Top 5 Tips for Surviving Family Road Trips

It’s weekend getaway time, hooray! Or perhaps you need to plan a road trip for the next school holidays? Either way, you’re keen to shake off the slog of work and experience life somewhere else for a while. If you have young kids in tow you’ll need some simple tips for surviving family road trips, like following Australia’s road trip map.

This article should provide a wealth of information that helps ease the pain and increase the joy of taking a driving holiday with the fam.

If the anticipation of this sort of driving adventure fills you with equal parts horror and excitement, then you’re not alone. Hello, parenting. 😄

At its best, a long drive to an escape destination involves plenty of laughing at bad puns, animated stories from younger family members, epic scenery that makes you gasp and sigh, yummy treats handed out at regular intervals and easy pitstops along the way to visit quaint historical villages or breezy seaside towns. Fantasy, much?

On the flipside, it can also involve one, two or more cranky kids whining about car sickness, fighting non-stop, demanding to stop for a break and repeating “when will we get there” like a stuck record. Not the most pleasant of thoughts, but it’s the reality for most parents at some stage of our lives. Ahhh the joys.

Family travel CAN be fun. We’ll bet our insurance policies on it. To help make your road journey a positive experience, follow our top 5 tips for survival.

Road trip tips to ponder on

The key to making the most of a drive that seems like it stretches on forever is to be prepared. ‘Prepare for the worst and hope for the best’ applies to so much when it comes to parenting, right?

Here are our suggestions for keeping your rose coloured glasses on during your family voyage:

1. Make sure your car is good to go

Before you head out of the driveway make sure you’ve completed basic car maintenance (at the very least) so your car runs as smoothly as possible while you’re away.

We’re talking everything from filling up with petrol through to checking the oil, tyres, lights, seatbelts/car seats and horn. You can’t control the amount your kids’ sleep the night before, but you can control the readiness of your car for the trip!

Write up a planner and packing list to keep handy for future road trips and you’ll save time down the track, making the idea of getting away for a weekend or longer less daunting.

Also, double check your vehicle is registered, your license is current and your insurance is up to date. Perhaps even take your car for a service if it’s getting close to time – with our car servicing checklist in hand.

2. When surviving family road trips plan plenty of pitstops

Nothing seems to stretch into eternity like a tension-filled road trip where the end point is hours away. Perfected your happy-parent-with-gritted-teeth voice yet?

Give yourself and your family a fun break at regular intervals. Younger children will appreciate heading to a local playground (when will playground finders start listing nearby coffee shops!) while the spirits of family members young and old will usually be lifted with the promise of a delicious snack at a popular local café and a picturesque walk.

If you have time, use Google Maps to plot out your trip with these sorts of pitstops included. Then you’ll have a good idea of how much time it will take to get to each destination.

If you have a well-planned road trip itinerary it will be much easier to placate any edgy members of the posse with promises and bribes that really will come to fruition.

3. Keep the in-car entertainment flowing

These days there are plenty of tech tricks and devices to keep everyone happy en route to the ultimate road trip destination, whether that’s a coastal holiday park two hours away or a luxe hotel in an awe-inspiring holiday destination many hours interstate.

Watching

In-car DVD players like the affordable and effective Laser 9” dual screen player that takes both DVD and USB can help keep backseat bandits occupied for hours on end. Of course, so too can tablets, laptops and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that anyone with motion sickness might get the jeebies with looking at moving images for great lengths of time.

Listening

Music is another great time-waster and thanks to online music services such as Spotify you can easily alternate between different music genres from the one player or use different devices so everyone’s satisfied at the same time.

Be sure to keep the windows down to minimize the ear bashing and pack the headphones and phone charger so you can keep those sweet sounds flowing.

Playing

Road trip games like Name That Song, The License Plate Game and I Spy are also popular to keep the mind occupied and off the ‘are we there yet’ mentality. If your kids are too young to spell, spying things based on colour should work a treat… though it won’t prevent fighting over who guessed what first.

You might even want to test your passengers’ general knowledge by asking the answers to these questions:

• What is the fastest car in the world?
• How many cars are there in the world?
• What is the biggest dog in the world?
• How long do cats live?

And for growing kids and grown-ups alike, snack boxes filled with nibblies will help each family member take a brain break every so often. Who doesn’t love a good muffin or packet of popcorn?!

4. Be prepared for unprepared stops

Depending on the amount of bevvies and food consumption your family expedition entails, you might find one or more of your travel troupe calling for a toilet time-out. Use the National Public Toilet Map to find what you need and keep everyone calm.

Larger parks, playgrounds and cafes will often feature toilets too, as will many modern petrol stations (a great excuse for buying a chocolate bar or two for the adult/s).

For the youngest member of the tribe, remember to pack nappies so – if they’re comfortable with it – you don’t have to stop immediately every time nature calls. And if they’re toilet trained aside from sleep time getting them to wear a nappy right from the word go will help protect your seats if surprise snoozes happen throughout the drive.

5. Car sickness tricks for surviving family road trips

If you’re unfortunate enough to have an in-car vomitron in the family make sure you’re prepared for all eventualities, with one hand on the wipes and the other on the Febreeze or similar.

Load the car up with several buckets to catch the fall. Big yoghurt containers – great for little ones with little fingers and a not-so-great-grip – will do the trick, especially as they can be closed with a lid afterwards and easily thrown or washed out. Or, if you’re a frequent flyer, stock up on in-flight sickness bags and store them in the console for easy access.

Another top tool for car sickness is baby wipes. These are insanely good to clean up messes made by a road tripper of any age.

Interestingly, there are motion sickness glasses on the market that claim to be a cure. We’ve no idea if they work but they look goofy good enough to be worth a mention.

Tried and true techniques to help reduce queasiness

Tried and true techniques to help reduce queasiness are sitting the car sick crusader in the front or in the middle back seat while they keep their eyes on the horizon and feel the breeze from open windows. Motion sickness tablets and travel bands also work a treat.

Most importantly, stay positive and spread those good vibes to your crew! Do and say what you can to remind your family of the joys that await them at the other end. If you need any inspiration read some of the posts by the Trip in a Van family to help encourage everyone to get your adventure on.

Exploring our beautiful country is always worth the effort.

If you’re interested in gaining more insight into road trips, these articles may interest you:

1. 10 Ways to Fight Driver Fatigue and Have a Great Road Trip
2. Top Ideas for Family Road Trips These Holidays
3. Pet Friendly Accommodation for Your WA Road Trip
4. Where to Have the Ultimate Australian Road Trip!
5. Winter Road Trip Ideas to Take Away the Chill

Surviving family road trips: what to pack for a road trip?

Don’t forget to pack a sense of adventure! Also, maybe a pair of noise-cancelling headphones so you don’t have to hear your kids arguing the entire time. For your family road trip, here are some essentials to pack:

Snacks, snacks and more snacks

Fruits and veggies, freshly chopped into bite-sized pieces, protein bars, hardboiled eggs, and lightly salted popcorn are all healthy snack options. Aussie favourites like Tim Tams, Cheezels, Shapes, Smiths Chips, and Caramello Koalas are some unhealthy snacking options. But so yummy and delicious, how can you resist?!

However, we know you want wants best so read our article on practical car snacks for kids.

An emergency first aid kit

When the closest town is 100km away, basic supplies like bandages 🩹 , antiseptics, and safety pins are invaluable. When you’re road tripping in unfamiliar locations, it’s important to have a well-stocked first aid kit, as emergency services might be far away.

Find out about the 10 things you need in a car survival kit.

Stock up on fresh water

When you plan a road trip, make sure you and your family stay hydrated. Store extra water containers in the car in case of an emergency.

Hand sanitiser and toilet paper

Sometimes roadside bathrooms are understocked. To ensure you’re prepared when you plan a road trip and that you actually survive your family road trip, it’s best to always carry your own supplies just in case. When dealing with germ emergencies, carry hand sanitiser in your bag and toilet paper in case the bathroom doesn’t have it.

Pack a portable phone charger

When road tripping in a place with no electricity, pack a portable phone charger. This way, you can stay connected while you explore the great outdoors. If anything goes wrong, you should always have a fully charged phone battery.

How to plan a road trip on Google Maps?

Where can I find an Australia road trip map?

A whole world of experiences awaits you. Discover unique wildlife, explore cultural hotspots, and experience the beauty of nature – all in one unforgettable road trip. Also, don’t forget to appreciate the kangaroos from a respectful distance. 🦘 They’ll be sure to give you a “hop-py” welcome!

When you plan a road trip, check out how Tourism Australia’s trip builder makes for an easy to way to map out your Aussie family road trip. This Australia road trip map allows you to find interesting places to stop on your journey. It also enables you to plan your budget and book your accommodation.

This way, you can hit the road without a hitch. Don’t hesitate to refer to your Australia road trip map if you feel like you’re getting lost along the way.

Protecting yourself on the road

Surviving the good ol’ Aussie road trip isn’t as easy without car insurance safeguarding your back pocket. All kinds of calamities can happen when you’re driving a lot, and a good insurance policy will give you great cover for road accidents, weather events, theft, fire and more. Plus, it should tow you to where you need to be to get your wheels back on the road ASAP and potentially provide a hire car while you wait.

Why not grab a quick quote from PD Insurance before you head off?