Dec 17 2008
Things I’m Packing to Make Our Holiday Roadtrip Go Smoothly
15 days, 2700 miles, 4 kids. Lots of fun, seeing family and friends, new sites, and spending time together. But a lot of time in the car. Here are some highlights of my packing list.
- Winter survival gear. As I write this, it’s -4 so I can’t even pretend to forget the importance of this. Warm blankets line the trunk, extra hats, mittens, scarves, and handwarmers are in the car all winter, plus “Dakota Heat,” emergency candles, flashlights, some food, and other just-in-case items.
- Swimsuits. Sounds funny right after the winter gear, but isn’t swimming in motel pools in the winter a highlight of a trip for kids?
- Audio players loaded with “kid” songs, “Mom & Dad” songs, Christmas songs, children’s audio books, and podcasts. Enough to last the whole trip without excessive repetition.
- Chargers for cameras, GPS, cell phones, and audio players.
- A binder for each of the kids with new coloring/activity books, markers, notebooks, books to read, etc.
- A small “suitcase” (think laptop case) for each of the kids. Any toys, games, etc. that they want to bring must fit into their little case. If it doesn’t fit, it stays home.
- Laundry detergent. I was hoping to make it without doing laundry, but winter clothes take up too much space so we’ll have to have one laundry day.
- Itinerary books, including maps, so the kids know what’s planned for each day and don’t have to ask us what’s next, what county we’re in, or how far it is until we get there. (Dare I hope that it fends off some “Are we there yet” questions?)
- Snacks that are somewhat healthy, won’t make a big mess in the car, and don’t take up a lot of room. If you have a perfect answer for this, please let me know. Right now I’m thinking a lot of cereal and crackers.
- Suitcases divided into days, rather than one per person, so that we only have to take in one or two per night rather than six.
- Coupons, discount cards, membership passes, and anything else that will save us money along the way.
- Laptop for doing research at the motel, downloading pictures off camera cards, etc.
- My husband! The reason we’re taking this “summer” vacation in December is because this is when it works with his farm schedule. We’re glad to have him along.
And some things we’re not taking:
- A stroller. For the first time in eight years, we’ll be leaving all of our strollers behind. Likewise, we no longer need a portacrib, bottles, baby food, or the million other things that traveling with babies requires.
- A DVD player. More on that in this post.
- A lot of things we “might” need. We’ll be in civilization for the whole trip, so if we need more diapers, band-aids, medicines, or other things that we didn’t pack, we’ll stop at a store.
- Lots of Christmas gifts. We opened most of ours at home already, and the ones for our family will be small packages.
- Groceries. We’ll have a kitchen in our room several nights, but I imagine they also have grocery stores in the area so we’ll get just what we need along the way.
- Library books. Any books that we take will be owned by us, just in case they get lost, stepped on, stuck between carseats, etc.
- About 2/3 of the contents of my purse. I took out everything that there’s no chance of us needing. (Library cards, store savings cards, the lipstick that I always think I might wear but never do…)
- One of the van seats. It will prevent us from carrying an extra passenger when we’re with my family, but makes access to the 3rd row so much easier.
- New Christmas outfits. The kids will be dressed nicely for church, but we’re not taking suits and ties or frilly dresses for the girls; they’re just too hard to pack.
- Shoes for every occasion. One pair for church, one for the rest of the time. Shoes take up too much room to be taking lots of them.
- CD’s. Loading the music on the audio players means more variety, less space. (Do you see a space theme emerging here?)
- Travel books. As much as I’d love to have them on hand to find extras along the way, I need to be confident that I’ve done my homework and copied the pages we’ll need, and can find any other information online if necessary.
- Whatever we forget. There’s always something that gets left behind. Hopefully it won’t be anything serious!
Ooh, I’m sort of envious here! It sounds like the kinds of trips we used to do and I think you’ll have a great time.
Btw, you might get a kick out of the site associated with one of my TTs–it’s about hunting for historical markers — I bet you’ll see a few of those along the way. *grin*
Here’s the link:
http://www.markeroni.com (I linked the blog part in the box above)
I have a second TT13 at Raven’s Range: http://www.ravensrange.com
Have a great time!
Linda’s last blog post..Thursday Thirteen #12: Thirteen things I’d like for Markeroni in 2009
Have a great trip.
You just saved me a ton of time. With my daughter sick, I have gotten nothing done this week and we leave in 2 days. (And I would have forgotten the laundry detergent). I love the pack for days not people, which I am also trying as we are crashing on different couches the first few nights.
Snack ideas – clementines or tangerines (the peels end up everywhere but smell nice and don’t mold if the fruit is not attached), edamame/soybeans (they do need to be in a cooler though), cheese sticks/slices (does get messy if ends up in nooks and crannies), almonds. (This is a list of what is in my house that we will take with us cause I don’t want to go near a store.)
Meg (B2B)’s last blog post..Family visits at Christmas: planning travel with a toddler – Hotels
Great list & congratulations on jettisoning the stroller!
Debbie Dubrow’s last blog post..What Should I do in Arizona?
Wish I could go!
Good list. I can make use of this.
Oooh. I like that packing for days thing. What a great idea for families!
Carm’s last blog post..I See the World in Shades of Grey.
Two, two, two 13’s in one!
Looks like you’ve got it all covered. Y’all have a blast!
Merry Christmas from She Lives!
Carol’s last blog post..O Christmas Trees (plural)
I do believe I’m envious of your life! …and the size of your trunk!
Have a safe trip. Sounds like you’ve thought of everything. Happy Holidays!
Adelle Laudan’s last blog post..
Have a great vacation. Hope it is harmonious and fun!
Bridget Smith’s last blog post..Ready, Set, Go!
Sounds like you’ve got everything. Hope you have a great time!
Army Mom’s last blog post..Thursday Thirteen #16
what a very informative and helpful post.
Good luck to your trip.
FickleMinded’s last blog post..TT#14: Christmas Trivia
i’m completely envious! i’ll just have to live vicariously thru you!
happy tt!
jayedee in the lost world’s last blog post..wordless wednesday….
I agree with your DVD thing for the car, except for when you have a 2 year old. They don’t like to sit in the car seat for long. We borrowed a DVD player and our 4 and 2 year olds didn’t fuss at all the entire trip to Texas and back from Minnesota. Keeping a 2 year old strapped in a car seat is a HUGE deal.
I was excited to go without a stroller, too. But we ended up caving and bought one there.
I love your idea about packing for the day.
Qtpies7’s last blog post..Are you hungry?
Oh, and I second what Meg said about snacks. If you use crackers and cereal they will want more to drink, then you have to stop more often.
Qtpies7’s last blog post..Are you hungry?
great lists, very well organized, have to look over the states you have visited. Looks like the half way mark of your trip now on Christmas.
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