11 June 2020 · About Us

Road tripping with the kids? Our tips for the family getaway

With international travel still feeling like a lifetime away, the majority of West Australians are looking to pack up the car and hit the road. If you have a young family, it is most likely that the days of last-minute plans and chucking the swag in the back of the car are no longer possible. But family road trips needn’t be stressful. In fact, with a little preparation and planning, the journey could even end up being better than your destination. Here are our top tips when travelling with the family.

Plan your breaks

Of course, the kids will ask “are we there yet?”, make sure you know when you can take a break. Count down to the next pit stop, make it exciting. Instead of just focusing on the final destination, do your research before you head off and see if there are some good places to stop along the way. We know WA is spread out but you don’t want to miss out on any hidden gems, especially if you’re driving past them anyway and the kids NEED to get out of the car for a break.

Change up the seats

Of course, changing up the driver is an obvious one, but for the kids change their seats around too. One of the parents in the back could stop the little arguments the two youngest have been having for the last 3 hours. Change of scenery is good for everyone!

Snacks

Firstly, don’t pack food that is going to go through every single crevasse of the car seat, and avoid the obvious sugar high. Being tired and grumpy is one thing, but being hangry is no fun for anyone. Snacks are a must!

Rubbish Bag

It is amazing how much rubbish a car full of people can collect a long the journey. Have a small bin bag handy for the all the chip packets and lolly wrappers so they aren’t left stuck to the seat for you to sit on. Or even worse, left under the seat for you to only realise when you start to smell something like a rotting apple core weeks later.

Baby wipes will always come in handy if you're eating in the car. Buying a sausage roll on the way seems like a great idea until you're left with greasy hands and tomato sauce on your shirt.

Entertainment

Of course our recommendation would be to get a Toyota that has a DVD player in the back seat like our Prado & Landcruiser 200 do, but if that’s not do-able bring along the laptop or ipad with pre-downloaded movies so when you run out of recaption it isn’t the end of the world.

Provide your own entertainment, brush up on your games. I spy will do….for an hour or so but you may need to have a few more games up your sleeve.

For those who get care sick, podcasts are great! There are so many to choose from; comedy, educational, story telling & more! Something for the whole family to concentrate on and for the kids to forget you still have another 3 hours to go.