How to Enjoy Traveling with Toddlers and a Baby (yes, really!) in 12 Easy Steps
Last week we took a big trip with the family (my husband, 4 year old son, 3 year old son, and 8 month old daughter) from NJ down to Lynchburg, VA for the week. We drove because I have a completely irrational fear of flying and flat out refuse to get on a plane. Now, this might sound like complete insanity to willingly choose to be trapped in a car with 2 toddlers and a baby for hours on end, but because we are experienced travelers in this way, it wasn't bad at all!
We love to travel and go places (even 20 hours in the car to Kansas City!) and we have gained useful experience over the last four years that make traveling with little ones easy. Last summer we were in and out of Marriott hotels for my husbands job. We followed him on the long weeks he would spend in D.C. and were in a hotel a week at a time for many months.
Not gonna lie, I got very used to having a housekeeper clean my room, make our beds, vacuum everyday and have access to a large assortment for breakfast foods right outside our door every morning (or nicely delivered to me in bed by my husband or room service)!
Here are 12 pro tips on having a really fun car trip and successful vacation with toddlers and a baby:
#1. Prepare! Success is when opportunity meets preparation (words of wisdom passed down to
me from my Dad).
I plan out all of my childrens outfits. I know this sounds OCD but when you are not in your own home and are trying to get out the door with three little ones in the morning, it is so much easier to not even have to think about what they're wearing, know you remembered everything down to the undies, and grab a pre-packed bag. Plus, I really like them to all be coordinated and match (okay, maybe I'm slightly OCD). To save space in their duffle bags and keep the outfit together, I bag all of them in ziploc bags, push the air out, and seal them up. Lastly, I put a label on the bag for which day or night I want them to wear it on. It will save you SO MUCH space. Obviously, check the weather where you are going. And, check the weather along your route to see if there is anything crazy going on. I have had my sons get in the car in sweat pants and strip them off half way through the trip to reveal their shorts when there was a dramatic temperature change. If it looks iffy have a few bags of inclement weather outfits. I always bring their rain stuff no matter what.
I love the Herschel duffle bags for traveling. They have a compartment for shoes on the bottom to keep them separate and are just the right size. Each one of my children has their own color scheme of Herschel bag and a color coordinated back pack. They know exactly which one is theirs and it makes loading them onto the cart at the hotels so much easier because they all fit nicely on top of one another.
Each one of my kids gets a backpack to pack with whatever they want. This allows them to bring a small amount of toys and books with
them, ones they really like, and they feel ownership over their choices so they don't complain about the toys left behind. It minimizes the amount of toys they bring to the hotel room (they can only bring what fits in the back pack!) and it gives them something to play with on the car trip down.
Sometimes I make fun road trip shirts. Like "Kansas City Bound!" because why not?
#2. Have your tech stuff all set. Charge the iPads. Invest in bluetooth wireless headphones. We use these Contixo ones for kids. We have a hotspot we use. It allows the kids to use games and watch movies on their iPads and allows my husband and myself to do work.
#3. Clean! Do the dishes, vacuum, do all the laundry, etc. Come back to a clean house! There is always so much to unpack and I like to have everything done the day I get home. If I was still catching up on laundry from before we left it would be almost impossible. I clean everything so that when we arrive home we are welcomed to our nice clean home and I can get right to business so we don't have suitcases laying around for days.
#4. Comfort. Get neck pillows, if your munchkin falls asleep it will save them from having a sore neck. Their comfort is key to keeping everyone happy!
The kids all have travel outfits and shoes. These are typically slippers or moccasins they can wear outside at places like rest stops and comfy sweats and a comfy shirt.
#5. Map it out! Make it fun! I look at the map before we go and map out a good place to stop every 3 hours. Sometimes these are quick rest stops or sometimes I find cool museums like the National Museum of the USAF in Ohio where we got to explore and go onto all the old Air Force Ones. On long trips that require an overnight or two I pick a unique town for us to stay in and explore for dinner or breakfast. Two years ago we spent an extra day traveling and explored Chicago. This makes the trip so much more fun and instead of wasting a day traveling everyone feels like they got something out of the day in visiting a new place. The road trip becomes a fun part of the vacation this way.
This year we jutted over to Colonial Williamsburg on the way home. It was a little out of the way but it was the best decision. We were enjoying ourselves so much and the kids were having a great time exploring and interacting and learning about history in the town that we stayed an extra night. We stopped 3 hours into the trip home in DC and stretched our legs on the National Mall. And then had an easy 3 hours left to get home.
#6. Unpack in the hotel! I know that a lot of people enjoy living out of suitcases or just think it is a waste of time to unpack and then repack, but it makes it so much easier to find things, the kids feel better and more settled when their stuff is put away similar to at home, and it just makes your life easier when you are in a space for a long time to have it organized. It only takes me 30 minutes when we arrive to unpack everyone and the benefits are so worth it.
#7. Road trip essentials. Put a trash bag in the car (a clean car makes traveling a lot more enjoyable!), have tissues readily available, hand sanitizers, etc. I put each of these things in each door.
Pack a large insulated snack bag with waters, drinks for the kids, sandwiches, and a bunch of small ziploc bags you can pass to the kids easily filled with treats to eat in the car. I have two
insulated bags that easily fit right behind the center console for quick access.
.
#8. Be flexible. Sometimes the plan can go awry. And we have had it go really, really awry.
Sometimes you hit traffic and can't make your expected stop. We were traveling home from Nashville one year, stopped overnight in my old college town of Fredericksburg, VA and expected to have an easy 3 hour drive home the next day. Nope. It started flurrying (and I mean BARELY flurrying. You could barely see the snow that was coming down) and it backed up all the traffic around D.C.. It took us over 8 hours to get home. It wasn't easy, but there was nothing we could do to change it. I had extra snacks packed and we just hope that level of traffic never impacts us again.
​​
If we are traveling and need an overnight we never book a hotel until we are 30 minutes away from it. When you are traveling with little ones they could start to have an epic meltdown and you realize they are done for the day and you need to book the closest hotel. If you had pre-booked one that was an hour away already that last hour driving to it would be miserable. MISERABLE (I speak from experience when we first started traveling like this with kids). When we are on the road and a little ways into driving, I start looking at the hotels I pre-mapped out and deciding which one is going to fit our needs that day.
#9. Travel smart! Use your points! We have two credit cards we use that are linked to IHG hotels and Marriott hotels. Frequent the same types of hotel because they definitely reward loyalty. Always ask for the upgrades. One year we got the Presidential Suite when we were doing an overnight in Bristol, VA which was very cool.
#10. Don't be irresponsible. You need to make sure you have somewhere to stay if you're traveling with a baby. We don't book till the last minute but we always check and make sure there are plenty of rooms available at certain points along the route. We have encountered times when a place we thought we were going to be able to stop is suddenly booked up for a convention, one year all the planes were grounded for a storm and the entire town of Indianapolis didn't have a room for us, etc. things happen. Have a back-up plan. When we are traveling I look at the route and there are 3 stops I map out. One that is the safe bet, one that is the goal, and one if we are feeling lucky. We never make it to the 'feeling lucky' spot. We almost always stop at the safe spot. I make sure all of the spots have a place to get gas and Starbucks in the morning. We stay in hotels that have breakfast to save time (IHG and Marriott are our two favorite types). We choose rooms that have a kitchen so I can clean bottles and keep milk refrigerated.
#11. Smart packing! We didn't use a rooftop carrier until about 3 years ago and it has been life changing. Babies require a lot of things! I love our Yakima Sky Box. If we are bringing a ton of stuff and going to be gone for a while, I put everything for the long trip on top of the car and then only the stuff for the overnight of traveling in the back of the car. This saves time when you are exhausted from traveling and just want to get into the hotel.
#12. Be prepared financially! Lastly, carry small amounts of cash on you for weird states that don't accept EZ Pass or have bridge tolls or a small town restaurant that had awesome Yelp reviews but doesn't accept credit cards. And put aside extra cash in case you need to buy things. Inevitably something happens to our car, or there are things we need for the kids that we didn't plan on, or just fun things we want to get, places that require admission we decide to check out last minute, anything. Know you have it available and save yourself stress.
