Taking a road trip with kids, is like trying to contain a small pack of Gremlins in a car.

It is no easy feat.

A lot of people hold off on travel until their children are bigger. Especially if it involves lots of time in the car. There are also those who believe that travel with young children is pointless, because they won’t remember it.

And it’s true they may not.

But they will experience the sights and sounds and they will absorb them. Those little brains of theirs are working on over-drive growing and developing! There is research that suggests that the right kind of experiences in our early years can help the brain to grow.

Additionally, the opportunities travel provides for language development and hands on learning are endless! Exposure to new places introduces new vocabulary and real world connections to that language.

So, I’m of the camp that travel with young children, no matter how difficult, is worth it. We recently took a 5 day road trip with our girls (2 and 5), where we our time in the car was literally a fifth of our trip. Seriously, 22+ in the car.

While it’s only a 5 hour drive there, our entire trip was centered around visiting sites and attractions all long the Outer Banks, NC.  In total an approximately 120 mile span one way. Here’s how our travel broke down.

• Day 1:  340 miles, 5 ½ hours
• Day 2: 90 miles, 5 hours, 20 minutes + 5 hours total waiting for ferry* Read about our ferry nightmare here!)
• Day 3: 78 miles, 2 hours
• Day 4: 29 miles, 45 minutes
• Day 5: 381 miles, 7 hr 15 minutes

Total travel time: 21 hours, 50 minutes Miles travelled:

This does not include our 5 hour wait for the ferry. If I added that, we were in the car a total of 25 hours and 50 minutes in a 5 day span.

So how did we do it without losing our minds?

I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve that helped make our travel bearable. I can’t promise complete miracles but I can give you a little bit of traveling peace and quiet. Maybe even enough to catch a nap in the car!

Don’t get me wrong. There are still going to be melt-downs and a couple hundred “are we there yets?” But, you can probably avoid some Clark Griswold style calamities if you stick with this list.

10 Practical tips for traveling with small children

1. Technology

In today’s world, this one shouldn’t come as a surprise. Technology is the secret weapon of parent’s everywhere.

Be sure to have those tablets locked and loaded! We made sure ours were fully charged and downloaded a few movies and shows off Netflix for times when our Internet was spotty.

We also jammed out to lots of kids stations on Pandora. One of the best things about having little kids is that they still think it’s hilarious when their parents act silly. It’s an instant ego boost!

2. Pack snack upon snacks

And snacks upon snacks upon snacks. Seriously, all the snacks, ever. Somehow being stuck in the car will turn your children into ravenous beasts with empty pits for stomachs.

We kept a bag of snacks and sippy cups behind one seat, and a cooler in the other. This way we had easily accessible snacks and drinks. This went with us every day. When we got home for the day we’d pop the leftovers and the ice pack in the fridge at the hotel. In the morning we’d re-pack it all. This also helped us save money on snack foods.

3. Let them eat in the car

Even if you don’t normally allow your kids to eat in the car, bend that rule for vacations. Vacuuming out crumbs from your car is a small price to pay for a little bit of sanity.

Stick with things that will be easy to clean though. I once had the brilliant idea of Go-gurt smoothies in a moving car.

Not recommended.

Also, it’s probably best to stick with water in the car. Smelling spoiled milk for an entire road trip is probably not the best of experiences.  Not that I would know or anything.

4. Pack bribes

When it comes to bribes on road trips, there is no shame in my game. My girls love “pop-pops,” those little Dum-dum suckers you can buy pretty much anywhere. I kept a handful in my pocketbook and pulled them out at opportune moments.

Toddler screaming because she wants out? Give her a pop-pop. Fussing and fighting in the back seat? Pop-pops to the rescue!

It’s extremely hard to talk with a lollipop in your mouth.

Trying to smile with a lollipop in her mouth

These also worked wonders on some of our adventures! We went on an amazing airboat ride with Outer Banks Adventures. (Be sure to read about it here.) We had to wear headsets that were a little bit bigger than my kids were used to. The youngest wanted to mess with hers, until we gave her a pop-pop. Problem solved!

Or if you don’t have any bribes handy, you can always find some to promise. When the girls started getting restless on the drive to the top of the Outer Banks, we promised them some smoothies from Island Smoothie and were instantly rewarded with peace and quiet. You can also learn more about those amazing smoothies here.

5. Time drives accordingly

This is especially important if you have a kiddo that still naps.

For our longer drives, we try to leave early in the morning, or right at nap time. Our youngest, isn’t the best of nappers, but she will sleep like a champ in the car! We got a three hour stretch of driving on the way down with her sleeping.

When we took trips during the day at the Outer Banks, we tried to make sure at least part of the travel was lined up for when she needed to nap. We tried to make these the longest stretch of time we’d be in the car.

6.  Play games

My oldest loves to play, I-spy on road trips. I end up guessing things like the leaves on the trees, or, the lines on the road a thousand times, but it keeps her happy. We also enjoy rousing games of 20 questions, where the answer is almost always a horse.

When the girls are older, we’ll teach them new road-trip games. My personal favorite as a child was the license plate game.

7. Make frequent stops, lots of potty breaks

Your kids were not built for sitting. They are not going to have the stamina for that you do. Be sure that you every couple of hours to let them get out and stretch their legs.

Depending on their stage in potty training, you might need to possibly stop even more frequently. We planned our meals around being able to get out of the car and take a break. I made sure I knew where the closest rest stops were along the way too. They have good amounts of space to get out and stretch our legs, and usually cleaner bathrooms than gas stations. And they also have caffeine.

8.  Always bring a change

This will be old news for most of you, and as a mom of two kids it should’ve been to me by now, but always bring a change of clothes.

On our recent Outer Banks trip we visited a beach access on Ocracoke Island. It was a slightly chilly, breezy April day so we weren’t planning on swimming. So of course, the first thing my youngest does when we get there? Fall in the water.

And…total mom fail. I had nothing but pull-ups and towels in the beach bag. So, our beach trip was cut short and she spent visited the next lighthouse in a towel and a pull-up.

I was better prepared when it rained on our Wild Horse Adventure Tour, (which was a-mazing by the way! Read about it here). I’d pulled out a change of clothes just in case. We were more fortunate this time, and didn’t need it, but I learned from my last mistake and was ready just in case!

9.  Prepare for the unexpected.

So no matter how well we plan it, we’re likely going to have things that derail our travel plans, right?

This is especially true with road trips. Chances are if you’re on the road long enough, you’re going to encounter delays.

We had this happen on our trip to the Ocracoke ferry and we were NOT prepared. Tablet’s and phones were not fully charged, naps needed to be had, and we were not prepared for the eternal wait times at the ferry. We spent 2.5 hours (BOTH times!), in a cranky toddler, whiny preschooler, grumpy parents induced Hades. This was in addition to a 2 hour round trip ferry ride.

While I’d taken the time to research the nearest hospital to everywhere on our trip, I encountered a scenario I couldn’t have predicted, roadwork on Ocracoke was causing massive delays on the ferry. What I learned though?

Always be prepared.

Make sure everything is completely charged. Don’t count on ferry’s running on time to factor in your afternoon naps. Bring more snacks than you could ever possibly need. Maybe a bottle of wine to ease your fraying nerves. And for the love of God, remember the change of clothes!

10.  Be patient

Here’s the rub of it. Road trips with children aren’t easy. Like I said in the beginning, you’ve essentially stuffed a small caravan of wild Gremlins into car seats and hoped for the best.

Those Gremlins though are your precious babies. And no matter how many times they ask you, “Are we there yet?” you’re still going to love them at the end of the day. So be patient with them.

Sitting on your butt, practically immobile for hours on end isn’t fun for adults either. Travel can be stressful. Your odds of having a perfect trip are also approximately the odds of being in a plane crash.

So be nice to your family. Nobody likes a grump. Have a little grace under fire and remember that this will all be worth it.

So sit back and enjoy the ride! You’ll be there soon. Also be sure to check out my upcoming post on Road trip Essentials to see some of the specific products that saved our lives on the road!

And don’t forget to give me a follow on Pinterest! I’ll be sharing more of our adventures and all the fun travel tips I find a long the way!