NWMR Long Christmas road trip with kids

dglvrk2 · December 2014

My daughters are 3.5 yrs old and 11 months old. We live in San Francisco and plan to drive to Seattle, WA this weekend for Christmas and New Years. (H's family lives there.)

It's about a 12 hour drive with minimal breaks and no traffic issues. We are debating driving through the day and taking several breaks for play and meals or leaving about 4 pm driving throught the night, taking minimal breaks except dinner.

Thoughts? I'm leaning towards the day trip.

Both girls are good travelers. The youngest gets irritable in the early evenings no matter what we do.

HobbityBarb · December 2014

I don't know about driving but I know from my experience of flying that any sleep my kids get on the overnight flight is never good, and they are so tired and cranky when they arrive - we tend to lose that first day to recovery.

Obviously a car will be more comfortable, but it still won't be as good as a bed.

glaw · December 2014

Day time and leave super early. We are doing SoCal to SF bay so not as long but with kids and stops it'll be 8 hrs plus. We did it last year when DD was 13 months and doing it again next week she will be 25 mos and DS 4 months. We left and will leave around 5 am. Get everything ready the night before then grab the kids put them in the car and they should sleep for a couple of hours right away. Then a few hours in we stopped for breakfast and let DD burn some energy. This year bc of baby we will have to stop more so I can nurse him but same basic idea. Late night driving is too difficult for everyone and we have afternoon meltdowns so super early is best. Good luck!

[Deleted User] · December 2014

Day drive in one day.

We do 8 hour road trips regularly. Pack lots of snacks and water, activities, blanket, pillow, etc. If you have a tablet, use it.

We've mastered rest stops and gas/food. We try to find a spot to knock it all out at once and eat in the car. Put a few bags for trash that you can toss at stops.

Our theory with long trips is to knock it all out at once and not waste two precious vacation days traveling.

jlaOK · December 2014

We made a similar drive last year when DS was 4 and DD was 1. We left early in the morning - basically as soon as they woke up we put them in the car, pajamas's and all. I had breakfast packed as well as lots of snacks. Our first stop was for gas and to change the kids into their day clothes. We stopped for lunch at a park (I just found one on google maps) and let the kids play. They both napped for a few hours after that and we just pushed through with no more stops.

One piece of advice is to not stop at sit down restaurants to eat. The last thing my kids wanted to do after being in the car was sit in a restuarant.

Leap08 · December 2014

We do long road trips about twice a year. We usually drive during the day and it's never really been an issue. We always end up making more stops than we planned because when a little girls has to go, she really has to go now! We take lots of snacks, books, and movies. Both of my girls have always done really, really well. I do recommend planning one stop somewhere that they can play (like a park). It helps.

dashofreality · December 2014

Another vote for day. I've tried to do a trip past bedtime and it was a nightmare, and that wasn't even overnight. One went to sleep past his bedtime but was super grumpy about it, the other one would/could not go to sleep and really needed to.

PhDMomma · December 2014

Another vote for day. DH loves to try to drive through the night, because that's what his family did when he was a kid. However, last time DS (2.5 at the time), woke up as soon as we got to the destination. Which meant that I was up at 2am with a kid who had gotten plenty of sleep on the ride and wanted to play. Also, my folks house (where we were staying) isn't well child proofed, so it's not like I could give him free reign. DH went to sleep, and thought it all was great. After that I gave him an ultimatum (for next time), we could buy a plane ticket next time or drive during the day. If he wanted to drive at night, I would take DS and fly, and meet him there. It got my point across pretty clearly.

When we drive in the day I pack snacks, and we have an ipad mount. It's a sleeve that your ipad slides into (it was like $20 on amazon), and it velcros to the back of the front headrest. I typically download a movie or so for drives that are over an hour. Frozen is big with DS, as is cars. Also, if your little one is newly potty trained, we typically take a potty in the car. Just in case we get stuck in traffic somewhere.

chloebeth930 · December 2014

Drive through the night.

We travel from NC to IN a few times a year. It is 12 hours driving, around 14 or so with stops. We have always traveled during the day, but at DD gets older, it gets more and more awful. The stress level of one parent trying to keep the kid entertained and the other trying to drive safely is exhausting. Stopping for meals sucks. The kids just want to run around and then are usually super pissed when they have to get back in the car. In the winter sucks more, because you can't just stop at a park or something to let them run off some energy.

We are leaving around 6 pm right after dinner. We will watch a movie, make 1 stop to change into PJs, and then hopefully be able to just keep driving straight through (with only 1 more stop for gas).

74dragonfly · December 2014

Day drive. I am a former Seattle gal now living in the Bay area. The rain makes it hard to see at times on the freeway. I'd pick day time. Leave early. New toys like travel etch a sketch, magna doodle, movies on iPad, cd with fun songs

[Deleted User] · December 2014

Stopping for extended breaks is a nightmare for us. DS is much better if we just push through and stop only when necessary.

I will give DS all the screen time in the world when traveling. It really helps.

skibunny59 · December 2014

I would leave as early as you can in the morning (by 6 or 7) and travel by day. I hate driving at night and fall asleep easily so if we drove through the night I wouldn't be able to help DH out with the driving. Also, lately DD does not sleep well in the car. We drove 6 hours one time and left at 8PM. DD slept on and off but screamed her head off in between because she wanted her bed.

Also as far as stops, we only stop to pee now. We pack food to eat in the car. We found that all the stopping wasted too much time.

dglvrk2 · December 2014

OP here.

Thanks, everyone!

We did opt for the day drive. Everything went smoothly. The rain in Oregon made driving a little stressful. I couldn't imagine doing it with less daylight get than we had. However, the kids were great and we made it door to door in 14 hours with minimal stops.

We are breaking up our return into a few days.

For now our driving is done and I'm snuggling into bed (daughters already asleep) while H had a drink with his dad and brother.

NWMR Long Christmas road trip with kids

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