Traveling with your family is an amazing way to create lifelong memories, explore and expose your kids to different cultures, and bond as a family. However, planning a family vacation is no easy feat, particularly if you have young children. If you’ve ever seen National Lampoon’s Family Vacation, you may have an idea of why road trips with the family are a bit stressful.
With proper planning, your trip doesn’t have to leave you wanting a vacation from your vacation. It can be a bit overwhelming trying to plan out the perfect trip to accommodate everyone in the family, but this article can help you get started.
Here is a quick guide on how to plan a family road trip.
Include Them From the Get-Go
If you include your children in the planning stages, they will be way more excited and helpful because they’re interested and invested in the trip. Get them involved in the early stages and ask their opinions on what destinations to visit, or what kind of stops to make along the way if the destination is pre-determined (for example, if you’re going to visit family members who are out of state).
You can guide their choices by giving them some parent-approved options if you’d rather not open up the floor entirely. It’s important to remember that if you ask for their help in planning that you do take their opinions and wants into consideration. This means you should choose some of their decisions so they do actually feel listened to and included. Having a family meeting about it will help your trip to start off on the right foot.
Rent an RV
Motorhome rentals are a great way to add an extra sense of adventure and excitement for your kids. Plus, they’re much more comfortable than driving around in a family car because there’s more space for everyone. They also allow you to save some money on hotels since you can sleep in your motorhome, and you’ll get that added feeling of being closer to nature that your kids will love.
Plan Your Route
Getting your route mapped out in advance is the easiest way to ensure your trip goes off without a hitch. With your kids’ input, map out all the stops you want to make along the way to your destination. Some spots will require reservations ahead of time, so be sure to plan in advance to avoid disappointment.
Leave Room for Extra Stops
Traveling with children means a lot of unexpected breaks or stops. Your kids may be having tantrums that need dealing with, or someone may get sick and need some care. There is an endless number of possibilities that could slightly derail your plans, so it’s best to account for the potential detours or delays ahead of time.
Leave room in your travel itinerary for extra rest breaks or stops along the way so you aren’t rushing from place to place trying to make it in time. It will help you remain calmer if something doesn’t go exactly as planned, which will help keep the stress levels down for the whole family.
Make Time for Exercise
Being cooped up in a vehicle for hours at a time can make your kids a bit rowdy, so it’s important to take time at rest stops for them to run around and get some playtime in. It will help your kids let off some steam and get some exercise so the time spent driving is easier for everyone.
Alternative
If all of this feels overwhelming, another fun and more urban idea is to rent a limo by using Limo Find. With limited supplies and less planning you can still do a road trip in a different way. Take the kids on a sight seeing tour around the city with some planned stops along the way to places like an aquarium, museum and of course an ice cream shop or sweet shop. Plan ahead with collecting fun facts of places that the kids will see to pique their interest and add some learning too.
