Vacation traffic experience can be very frustrating especially if you have kids or babies with you. You need to pack a lot of baby clothes and other baby stuff too. It is hard to travel light when you have the little ones along.
If it is a long drive then you need to be ready, not just with toys to ease the boredom of your kids, but for many other emergency needs. You might think you can simply be prepared with some car travel games, but they might get bored easily. So before you head out, make sure that you have a checklist of things to bring with you – whether when flying or going on a road trip. Here, let’s help you out with that.
Table of Contents
Easy Bags
Whenever we head out, whether to go to the park, to buy at the grocery, or shop for clothes, or out to a trip to a different country, the kids each have a bag they’re comfortable with. It would have a bottle of water, some snacks to munch on, an address card, wet tissues, a little towel. If the weather indicates a change during the day, then there would be a rain jacket too. If your kid or kids has/have a comfort object or toy they always carry along, a bag would also be handy for when they need to put it aside while out.
Appropriate Clothing
Check on the weather forecast for the days you will be staying at your destination. Bring rain jackets, umbrellas, wind jacket, long sleeves shirts and undershirts, short pants, and long pants as appropriate for the weather. Bring extras that you can put on a backpack for each kid that can easily be accessed for untoward incidents.
Games and Activities
Bring toys that kids love. If it’s an action figure, a plush toy, a game console, make sure to pack it in their easy bag. You can also bring card games, other games that are handy and doesn’t require stability to play (moving cars will make it difficult). Mandalas, drawing pads, and coloring books, crayons, colored pencils, and drawing pens prove useful for us. The kids can always come back to these activities after a game, so their time inside the car passes far away from boredom.
If you have game consoles, Ipad or Laptop, the kids can also spend some time playing them. For sure, they each have a favorite game to play on the Twitch. Mind games, like a sudoku book or crossword one would enhance their ability to think.
You can also introduce them to classic games we enjoyed as kids like solitaire, I used to play the classic Klondike Solitaire and never knew that there are so many different ways to play it, and the online Solitaire versions on this site has hundreds of them. Other games include Hidden Kitchen, Tennis, Word Search, Sudoku too – even adults would surely enjoy playing games on this website!
Snacks
If possible, bring protein-rich foods instead of sweets or carb-packed ones. Protein and fat-rich snacks curb away craving while sugary snacks will make one hungry easily. Such snacks you could bring: beef jerky (squid jerky is yummy too), hard boiled eggs, cucumber, and cheese cubes, almonds, peanut or almond butter on protein bread,
Medicine
Aside from toys and clothes; you must have medicines too. In case someone get sick during the vacation, you are ready for it. Bring the essentials of first aid kit like gauze and bandages; kids are prone to get a little physical when playing.
If your kid has a condition, like asthma always be ready with sprays just in case.
Toiletries
Wet tissues, handy towels are staples in our bags. Now that there’s a virus that still threatens us, we have disinfectant wet wipes, hand sanitizers, and alcohol not only in our bags but sometimes in our pockets too. And the usual shampoo, sun cream, insect lotion should not be forgotten. And also masks, as these days, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Documents
Don’t forget to bring documents (ID, passport, health cards, health pass). We don’t know what or who we’ll encounter on the road, so just to be safe, prepare this too. If you can store a copy on your phone, that would work too.
Prepare When Travelling With Kids On Board
Even if you have kids on board during a long drive; you can make it a fun and worry-free if you know the things you need to bring along with you. Prepare early if you are travelling with kids on board, make a checklist and go through it weeks ahead, so that on the actual day of departure, you can be sure that you have everything packed.
I think if you have very young kids, you should postpone traveling. Wait till they get a little older.
Foods shouldn’t be forgotten too! But parents must make sure that kids don’t overeat. 🙂