Five road trip tips

Wheel adventure: five road trip tips

Road trips are a wonderful family adventure. It doesn’t have to be 10 hours of boredom as you zoom down the Hume Highway to Melbourne. Think of it as invaluable, uninterrupted time for you and your family to spend together – and the perfect environment to impost your own music loves onto your children! Here are our top tips to make your next family road trip a smoother journey.  

1. Plan your stops

Think about the length of the journey and plan one major stop for a meal and a run around. Limit the rest of the stops to brief toilet stops. If you’re driving all day consider starting really early so that you arrive at your destination before feral hour.

2. Fun and games

Revive those car games you played as a kid: I Spy, Who Am I?, Spot the alphabet on passing number plates. They really are fun. Audio books are also great for road trips. In our car, Roald Dahl’s BFG is the all-time favourite and has captivated us all (on several occasions) for more than 400 kilometres. While many people think the iPad is the answer to a peaceful journey, I don’t agree. My advice is to administer electronic devices as a last resort only .

road trip luggage

3. Food and drink

Make and take as much food as you can yourself. It might seem a hassle initially but you will know what your children are eating, you’ll spend less money, it will make the journey much smoother and it also means you don’t have to stop as often.

Fill plenty of water bottles. If you’re travelling in hot weather, freeze a half-filled bottle the night before you leave then top up with cold water before you go – you’ll have nice iced water for much of the trip. And always take more water than you think you’ll need.

4. Clean up your act

Tissues and baby wipes are always useful on road trips. A non-water hand sanitiser is essential for the toilets you encounter along the way (or the emergency nature wee). Make sure you’ve got plenty of plastic shopping bags or disposable nappy sacks. You’d be surprised how much rubbish you generate – and you really don’t want to find a banana skin under the seat a week later.

5. Motion sickness

If your children are prone to car sickness, make sure you’ve got a spare Tupperware or ice-cream container handy in case of emergency.