Car Travel With Young Toddlers 101
07.7.2010 It all begins with a spreadsheet. You know that, right? My family occasionally always makes fun of me publicly (and they probably do it A LOT privately, amongst one another) for having a spreadsheet for everything. And it is true. I like things that I can check off.
And also, we get home, on average, around 630 p.m.. And the kids go to sleep, on average, around 730 p.m. which doesn’t leave much time for rifling around the kids’ rooms for clothes and shoes the night before a trip, particularly since we don’t like to do anything that might wake them up, unlike the nanny.
I'm often making modifications to my Packing List, most recently adding a column for where to put/pack the items on the list so that we don't end up with piles of toiletries, food items, and clothing lying around the house for days on end. Then, I can print a copy of my handy spreadsheet a couple days in advance and between Jennifer, our nanny, and me, we can have the majority of our packing done in advance. That way, the morning of, all but their ever-changing favorite sleeping toys, and our toiletries remain to be put into the car.
After months and months of traveling1 by car for birthdays and holidays, I offer this entry that includes a brief discussion on the best time of day to travel (it depends!) and a lengthy discussion illustrating how the success of a trip might very well begin with how well we've packed.
1. We’re talking pretty measly 360 mile round trips between Houston and San Antonio. But in our defense, it is usually occurring over a 36 hour period, so we have to be efficient. We haven’t had the need or occasion to travel much further than that, but I wouldn’t pack us much differently, save for some adjustments to the Car Ride segment. Also! Our kids are not potty-training nor are they potty-trained. If yours are, that is a layer of complication and frequent stops that I don’t yet have the experience to discuss.
WHEN SHOULD WE LEAVE?
Oh Lord, that question. Jennifer and I have most definitely had some pretty serious conversations about this on each trip. We anchor the majority of our decisions around Their Sleep, so deciding when we leave is no different. So like I said, it depends! But at a minimum, one should consider the following:
- Their carseat personalities
- Nap and snacking habits
- Driving-ability of the adult(s)
- Distance of travel
- Number of anticipated stops
- Patience
Neither of us are very good at staying awake to drive after bed time (except that one time I managed to get us to San Antonio driving all night long escaping Hurricane Ike – a trip that normally takes 3 ½ hours but nearly 9 hours during evacuation), and neither of us are brave enough to try and take sleeping babies into a car in the wee morning hours and then expect that they’ll, you know, sleep. So we just don’t do those options. If we were driving to New Orleans, though, we’d consider the latter, and I do know people who have had success with that.
We used to do our best to wear them out in the morning, having mostly packed the car the night before, and then change diapers and load up about 30 minutes prior to their typical nap time. UNTIL THEY STOPPED TAKING NAPS IN THE CAR. Our current preference is to leave immediately following the after-breakfast-poop-diapers and arrive there for some lunch, a little play time, and then a later-than-usual-but-still-so-very-important nap.
WHAT SHOULD WE PACK?
I’m not saying that the following items will make or break your trip, but having these items available have consistently made our trips better than they might have been without them. And after a good two years of training, I’ve further organized our packing list by where we put the items in the car - BECAUSE IT MATTERS. Like a month ago when we were able to clean up puke, change clothes, and bag the dirties without ever having to stop the car.
FOOD & DRINK BOX
– [backseat floorboard, passenger side] (we previous had several ClosetMaid Fabric Drawers
for storage at home and we typically use one of these)
- Food. Actually, I lied. If you don’t have food accessible on a road trip, your trip will be ruined. You’ve been warned. Regardless of the time of day we are traveling, we pack two snacks-worth. We happen to have a retro lunch totes they got as birthday gifts and I toss a couple EZ Freeze ice blocks inside to store the cold food, usually either a sandwich and/or some fresh fruit and cheese cubes. We also pack some kiddie trail mix (rice chex, multi-grain cheerios, raisins, and goldfish, combined) because it’s a sure thing with our kids.
- Fluids. We still pack our 1L thermos of cold water, especially in this hot summer, and keep it accessible in the car, and we refill their smaller Foogo Thermos'
as needed. (We do this for local outings, too!) Those last two products are pricey, BUT, they're environmentally friendly, and more importantly, they keep cold liquids cold and hot liquids hot.
- Food Containers. We’ve used these Munchkin Snack Catchers
for a really long time, and we definitely like them. But lately, we’re finding our LunchBots containers super handy, not only to store food, but to serve it on a road trip. We’ve actually found that the kids make LESS mess using an open top container than they do with the traditional snack traps.
- Bibs. I keep forgetting I have a box of disposable bibs in the trunk of my car. But since we usually take a couple bibs for Grandma’s house, I just put them in this box.
THE ACTIVITY BOX
– [backseat floorboard, driver side]. Just one of the two of the following, plus their backpack of favorites, usually works for us:- Coloring pages (I print them off the internet and buy them at dollar stores) and a few crayons in a pencil bag.
- One or two favorite books to read to them during those last 30 minutes
- Something “new” – even if it’s something you’ve had, but had the foresight to put away for a while
- Their ever-changing Favorite Toys, whatever those might be. Our kids like to carry their own backpack these days (I don’t know if I should blame Dora and Diego, or their School), so their respective toys go in their backpacks and their backpacks go in the cube. Mateo’s items include his Raffy, his Blank, and his blue train. Harper’s favorites are her Woobies, her Moby Nemo fish, and her Schleich "baby squirrel"
.
- Extras that we’ve traveled with at one time or another:
- LeapFrog Tag Junior Book Pals
– a cool reader thingy that some educator friends got us for the kids’ birthday gifts.
- Snack & Play Travel Trays
– we have borrowed these from a friend, with mixed success, though getting more useful now that the kids are older and “get it”.
- Spare DVDs - we have an it-was-so-worth-the-hundred-and-twenty-bucks Philips Dual Screen Portable DVD Player
in the car and we most definitely use it when traveling. They probably watch more TV in one round-trip than over a month combined, but it is totally worth our travelsanity. Thank you, Backyardigans, Go, Diego, Go!, and Thomas The Train.
- LeapFrog Tag Junior Book Pals
THE DIAPER BAG
– [passenger seat floorboard]. We are still use our Backpack Diaper Bag
a lot, but we more recently travel with my Christmas gift to myself, my Petunia Pickle Bottom Boxy Backpack 
, because it’s a wee bit bigger and big bit cuter. In it, I keep:
- Skip Hop Pronto Diaper Changer Kit
stocked with 2 diapers per kid (they wear different sizes), a tube of Desitin, a travel-size bottle of hand sanitizer, and a gallon ziplock with about a half-inch worth of wipes. That way, when we get to our bathroom-break/diaper-changing/lets-stretch-our-legs-for-a-bit pit stop, we just have to grab that by the wrist-strap, and go. If our trip were longer, I’d just refill the Skip Hop as needed from the Diapering, Bath & Toiletries Bag (see further below) while at a pit stop.
- Gallon Size Ziplock (empty). You just never now. Might be changing diapers at a place that wants you to pack out your dirty diapers, could be someone threw up in the carand you need a place to put the acidy-smelling cleanup items and dirty clothes until you arrive at your final destination (it happened to us!). Also, I justify the plastic purchase because I wash them and then reuse them...just not for food.
- Sanitary Items – we keep a package of Boogie wipes and Kids Hand Wipes at the ready.
- Change of Clothes – I take an outfit from the clothes that get packed in the Kids Clothes/Luggage Bag (see further below), and I put one outfit for each kid into separate gallon ziplock bags. Again, you just never know.
- Other Items
- Kids’ iTouch - They have their own because I was tired of giving up my phone. Plus, we can keep their own music on it, as well as the ever important White Noise app.
- Our Cell Phones
- Pocketbooks – we have enough stuff to carry around as it is, so we don’t typically travel with purses. Instead, we put our wallets inside the main diaper bag, along with necessary IDs and insurance cards - well, except that one time.
DIAPERING, BATH & TOILETRIES BAG
– [back of SUV or trunk of car] - we have this divided oversized laundry canvas tote with handles that I got from Target who knows when. It’s ugly as sin, but gets the job done and it happens to work really well for these items when we travel (and great for wet clothes/dry clothes separating after a swim playdate). I like that this bag has only specifically Diapering, Bath & Toiletries because, lets say, we get to Grandmas and we’ve got a near blowout and they’re tired and cranky,one adult grabs this bag, and the other adult grabs the beds and now we have everything we need to get them down for a nap. In it, we pack:- Best Sound Machine Ever
- Diapers - enough for the trip, including any night time diapers (I actually have a formula built in to the spreadsheet to tell us how many of each type (regular? Overnights? Swim? Pullups?) we need for each size and child, depending on the duration of stay)
- Wipes
- Diaper Rash Ointment - we keep an extra tube of Desitin, or, if we're in a spout of diaper rash, we take a small container of our special sauce.
- Pajamas - we actually pack this separately from their other clothing because we like to keep all the bedtime items together in the event we're arriving dangerously close to the witching hour.
- Travel blankets and pillows - this has only become something "special" since they started taking those items for naptime at school.
- Bedtime Books (2)
- Crib Sheets (2) - their bedding accomodates them
- Extra Lovies - if you have them. We travel with an extra Woobie and an extra Blank because heaven forbid we lose one while on a trip.
- Toiletries - By the way, we put their toiletries into one of the two Toiletry bags that they got for their birthday from the grandparents. The backpacks, toiletry bags, and lunch totes all match.
- Head-To-Toe Body wash
- Moisturizer
- Toothbrushes and flossers and toothpaste
- Band-aids
- Medicines, as needed
- Mosquite Spray
- Sunscreen (we like Blue Lizard)
KIDS CLOTHES/LUGGAGE
– [back of SUV or trunk of car] – We can pack 5 days worth of clothes and shoes into our small carry-on bag and we just find it easier to pack the kids’ stuff in a separate bag. Also, because Jen likes to pack so many shoes of her own, we just don’t have space in our own luggage bag.
PHOTOGRAPHY/MEDIA BAG
FOOD BAG MISCELLANEOUS/LOOSE ITEMS
- GoBedBug Bumpers, as needed - these are not only great for big beds at home (we have the four-piece Travel Pack which is 4 x 27" pieces), but they're portable enough to take to a hotel, too.
- Beds – we purchased two PeaPod Plus Travel Beds
and have never actually used them for sleep. Well except that one time at Jennifer’s dad’s house for naps. We recently purchased two Tuckaire Toddler Beds
and they worked great on that trip (for Mateo; Harper kept crying to sleep in the “crib” (pack n play)). They store well and blow up quickly and take standard crib sheets. Our kids sleep in twin beds at home so it’s not a big jump. Looking forward to a few good years of use on these. Though I'm remembering we slept on pallets of extra quilts and comforters as children and we survived.
- Home Play Toys – we like to bring 2-3 things from home just in case. Recently, we purchased a “starter set” train set I picked up on sale and they played with that. We also took a wiggly worm water hose sprayer thingy. Grandma keeps a closet of choking-hazard toys that they seem to enjoy. And my sister and brother’s families have young children so there’s plenty of play stuff at their homes, too. If we were traveling to a hotel, like we might just be brave enough to do later this summer, we’ll limit it to one or two.
ADULT LUGGAGE
– [back of SUV or trunk of car] –We once finished hunting and gathering the kids' travel needs that we nearly forgot to put our own luggage into the car! This is where we also pack our laptops and chargers.It seems like a lot, yet, but I find traveling with toddlers requires significantly less luggage/gear than infants did. Safe travels!
Reader Comments (11)
Good to know your strategy with double the kids. We got back today from a one night in a hotel "test trip" in a city 3 hours away....with our 5 month old. WTF were we thinking? The hotel thing just did not do it for our babe. Different smells, strange room, some noises from out in the hall, blackout shades that didn't stretch all the way across the enormous windows (and a 10pm sun-set - we're north), so bed time was a two hour debacle and naps didn't happen. At. All. Then the car ride. OMG, the never-ending car ride from hell. I don't think we'll be going anywhere. Ever. Again.
Perfect! I've been winging it for my trips for Austin, but trips beyond the three-hour mark are a lot more complicated and I've gotten away from my lists. We just went to Dallas this last weekend. For trips beyond the three-hours we've found that planning a place to stop with a playground is essential and while you think it would be easy to find a fast food joint with a playscape it really isn't. 15-20 minutes of blowing off steam at a park can make the rest of the drive a lot easier and we've given up on speed records, so why not enjoy it. We've found some church playgrounds and state rest stops with playgrounds to be best bets. McDonald's in Centerville gets a big FAIL from our family.
Your organization stresses me out. What does this say about me? You are very admirable!
@Kate - I TOTALLY know how you feel. We didn't travel for a long time. But even at two years old, it is FAR more simple than it was when they were infants. There's a light at the end of the infancy tunnel! Promise!
@Lisa - Thank you for reminding me about the ever-so-important mid-trip stops! I will have to edit to add something about that when I get a chance. Good god, those are SO IMPORTANT!
@Lil Fen - ah, the luxuries of a singleton! Not to mention your little A is such a sweet and "easy" baby! You are very blessed. Being organized is NOT OPTIONAL with multiples. You WILL be crushed. This applies to more than one child of different ages, too. I like to prepare to avoid the stress of not having what we need while on a trip! And I'm lucky to have a partner and nanny who go along with it and if they curse me, they do so under their breath.
I don't know if I could ever manage to be this organized. You make it look so easy though.
@battynurse - we've had two year's experience of Travel Fails! to learn from. :) And it's only organized because I've written it all down.
Yes! I am not nearly as organized as you, but utilize many of your strategies (and end up with a similar set up -- I just stress about it a lot more as I pack & load the car last minute!). Love the links to some of your gear -- some of those things we have & love, some are new to me but look great!
P.S. I just added you as a favorite read on the Multiples & More blog "Saturday Spotlights"! Thanks for all the great info!
Whoa. I fail at so many ways on your list. I am the one that perpetually forgets the sunscreen or the sippy cup or the everything, and have had to resort to having V dump out my purse for something to play with *G*
I love your trail mix for kids. Our kids eat way too many cheerios, so I'm starting mix in other finger foods. I'll definitely try this combination!
I'd love to hear more about the bed bumpers. We're about to make the transition from cribs to beds, and I'm seriously considering them. What do you think?
@kristin - thanks for the add! I'll have to check out the site!
@Neeroc - the range of normal is so wide...thank goodness!
@Jenna - we love the Bed Bug bumpers. A LOT!