DH and i are taking DS on a road trip. The trip would normally take us 9 hours before kids so we expect that it would maybe take 12 hours with ds. Ds will pretty much be 1 when we go (he will turn 1 while we are away). Any tips on how to make this trip as stress free as possible?
We are tossing up whether to leave at ds usual bed time so that hopefully he sleeps most of the way but then we will be travelling in dusk and running the risk of meeting some kangaroo's. Also if he doesn't sleep then we will have a disaster on our hands. Other option is leaving really early in the morning and driving through the day taking plenty of rest stops to let him stretch his legs. I was thinking about getting some cheap toys over the next few weeks and bring them out as we travel to hopefully keep him occupied. Other than that i cant really think what else to do. Any tips, also feel free to tell us we are crazy, im starting to think we are!
for safety sake id leave after an early brekky and consider doing the 12 hours in two days!!
have you got a portable DVD player for those times when he'll get restless?
We did think of a dvd player but ds isn't really interested in tv. He will only really watch it for a few minutes before he gets bored. Its still a few weeks away though so he might be a bit more interested then.
We did a big car trip (approx 9hours) from Ballarat to Adelaide when DD was 9mths old in the hot Summer weather (lucky we bought a brand-new car just before the trip with air-con) ... We did a few stops to change her nappy & feed & yeh, stretch the legs & get her some fresh air too ... We left just after breakfast & to our surprise she slept about 70% of the entire trip & we arrived when still daylight
Smiles4u that sleep would be lovely!! We are travelling from Adelaide to Wagga Wagga so prob about the same distance. Will be in December so will be getting warm also. I say 12 hours to be generous, i hope it doesn't take that long!
Yeh, we did it in mid Jan and i had my birthday when there
... DD honestly didn't need much entertainment as she had been doing 2.5hrs drives one way to DP's folks since she was 5weeks old. So, maybe she was use to it (??) ... But still we made sure she had some of her fav toys
Our car windows are not tinted so we were mindful of any sun on her (so made sure she had window shade covers) ... it wouldn't hurt to pop some sunscreen on too if you felt the need (i use the handy roll-on Hamilton brand from Priceline for Toddlers)
I even packed in a small cooler bag for her with a little water to drink, a face cloth in a plastic lock-bag (so nice to cool her down with if needed to when out of the car & can wet with the water) & jars of baby food, like the fruit puree ones (not the tin ones as may rust in the cooler bag with any water in there).
We were there for 5nights ... and our motel air-conditioner wasn't working properly so at nights when hot we would go for a drive even at midnight & she would be sound asleep but at least she was cool & DP & i enjoyed going for nice balmy night drives (can be very romantic ... hint, hint )
We did Melb to Adelaide when DD was around 3.5 months. She slept most of the way and it wasn't until we hit the Adelaide hills that she got unsettled. One the way back she was feril most of the time - we ended up stopping over night in Horsham. I'd recommend splitting the trip into two days if you afford to.
I second the DVD player. Also CDs with nursery rhymes etc to distract. A variety of toys to play with in the car. And don't forget snacks!
DD is now nearly 3 and we still struggle to travel more than 3-4 hrs before she is feril. Recently did 1.5 to Sorrento and she lasted maybe an hour before she started with "Are we there yet? MUM are we there yet? Why not? Mum!!!! Are we THERE yet?" which lasted the remainder of the trip
When we do really long trips, we leave by 5am so DD is still a wee sleepy and just go straight from bed to car for her.
We're going on a road trip
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