Yup… you heard me correctly! I have traveled 3 times now solo with our three young children; ages 4, 2, and 1. My husband joined us on the front end of our last road trip which was 19 hours and I’m about to drive solo again with the boys this weekend for a 10 hour trip. There are several things I do to make sure we ALL don’t spend the entire time bawling from exhaustion, boredom, and insanity :). Here they are:
1. Start Driving EARLY!
I try to start driving around 4:30am so they can get back to sleep quickly in the car. This way, I can get almost 3 hours of the drive done with everyone asleep. I put one earbud in to listen to my own music so I don’t wake the kids up. This times perfectly so when they wake we can do our first gas fill up, potty breaks, and I can get their breakfast open and handed to them.
If you are driving with your spouse, you can leave right before bed time and drive through the night. You two can switch drivers every couple of hours and the kids can sleep through the night in their seats. You can get a good 9-11 hours done before they wake up! If you switch every 4-5 hours, one person isn’t completely burnt out and exhausted the next day. We like to stop and find fun activities and places on our route, but that would suck if you drove the entire time and were on ZERO sleep!
Driving while it is still dark during the night or early hours of the morning has its challenges. Make sure you pack and bring the following things:
- Earbuds and phone/ipod/etc.
- Fun playlist that is upbeat and keeps you engaged.
- Extra pillow if your spouse is driving with you so they can catch some zzz’s. Eye mask is also good for someone napping during the day.
- Coffee, water, 5 hour energy, apples, or whatever gives you a sugar boost when you start to feel tired.
- Make sure you’re not constantly drinking 16 liters of soda or other liquids because you’ll need to do a lot of bathroom stops. The challenge with that is if you are solo, you’d need to wake everyone up to bring them in the rest area to use the restroom with you since you can’t leave them in the car unattended.
2. Do a Road Trip-ONLY Activity
My children don’t watch movies or shows on a tv, computer, phone, or i pad when driving in the car; only during road trips! This is something special and exciting that they look forward to doing which makes the time pass quickly. We take turns on who picks the next movie to make it fair. I found a used, dual screen dvd player that straps to the back of their headrests on Amazon for $20.
If movies in the car is not your thing, find another special game! We also like Travel Bingo boards from the Dollar Tree where they circle road signs and objects they see on the trip on their board. You can use a special treat, magnetic board with activities, a coloring book, I-Spy game, special books, or more.
3. Pack & Load the Car STRATEGICALLY
I made the mistake on our first road trip to pack everything in big suitcases and just pile everything in the car without really thinking through placement of items. I was also driving with 2 toddlers, a newborn, and pumping, so that was a crazy 19 hours! Below are some things I learned about packing and loading the car.
Food and Drink Advice:
First and foremost, the correct snacks are necessary on road trips. You want snacks that are easy to eat, aren’t choking hazards, aren’t super messy, or that can easily melt. Trust me, I’ve learned the hard way. Ask my poor car seats…
I place a box of snacks within arms reach of me, on the passengers seat or right behind my middle console, so I can reach them quickly. I toss them to my sons already open and they just guzzle them up and place the wrappers in their seat. At the next stop when we all unbuckle, I use one of the grocery bags I have and throw everything in the trash.
I have a second box with drinks for myself and my kiddos along with any medications like kids tylenol that I might need quickly. I keep that in front of my middle console or on the passenger seat’s floor since the kids don’t need to grab those and I don’t need those immediately.
You don’t want your whole family to be super dehydrated but at the same time, you don’t want to stop every hour to pee. My second son Declan is potty training and kept yelling “PEE PEE and POO POO” at the top of his lungs until I stopped at a rest area. Its a little harder when kids are learning their potty signals to tell them to wait because its usually about 1 minute until an accident happens! I would put a pull up on your babies just in case you can’t find a restroom in enough time.
Hotel Advice:
If you are staying in a hotel overnight, pack a small bag with diapers, pull-ups, wipes, pajamas, toiletries, and next day clothes for the whole family. When you park at the hotel, all you need to bring inside is that bag!
If you have a little one that sleeps in a pack and play, make sure that the pack n play is at the top of your trunk. It would stink to have to unload the whole trunk to get that out. Again, learned from experience late at night trying to juggle the luggage, stroller, and three exhausted crying kids solo :/.
4. Take Breaks in the RIGHT Places
I was completely confidence and excited about our first solo road trip until we stopped at our first rest stop on a highway. There was dirty bathrooms, no food or hot coffee options besides the vending machines, strangers staring at this crazy mom of loud, young kids, and no place for the kids to run around without getting hit by cars zooming quickly by. It was then that I actually felt unsafe and scared for our safety. I knew I had to make a different plan for the rest of our trip.
I realized quickly that the best plan with young kiddos is to plan stops by googling where the next Chick-Fil-A location was. Why?
- Clean bathrooms
- Chicken nuggets for the kids
- Coffee and food for mommy
- INDOOR PLAYGROUND for them to run their energy off!
They are legit the only restaurant that has an indoor playground at every location, in every state. Stinks if you are traveling on Sundays and make sure Google doesn’t bring you to an airport terminal….happened to me in Alabama!
When we stopped, we immediately used the bathrooms. I ordered food to go, let my kids play for a while, we used the bathrooms again, and jumped back in the car. I set up a little tray of food for them and they ate while I got gas and started driving again. I highly suggest eating all meals in the car so you can maximize drive time.
I had planned some places to stop like Rock City Gardens in Georgia, Washington D.C., but also stumbled upon some amazing places from billboards on the side of the road like a drive through Safari Park in Virginia.
I hope this list helps you prepare for a road trip with your family! In the comments, please leave other tips you have on road tripping with young babies or amazing locations you have found while driving!
XOXO