Do You Road Trip?
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 4:02 PM
A while ago, we had a podcast chat about traveling with young children, and I mentioned that we’d yet to take a long road trip with our kids. When traveling more than half-a-day’s drive away, we always fly.
That’s about to change. On Thursday, we’re loading the car and driving to stay with Blaise’s godparents in Virginia, a ten-hour drive from here.
I’m excited for our vacation. I’m happy about all the money we’re saving by driving; plane tickets and car rentals add up fast. We’re going for a week, and I know we’re going to have a lovely time and the actual travel part is comparatively insignificant.
I’m still nervous.
My daughter gets motion-sick, and so do I. Mine is the milder sort; I merely feel nauseated. My daughter’s is the messier sort; I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to pull over suddenly to deal with a situation in the back seat.
Naturally, I dread car travel.
But we’re doing this. I’m sure it’s the right choice. We’ll have to make the best of it.
Realistically, I know it won’t be so bad. For one thing, we’re splitting the drive and spending the night in a hotel along the way. My husband has offered to let me drive whenever I feel sick or need him to entertain the kids (he loves driving and I don’t, so he’s usually behind the wheel) and I know he’ll do it happily. The drive, especially through Pennsylvania and West Virginia, should be very pretty. It’ll be fine.
Unfortunately, I’m still feeling vaguely unprepared. I know all the tricks of packing for air travel, but it seems road travel should be different. I can focus less on streamlining and more on making sure we have everything we need for the long haul.
Which is… what? Other than the portable DVD player, which I’d love to bring but can’t because videos worsen motion sickness, I’m at a loss here. I’m sure plenty of you are experienced road-trippers, laughing behind your hands at my ten-hour “long haul” - will you help?
Please, throw me all your road-tripping advice! I need it!
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