How to Survive a Road Trip…With Your Kids

Since moving to the South more than a decade ago, every summer we plan our pilgrimage back to the Midwest to visit relatives and old friends. Normally, this trip is accomplished with the aid of a jet plane and some friendly relatives waiting for us at the airport to chauffeur us around during our stay. When baby number one came along, nothing changed as far as our means of transportation. Yes, it was a little harder rolling around from gate to gate with that whole car seat/stroller system thing. And true, it’s a tad embarrassing to be “those people” on a two hour flight with a screaming baby who you realize later was suffering from an ear infection, causing the lady across the aisle to proclaim upon landing how badly she needed a drink. But that had to be easier than keeping our poor child strapped in a car seat for the twelve-plus hour road trip, right?
When baby number two came along, we tried the flying thing. Once. Two screaming kids were just not nearly as easy as one. It was quite an undertaking to haul our luggage, car seats, stroller and two kids, who insisted on being carried, from the terminal to the car rental agency, since no longer could we rely on a friendly relative to pick us up and run us around. Between the cost of the airline tickets, baggage fees, airport parking, and the rental car, we knew this wasn’t something we would be able to keep up. It was decided. Our next trip was going to have to be a road trip. Sigh.

After weeks of trying to get my head around the thought of being trapped in a vehicle for twelve hours with two little ones who can’t sit still for more than one minute tops, I just had to embrace it. Much to my surprise, the trip actually went smoother than I could have imagined. There were some very nice benefits to driving. We could pack whatever and as much as we. We could travel on our own schedule, so if we wanted to spend an extra day, it was no problem.