14 More Tips for Successful Family Trips

Posted by LisaV | 0 comments

With the holiday season well underway and many of us traveling during this busy time, I wanted to share more tips for successful family trips. I had written an article, “11 Tips for Successful Family Trips,” after visiting Niagara Falls 4 years ago. Now that we’ve returned from a trip to the East Coast this summer, I discovered more tips that I’d like to share with you.

1. Bring a tissue box in the car and a plastic bag for garbage. Self-explanatory.

2. A GPS device has become a necessity for most families, especially ones that are navigationally-challenged like ours. The TomTom saves a lot of headache and arguments. Even though it may not pinpoint a specific restaurant, it will get you in the vicinity where you can navigate by sight.

3. Bring a laptop, or not. At the last minute, we decided to pack our laptop for our 11-day trip, since we didn’t want to deal with hundreds of emails when we returned home. It was also a way for us to contact people when we needed to. I found that Facebook worked better than email when staying at hotels. Most of our hotels had free internet access, but others charged a fee. At those hotels, we used the business center for free access. With four of us using one computer, it limited our time on the computer, which was just fine with us.

4. Bring coins for tolls and laundry. We kept a plastic container for quarters and another container for nickels and dimes. About midway through our 11-day stay, we washed a couple loads to make it through the rest of our vacation. We also laundered beach towels and swimwear, as we didn’t want to bring the Virginia Beach sand back home. Our hotel conveniently had self-serve laundry machines in the fitness center.

5. Bring snacks (such as granola bars, fruit snacks, and crackers) and bottled water in a cooler if you have room in your vehicle. These can serve as breakfast or as snacks to tie you over to the next meal. On some days, we only had two meals, brunch and dinner.

6. In our van, we took out the middle bench and had the kids sit in the back. We stored our cooler, laptop, and other items in the middle while we put our suitcases in the back. This gave us more room and distance, so my husband and I could converse without the kids hearing every word.

7. Bring an iPod with sermons and music to listen to while you drive. It helps the time pass much faster. We also brought a stack of books. All of us finished reading Life without Limits (http://heartofthematteronline.com/life-without-limits/) this summer.

8. Plan out your days, but stay flexible. On our first day in Virginia Beach, the kids enjoyed the ocean so much that we planned to return the second day. We bought body boards on the boardwalk so the kids could ride the waves. At the beach we noticed everyone on the shoreline. Undeterred, the boys and I jumped in the water so they could use their boards. After a few minutes, a man walked in and remarked to the boys, “So you’re not scared of jellyfish either.” We headed towards shore and discovered brown mushroom-like jellyfish in the water. Our 14-year-old had gotten stung, though it turned out to be the equivalent of a bug bite. We used TomTom to look for another beach and found one in the bay. We had to cross 20 miles of bridges and tunnels to reach this state park, but it was quiet and pleasant to float on the body boards and soak in the sun.

9. Wear comfortable walking shoes if you’ll be seeing lots of sites on foot. I had my Sketchers Tone-up sandals on the whole time and my legs were very sore after the days of hard walking in Washington, D.C. Learn from my mistake.

10. If you want to avoid big-city traffic, take an alternate route. We decided to avoid Chicago this year, so we headed to Urbana on the way to Kentucky. On our trip home, we drove through Aurora and missed the Chicago traffic. We estimate that the time spent driving was the same.

11. Don’t criticize your husband’s driving unless you want to drive. Since I dislike driving very much, I kept my mouth closed. He did a great job anyway.

12. The 5-hour energy drinks, once a day when we were driving for long stretches, really helped our driver keep his eyes open.

13. We had neck pillows for the passengers to take naps on the long drives.

14. Before your trip, wash everyone’s sheets and towels. Clean out the fridge but keep some pizzas and popsicles in your freezer. You’ll be glad you did when you return home.

Wishing you a holiday season filled with joy, love, and peace on your family trips!

Lisa Van Dong has been teaching her two sons since 2004 and attempts to incorporate study, work, service, and play into their homeschooling days. She takes an eclectic approach to homeschooling and enjoys reading, writing, editing, and essential oils. Lisa blogs publicly at Pockets of Time and privately at Scooter and B.