation! Make sure you plan realistic stops that the family can work with.

1. If you are travelling with smaller children, it is always a good idea to try to plan at least some of your road trip during their nap time. Children tend to find the movement of the car therapeutic to going to sleep. This will give you parents a little break to allow you to concentrate on the road and to have an uninterrupted catch-up.
2. Don’t forget to bring the essential baby wipes for sticky hands and faces. They’re also useful for cooling anyone down in the car if you’re travelling in the heat.
3. Bring some plastic bags for rubbish to avoid spillages and extra mess. They can also be used should anyone suffer from travel sickness.
4. If you already know that one of your children suffers from travel sickness, pack an old Tupperware with a lid – this way spillages can be avoided (as well as smell) until the contents can be disposed of.
5. Bring plenty of water in refillable bottles – each child should have their own bottle and avoid sweet drinks.
6. Bring neck pillows and thin sheets as these are great to use as blankets or as a sun shade.
7. Remember a change of clothes for all the children as you can never predict when there will be a spillage and pack an extra towel too.
8. Bring enough snacks (nuts, easy-to-eat fruits like grapes, and a few little sandwiches) and ration them throughout the journey – otherwise the children will devour them in the first half an hour of the car journey.
9. For entertainment ask the children in advance what audio books they might like to listen to (and ones that you can tolerate listening to!). Try suggesting some classics like Secret Seven or Swallows and Amazons. If they all choose different audio books, download them onto an Ipods with headphones.
10. Ask your eldest child to make a playlist for the whole family to enjoy. After all, everyone loves a sing-along to kill some time.
11. If your children don’t suffer from travel sickness, bring notebooks with pens. You can suggest doing a travel journal, or playing car bingo (these sheets can be printed off before leaving) to see who completes it first.
12. Download a few films on the ipad or have DVDs to hand to play (with headphones) should you get stuck in a traffic jam, or to play for the last few hours as a treat for behaving so well!

Planning is the key to road trip survival – it’s a breeze after that! Good luck and happy travelling.

See Full Bio