Several friends grilled me about how we managed this summer on our almost-month-long drive from California to Georgia with a three-and-a-half year-old in the back seat. I'm always interested in trading travel tips, so I meant to write a blog post to get an online discussion going before the holiday travel season hit. Better late than never?
Some of my tips involve travel with a child, but many of them also kept the grownups sane and happy while being on the go for so long...
Breaking Up the Travel Day -- Although we stayed at hotels or on military bases, we accompanied my in-laws in their RV. My father-in-law kindly created an itinerary where we tried not to travel more than five hours in a single day. Many days were just two or three hours, but on longer days, we used iPhone apps like iExit, AroundMe, Playgrounds!, Museum Locator, and TripAdvisor as well as websites like Pit Stops for Kids to find parks, playgrounds, children's museums, and the like. (Thanks, Sara and Heather for these tips!) If we were going to be in an area that friends know well, we got their advice on fun diversions. (Thanks, Edie and Mandi!) Visitors centers and pamphlet racks were usually well worth a stop too.
Tots in Hotels -- We created a big hotel duffel bag for Eli that included a blow-up twin mattress (with pump and sheets) in case there was a bed too small for co-sleeping, a travel pillow in case hotel pillows were too fat for a little neck, a sound machine to muffle noise from other guests, and night lights. By far the most useful thing in the duffel was our blow-up bumpers to keep Eli from falling out of bed. (Click HERE to see them in action.) If one of us was co-sleeping with Eli and he started rolling around too much in his sleep, a bumper between tot and parent allowed everyone to get good rest. We had our beloved PeaPod Plus tent with us on the trip but didn't need it. (Click HERE to see the PeaPod.)
Pumping up the bumpers for the night...
Car Naps -- Eli has recently all but given up naps, but he was still napping daily 1 to 2 hours this summer. We found car naps worked fairly well as long as we covered up both window and boy. A flannel receiving blanket is thin enough to easily roll up into the window and just the right size curtain. Eli sleeps better with something over his lap, but we were in the middle of summer heat. A thin, gauzy muslin baby blanket served nicely.
Mama Sanity On the Go -- Travel comfort is in the details...
- I'll forever be grateful to Eli's godmother, Heidi, for introducing me to the joy of packing cubes. (Click HERE and scroll down for a photo.) My suitcase didn't become a rat's nest.
- And thank you Danielle for telling me about the L.L. Bean hanging toiletry bag that always kept my stuff safely above wet countertops and Eli's curious hands.
- A mesh drawstring duffel in each person's suitcase was a huge help with keeping dirty clothes corralled and ready for the laundromat.
- Because I am always squirreling away postcards, brochures, and scrapbooking tidbits, I travel with a plastic accordian file to preserve my treasures.
- Brian and I both have flashlights with a red light included in them so we can move around or even read in the middle of the night without disturbing anybody else.
- Large, insulated stainless steel water bottles insured we had cool water to drink regardless of how long the car had been sitting in the sun.
- Finally, the dollar store sells bumpy plastic drainers for bar soap. So nice to not have goopy-soupy soap at hotels!
Traveling Junk Drawer -- Ever noticed how many little tools/items you miss having when you travel? I now have a small packing cube that serves as a junk drawer. What's inside? Scissors, rubber bands, paper clips, Leatherman tool (pliars, screwdriver, etc), bottle brush (for cleaning sippy cups), dish soap in a tiny travel bottle, heavy duty clear packing tape, clothespins, night light, twist ties, safety pins, quarters for laundry or snacks, Sharpie marker, mechanical pencils, ziplock baggies, mini sewing kit, aluminum foil (one piece folded), zip ties, super glue, and babyproofing outlet covers. I even have a small, folded blow-up beachball and a Matchbox car to entertain Eli on the fly. Whenever I take a trip, I just drop the portable junk drawer into my suitcase and am prepared come what may.
Of all the things in the portable junk drawer, the one I use the most is clothespins. You can use them to close chip bags, seal that annoyingly bright gap in the drapes, or even hang damp laundry from an air conditioning vent in the hotel ceiling...
Travel Safety -- It worried me how many different places we were going, which could be terribly confusing to a small child who wandered off. We were extra vigilant, but we also put an identity tag called a Road ID on Eli's shoe. Intended for runners who often can't carry ID or phones, the metal tag can be printed with any info you'd like and fastens on with sturdy Velcro. I didn't put Eli's name on his, but instead printed: "If I am lost, please call the numbers below. Thanks!" I put phone numbers labeled "Papa, Mama, and Granddad." We drilled Eli on what to do if he got lost -- stay put and ask a grownup (preferrably someone in uniform or a mama/papa) to call the numbers on his shoe. Eli is now memorizing our phone numbers, but I don't know if he'd remember them if he was upset. Thus we still put the tag on him while traveling or at a big venue (Six Flags, malls during holiday rush, etc.). In the photo below (taken with prairie dogs in the South Dakota Badlands), the small tag is visible atop Eli's right shoe.
Travel Toys and Games -- The best backseat toys for Eli at 3.5 years proved to be Magnadoodle, Leapfrog alphabet-teaching electronic toys, Matchbox-type cars and construction vehicles, and his Fisher-Price digital camera for kids. I also brought a bag of toys wrapped like gifts and gave one to Eli every few days. These items included non-electric pinball-type games, pipe cleaners, Silly Putty, Wikki Stix, plastic animals, dry erase maze cards, cardboard lacing cards, and card games (Old Maid, Crazy Eights, etc.) Since he is loving games theses day, the Uno card game quickly became a favorite way to entertain a travel-weary kid at a restaurant. At that time, he loved the Thomas the Tank Engine version of Uno, which is simplified for toddlers. To try to prevent losing Eli's travel toys and games, I got several small mesh drawstring bags at a camping supply store. They are see-through and allow damp items like sand toys to dry during storage. I also printed labels with my cell phone number on them to stick to Eli's things.
AND the big one... We want Eli to be able to entertain himself in the back seat and enjoy a road trip for its own sake, yet we knew we'd be doing this day after day. Thus we purchased a small and portable used DVD player. It was fabulous! On short travel days we didn't get it out, but it was a true help on longer travel days and also for keeping Eli safely occupied if the adults needed to get reorganized at a hotel, figure out travel plans, etc. The padded Case Logic brand carrier kept the DVD player safe during travel bumps but also let us attach it to the seat back so Eli had hands-free viewing. What did Eli watch? A lot of Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder, but also his favorite children's documentary series All About.
Otherwise, we did a lot of classic travel pastimes -- I Spy, singing, talking about the landscape outside our windows, etc. An audiobook CD of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods was a hit. Sometimes I'd give Eli a challenge. For instance, he won his Uno card game by finding semi truck cabs of every color of the rainbow.
I've written these sorts of tot travel posts before, but the game changes as your child gets older. Here are some of those posts by age group:
3 Months Old
5 Months
6 Months
12 Months
20 Months
21 Months
24 Months
29 Months
Have any tips or ideas to share? Thanks!
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