Long Drives with Small People
Long drives and small people are not a combo that naturally fill you with excitement and enthusiasm.
Each Christmas we do two big drives from Sydney – one to Lismore (8 hours on google maps) and one to Melbourne (9 hours on google maps). Every proper stop adds about 40 mins to an hour if everyone is watered, fed, run and toileted. So let’s say they are more like 9.5 and 11 hour drives. That’s a few kms in the car!
Here are a few things that have worked for our family.
Current ages are 5, 3.5, 2 and 1 (but we’ve done these same strategies the past couple of years)
Tips –
🚘 Leave early – straight after early morning feed/set an alarm (parents get ready 4:30am for 5:30am departure)
🚘 Kids go from asleep in bed, to toilet, to car seats with blankets on them. Blankets are ready to go, in the car.
🚘 Pack the car the day/night before. Like, everything. The only things to go in on the morning of departure are the thermos/fridge bits and the humans!
What goes where?!
In the cabin –
Food/drink
Milk poppas/ bananas/ hot cross buns/ mueslie bars for morning before breakfast
2 drink bottles of water for each kid
Snack towers in abundance/spare snacks to refill snack tubes
Other bits –
Change station with wipes/nappies etc
Bag for day clothes – changes of clothes inside for each child
Activity bags
Garbage bag/s
‘Claw’ – literally from mobilitydirect.com to pass things/pick things up for kids in the very back 😂
Portable DVD player in back of seats (no hand held devices yet)
In the boot –
Suit cases, rectangular shape, easy for packing – one for each person
Potty bag with potty/soap/hand sanitiser/toilet paper/wipes
‘Stop tub’ – big plastic Kmart tub (or bag) with everything needed for a park stop (suncream, wipes, hats, hand sanitiser, picnic rug, bouncer for non-moving baby if you have one, rubbish bag)
Porta cots
Food bags/esky
Bikes etc
Anything other miscellaneous items
Organisation
Cabin
⭐️ 3 sectioned laundry basket
Bottles and formula portioned out/drink bottles
Snacks
Spare activities/DVDs
⭐️ Cold/insulated bag
Fridge left overs and cold things you’d want to snack on
⭐️ Seperate bag for day clothes (they get in car in long PJs)
Snap lock of clothes (and spares) for each kid
Nappies and wipes
‘Pool’ shoes – waterproof shoes that are easy to get off and on by themselves
Socks for being in the car
—- PJs and sleeping bags go back into their snap lock bag so you know where they are for the end of the trip/easy to get them back in their pjs at night*The last trip we did, everyone actually slept in their clothes for the day - this worked so well so we could power through/make the most of that first stop!
⭐️ Activity bags – 4 coloured bags with names on – One for each child (mini-so have great toiletry bags that have 3 bags within a big bag, in various colours https://www.miniso-au.com/en-au/product/105546/toiletry-bag-pink .)
Each bag contains 3 activity bags – one for each ‘session’ of travel – activities include…
Colouring/drawing bits
Stickers
$2 shop finds – flashing wrist bag, slinky, squeeze ball, cars, little figurines, paint with water, window stickers
Books (just from home)
Other activities/printables eg road sign bingo
A special treat
Toys from around the house
Old costume jewellery for my biggest girl who loves to drape herself in bling
*Each child has access to pencils, drink bottles etc too
Hack for kids accessibility to their stuff when in a harnessed car seat - use suction hooks on window with little bag to hold things in. We also use a shower organiser suctioned onto the window to hold snacks/pencils etc.
⭐️ Snacks/food for us
Breakfast – yogurt and muesli
Thermos with tea and huskee cups
Nuts, treats, corn chips
Lunch (left overs, if possible or something easy like veg rice paper rolls)
⭐️ Portable DVD player – life saver!! – borrow dvds from library a couple of days before trip so they feel like they’ve chosen content, without having it at their fingertips the whole trip/you are in control of the content and how long it’s watched for.
Entertainment –
Each ‘session’ after break/stop – **IDEAL** - sometimes this is trumped by DVD watching if all is going to pot
Play with activities from a bag
Watch something (1 hour)
Play/snacks/reading
Sleep/rest time
Choice of Music
The ideal is that there isn’t too much screen time, but the reality is on a trip that long, they are going to watch more TV than usual… and thats ok I reckon.
Organisation for stops –
Have everything in a big plastic tub/bucket accessible in boot of the car – hats, change station, play mat, towel, picnic rug, sun cream, burp cloths, wipes, rubbish bag
Have seperate lunch box ready, or something simple like bacon and cheese rolls
Set expectations around how long the stop will be, to avoid disappointment or riots!
At the other end –
As much as you can, plan for what the small people will eat for dinner. You already have their PJs handy in the one bag, so feed them, bath them give them a play in either the new space or with the toys they’re returning to and they’ll be ready for bed after a big day of travel.
If you’re staying with family, plan out a meal if you can, so it’s ready for you on arrival. If you’re travelling home with no one a the other end, have something ready in the freezer that can be cooked quickly like garlic bread and fish fingers with some veggies. Or… grab some sushi or take out on the way home! Easy!
Happy travels! X