[Kylie Orr]

As school holidays loom, I’m dreading two straight weeks with four children in the house and a whole lot of rain outside. The trade off of no school lunches or early starts for ten days seems menial given the alternative. But as I hear friends discuss their school holiday plans to drive north/south/east/west with a carload of kids, I wonder if maybe staying at home sounds a damn sight more attractive.

I’m lousy at long distances with children in the car. I break out into hives at the very thought of a confined space filled with four bored children. I often dream of a helicopter slash family wagon contraption that can transport the lot of us in a manageable thirty minutes, instead of the four or more hours driving time. Some may call it a light plane.

As soon as we embark on a road trip, one of my children always asks for something to eat. It’s usually when we are exiting the driveway. Fair enough too, because he would’ve only had breakfast thirty minutes before. I can see why he would be starving.

I don’t think we even make five minutes headway before there is a fight about someone looking at someone else the wrong way. Holiday here we come!

If I luck it that the baby falls asleep, inevitably the toddler wakes her up with an enthusiastic rendition of “Dingle Dingle Yittle Star” which he can’t be reprimanded for because he’s cute and he didn’t mean to wake her. Just breathe.

So, here are my top 10 tips for travelling with children:

1. Stay Home.
Look up destinations on Google Earth instead.

2. Travel, Rest, Travel, Rest.
If you must go, set small, bite-sized goals for distance travelled before someone needs a break. Usually a parent. Take the break where there is a toilet away from any venue that has too many desirable items available to purchase. Like alcohol.

3. BYO Food.
Pack food, lots of it. It’s cheaper than buying it at convenience stops, and it entertains small children for decent periods. Lollies that take time to chew and have the ability to fuse the jaw together I find particularly useful.

4. Give in to the Nursery Rhymes.
My husband sees a long car trip as a great opportunity to catch up on podcasts he’s downloaded. I agree. Except when there are four children accompanying us. He hates listening to kids nursery rhymes and stories. I hate listening to whinging and fighting. Nursery rhymes on, volume to the rear. Sorted.

5. Estimate the travel time, then double it.
Pushing on with tired, bored or grumpy children in the car makes for a hellish ride. Better to take your time, get out and admire a really, really tall tree, refresh and resume. Might take you longer but there won’t be patches of hair missing from your head once you arrive.

6. In-Car DVD.
As long as your kids can agree on a movie, can all see properly from where they are sitting, no-one leans over the seat line of anybody else causing hysteria, and nobody speaks the lines of the characters just to annoy their brother, then the DVD is a great sanity saving option.

7. Games, Stickers, Books.
Great entertainment for a while. Then inevitably someone feels seedy from staring down for too long and someone else cops a sticker in the ear and it’s on for young and old. Counting coloured cars works for a while until any one of them becomes too competitive and the game turns grey. It all ends with the game “everyone look out the window and be quiet” while Mum tries to remain calm and delete swear words from her internal dialogue.

8. Pretend to sleep.
One of my personal favourites when things get too much in the confined space. Dozing makes me conveniently unavailable to answer questions, referee fights or meet demands. Then the husband takes on the shushing duties with a pleasant “Mummy’s asleep” and everyone is (figuratively) bound and gagged for at least a short period.

9. Tell me about a time...
Radical thinking here, but I’ve been known to converse with my children and this seems to burn some time. “Tell me what you remember about our last holiday…” and “what was your favourite thing to do at the beach…” are quite engaging. “I can’t remember” and “nothing” could be potential answers, but you need to push through the pain barrier and prod the child until they come up with a happy memory. Don’t beat yourself up if this takes some time.

10. Are we there yet? Phone timer.
We prop our mobile in the phone cradle and put a timer on it. My children have been known to watch the numbers rolling over for a scary amount of time. When any of them ask “how much longer?” we point to the timer. Tough gig for the two year old who can't read numbers just yet.

Surviving a long distance car trip with young children is an achievement worth touting. And an in-pool mini bar when you arrive at your destination is an investment worth paying for. Even if you’re camping in the middle of nowhere.

Do you have any tips for long distance car travel with children? Are you planning any long road trips these holidays?

Kylie

This post has been edited by Kylie Orr: 27/06/2011, 08:43 PM

[heidi's mum]

Not planning any long trips these holidays.....but man i was LOL at your tips. thanks for the laugh and the reminder of why we aren't planning a trip these holidays

[lady-android]

Valium.

[pinkpeony]

friends of my travel the route that has lots of libraries. That way there is a toilet and a room to read or a bit of a stretch even if it is raining.

[Kylie Orr]

Library route? Brilliant!

Valium? Double brilliant!

There must be people out there who do the long-haul trip and arrive unscathed? I'm just not sure what the trick is....

[hm6]

Our kids are bigger now but we did plenty of long haul in our day - Sydney to Adelaide, Darwin to Alice and back - that was a biggie but I think i suffered from cabin fever nearly as much as the kids !! Thats not a bad way to go either - go mad before your kids get the chance then you are good to go!! When I look back we've done lots of big road trips. No real tips - its just basically survival of the fittest - they make great dining room tables stories though.

[lady-android]

I don't know, Kylie. I still have horrible flashbacks to being crammed into a small car for family road trips. I am now 25.

All in all, I escaped unscathed, but the thought of doing a road trip to Melbourne or even Port Macquarie (from Sydney) makes me hyperventilate and my skin crawl. Driving to Gunnedah a few years ago, via Musswellbrook was bad enough.

[-Leah-]

A friend of mine swears by swimming pool stops. Not so much in these holidays, but any other term break. She reckons the Gundagai pool keeps Melbourne to Sydney doable

[lsolaBella]

We did Melb - Syd return 4 times in the past year (kids from 3m - 4yrs at first trip and 1,3,5 yrs at last trip).

1. OUR (DH and mine) music in the car. It is amazing what the kids get used to.... DS1 doesn't mind a bit of Cat Stephens and Les Mis "Master of the House" (Glad he doesn't understand the lyrics)

2. Make use of Macca's playground for stops and only stop when necessary. With 3mo baby, you stop every 3hrs for feeding as needed. WIth 1yo you go 4hrs first leg, 3.5hrs second leg and 3.5hrs third leg.

3. Keep electronic entertainment to a minimum and only break in case of emergency in the last 2hrs of a 10/11hr Drive. Otherwise 1st leg no entertainment - talk about what is out the window and sleep, 2nd leg, get new (cheap $2) toy out, 3rd leg new toy + Ipods with video.

Remember it is only half a day...... a flight to EU usually takes 30-36hrs traveling time so 10/11hrs in a car is easy peasy.

[Luly]

I must be odd. I LOVE long trips in the car with my two. We have so much fun! Maybe the number of kids makes a difference?

We do a few trips a year....most are 10-15hr road trips (Syd - Melb and Melb to NSW Sth Coast). We all look forward to the adventure! Yes it is a long day but we have fun! It's actually nice just being us and spending that time together!

While there is lots of family chatter, looking out the window, singing and fun, we do stock up on things to do in the car!

Mine have little tray table things and I pack heaps of colouring stuff and blank paper for drawing on. Neither seem to get carsick so they happily read and draw and colour (must take after their Father as reading in the car always makes me feel horrid!)

I make up a small goodie bag. With a few new colouring books, small nick-knacks and story books relevant to the destination, some kids magazines etc. Last year I made up some 'eye spy' sheets with picture clues for DD2.

DD1 does have a DS and we both have iphones loaded with ebooks and kids games they can use which breaks up the trip. They both also have mp3 players with kid safe headphones. That means we don't have to listen to Justine, Barbie and The Wiggles for 10hrs straight. I do agree with the PP though that it works so much better if you delay bringing out the gadgets as long as possible! You get a good few hrs in gadget free and it makes the rest of the day easier!

If you stop make sure you stop for a good hour or so to let them stretch their legs, run around and not bundle them back into the car too quickly. This will add about 3hrs to a 10hr trip. Believe me it is worth it! There are always new parks or interesting little towns to stop at.

We have a dual screen DVD player but only get that out late in the trip....often if it's dark outside or late afternoon.

Don't totally shun Maccas Use it to your advantage.

This post has been edited by Luly: 11/07/2011, 12:42 AM