13 hours... in a car... with a 4-year-old. Am I insane?

Yeah, we'll be doing an overnight-overseas flight in July and I've gotten several great ideas from you guys already. Obviously, no cow counting on a plane, but the dvd player and that site with all the games are a good start.

We started the road trips when our son was 2 and our daughter 5 and took the virtually every year for 10 years. Long road trips 2000 - 2500 miles, one way. Believe it or not, the now 23-year-old and 20-year-old have fond memories of the drives.

I think that pretty well everything that we had/did to keep them entertained has been mentioned here: I spy; counting red vehicles, the first one to see a red barn, or a cow or ...

What held their attention most was books on tape. The three books in the "Bunnicula" series were a huge favourite, Roald Dahl's books, the Chronicles of Narnia, Winnie the Pooh, children's entertainers, such as Robert Munsch, Fred Penner and Charlotte Diamond for their funny stories and songs, etc. The tapes were only used on road trips, so every year it was like renewing acquaintance with an old friend ... plus I'd buy a few new ones.

At rest stops (thank goodness for the American interstate system), if someone had to "go", we'd take the opportunity to let them be active, play catch, whatever, to burn off a little energy.

I'm one of the a2k travel freaks and it all started with early 1950's road trips, sans dvd's. Well, hey, my own memories are good...

Along the highways of Canada, they have "Service Centres" (them Canajuns is spelling-challenged) which are major rip-offs in terms of high prices, but essential to a long trip. They will have an area off to the side with a picnic table or two, but they aren't the major production one finds at an American rest stop. They also will have a gas station (gas bar, they call them) and two or three fast food franchises. They seem to have divvied-up the territory well, one stop will have a Petro-Canada gas station, a Wendy's-Tim Horton's-KFC, and the next might be a BP station, with McDonalds-Sub Station-Swiss Chalet. I prefer them slightly because of the ability to buy food and drink with somewhat of a variety of selection. Otherwise, i prefer the park-like atmosphere of the American version.

I remember some more games

At Home
How good is your memory? How many rooms? What's the color of the carpet in the hallway? How many lamps?...


ABC story

Once upon a time there there was a girl(boy,...) named Ann ( Andrew, ..). Ann lived in Boston and one day she met pretty Claire. Next will go on with D,E, F-

Another number tag game-
is the last digit odd or even?

Speaking of plane flights with young children - reminds me of things you may be able to do even in the car...buy some really cheap toys, books - we have Buck a Book here also dollar stores are great for this. Get a variety of items that could be played with in the car/plane, wrap them up, so when boredom strikes in they have a new surprise to open up.

Also, I found especially on plane flights and traveling in general that you always seem to lose something or leave something behind - seeing you only paid a buck or so for the items, you really don't care if they get lost.

re: what Set said above, I know Oklahoma has a McDonalds rest area built over the highway. I loved traveling to the Quarter Horse Youth Finals in Tulsa as a kid, knowing dad would let us stop there.

Not sure Iowa via Tulsa is a good idea, but does anyone know of other such rest stops in the US?

This site looks good
http://www.momsminivan.com/toddlers.html

I like the idea of a travel tray for the children- way back we used just a Styrofoam board- 5 cm thick, which we put into a pillow slipcover.

Can you look for reststops online? I know 95 has a planning site.

I haven't seen the "Service Centres" on the highways west of Ontario, Setanta, though they would come in handy. It's a long drive between cities or towns on the Prairies.

squinney, I've seen the over-the-hghway food/gas bars along the toll highways in the Chicago area.

In Florida, along the toll highways, they're not overhead, but in the centre median between the two highways, so they're "easy-on, easy-off". One, in particular, along the Turnpike, near Orlando, has almost every fast food franchise you could think of.

Yeah, i've not been out on the prairies up there, so i surely couldn't say. So, are there gas bars, though?

Excuse me for talking about italy yet again, but my favorite over the highway food facility is one we stopped at with an offramp gas station and overpass food emporium along the autostrada from Florence... what a feast, I was simply amazed.

When i go up to Tarana via the New York State Throughway, they have something like that at the Angola stop. The McD's and the Perkins, along with huge restroom facilities sit on a island between the lanes, and there are overhead walkways. I don't usually stop, though, because of the gasoline prices. I don't mind being robbed, but only if the robber has a gun.

I've done quite a lot of traveling with kids. You've got to treat it with humor. For example, the standard answer to when will we be there is -- we're there already. See, we're getting out of the car, there's grandma... what a cute little dog...

Or, if somebody needs to have a rest-stop -- which, trust me, don't make her wait 'cause that'll ruin hours of goodwill -- we used to say, "You have permission to pee your pants." Good for a laugh.

I also told long and silly stories that went on and on and on, punctuated by whatever we happened to see on the road.

She's a little young for this game, but we loved it and had "favorites" that would always come up. You start out, "I'm going on a trip to Iowa and I'm taking "an apple or whatever word that starts with A." Make it as personal and either very silly or very real. With each new letter you start at the end and work back, e.g.:

I'm going to Iowa and I'm taking a Sozlet, a Red Runner bean, a quarter, a prairie dog, an orangutan, etc.

It's harder than you'd think and keeps everybody interested.


I'd plan on leaving in the mid-afternoon and getting some good travel time going & wear off some of the excitement 'cause it is hard to see anything at night. Have a nice pasta dinner for her either as a picnic where she can run around or at a restaurant... then get back in the car and, if she were one of my kids, she'd be out like a light.

Make sure she is wearing very comfortable clothing and have a couple of surprises to spring on her -- both directions. Those could be food or toys or books. The DVD is a good idea, I guess. New technology for us -- we never needed it. The planning of the trip and anticipating special spots to stop at for her pleasure will help make the trip special: a museum, a waterfall... whatever. Be willing to adjust and compromise -- if she sees something interesting, try to stop.

On a long trip to Phoenix we'd finally cheered as we crossed the border into Arizona. Our then 4-year-old daughter (her 3-year old brother listening anxiously) asked when we'd get there. When told it would be a few more hours she announced loudly: "I told you... we should have flewn." Still one of our favorite baby sayings.

My cousin, when still a toddler, once looked up at my aunt, her mother, in exasperation, crossed her arms over her chest and very pointedly said: "Mother, i'm trying to get home!"

Setanta, the gas stations are usually near towns. It's similar to the drive down I-29, from North Dakota through to Kansas City, and equally boring, until you reach Calgary and the Rockies.

Is the Sozlet prone to motion sickness?

DVD's weren't available, but I don't think they would have worked for us. Both kids were prone to motion sickness and neither could read in the car. I assume the same would have applied to watching a DVD.

That's funny!


McKenzie -- Good point. A carsick kid is one unhappy child.

I've only been carsick as an adult, thank goodness - I get woozy as a passenger going through mountain curves.
I think soz would have mentioned this if sozlet gets carsick, but y'never know, given a long ride. Er, well, you'll know soon enough...

Ooooh, here's a link on an article re traveling with children that is in today's NY Times -
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/travel/05children.html?pagewanted=2&8td&emc=td