Stay safe while on the road and take extra precautions.
Travelling but not so confident with public transportation? Go on a road trip for your next family city break.
If it’s your first time to go on a road trip, we recommend to really get ready for a smooth ride. A city or town that’s near but relaxing is the best choice for first timers.
Table of Contents
Get a Vehicle Check
Regular service tune-ups, car maintenance and routine cleaning are responsibilities that entail car ownership. All the more, when one plans any long trip. A thorough check is in order. Doing so will reduce the chances of a breakdown during the trip, minimize accidents, and save one money for unplanned spending. Have your tires, batteries checked, make sure that oil and water in their gear boxes are ok to ensure a smooth drive.
Other important things to check are the conditions of the seat belts and other safety features. wipers, air-con, heaters, and everything else that you need to make the journey more comfortable for everyone.
Pack Games
One of the tasks every parent has on road trips is to keep boredom away. While teeners can do well by themselves, younger kids have shorter attention span and they get easily bored with repetition. Parents with little kids can pack books, mind games like a Rubik’s cube, their favorite toys, portable game consoles, audio books that they can listen to, among other entertaining stuff.
If you have a netbook, there are online card games, word and number games, match 3 games, and other such fun online games that one can play for some while. Solitaire, a classic game of cards is one that your kids can master while on the road. It has a lot of variations that after playing it online, you can use some playing cards to play IRL. While travel board games is also a good option, it requires stability while on the road, better to save those for later, when everyone’s settled. Blokus, Monopoly, and even Checkers are our favorites.
Bring a Change of Clothes
Bringing a set of clothes aside from the ones in a luggage would prove practical if untoward incidents occur. Spilling drinks, dropping food accidentally are two of the most common reasons kids get their clothes stained. But there could be other reasons too, as you know your kids well, bring clothing as appropriate to their personality: the careless one gets more stuff packed. ^_^
Change of clothes should be easily accessible, so make sure that you have them at an easy reach within the car, or pack each kid a small bag for their stuff.
Pack Snacks and Drinks
Hunger can make kids grumpy, goes the same for adults too. As Snickers ad define it well: “you’re not you when you’re hungry!“
That’s why a big part of preparation before your trip is devoted to food. Make sure that there’s enough water, healthy snacks, and even packed lunches that the kids can have while on the road. Keep caffeinated drinks on the low to avoid going frequently to the toilet. A good mix of protein-rich snacks like beef jerky would be good to keep hunger at bay.
Have Emergency Kits
Stretch Some
Let your car rest on a road trip, there’s surely spots for rests on long road trips. Car rests are important not only for your car but also for your own safety, and muscles. Take a break every hour or couple of hours to stretch your legs. This is specially good for the driver who is the one to be most-likely tired. Have something to eat, buy some more needs that you have probably forgotten or already consumed, use the toilet, or even see the scenery closer if given. You can then go on engine, tires, water and oil checks.
Car rest stops can be found along the way, specially for roads or highways that are known to stretch for particular destinations. Research on how far off they would be so you would have an estimate of how long you would be on the road with the stops calculated too. A road trip on your next family city break will be fun and enjoyable if you prepare well. It might not be a perfect trip but it comes with the experience.
Now, while on the road, take the time to enjoy the scenery, probably take a picture or two, but if it can’t be helped…sleeping is ok too!
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