Travel tips and tricks for Bean

How long is the total trip?

There was a great, informative thread when I sent out an SOS about taking sozlet on one of her first plane trips -- that may have been on Abuzz, though.

Magnadoodle is fun and good for cars.

Definitely on the new toys, though depending on the trip it may need to be more than 2 or 3 -- and don't forget the return trip! (Unless you know where to buy when you're there -- there are Targets everywhere and their One Dollar Spot usually has good stuff.)

Stickers were big at that age, I think. We had something that was a book that had a background -- a park, or a farm -- and then a passel of stickers that could be put on the background.

Can she reach the car window from her car seat? A surprise hit with sozlet in the plane at about that age were clingy stickers that you could put on the window.

I'd definitely recommend having back-up food even if you don't plan to use it, sometimes it's hard to find someplace suitable to stop within say 10-15 minutes, and sometimes it's very hard to keep a hungry baby who wants food NOW happy for 10-15 minutes.

Will keep thinking.

good point about the back up food.
When she get started crying.. she doesnt stop as easily. On top of that, even if we are able to stop immediatly ( what a pipe dream that is! ) we have to take into account.. being seated , if it is a restaurant, ordering, and waiting for it to arrive.
If it is a gas station, or small fast food place , there may NOT be anything she can eat. Then we have to find something else.

There are quite a few dollar stores and flea markets in Albq. I will get more little cheap toys for the ride back before we leave. The less of a chance she has in seeing them, the better. So last minute travel toys will be best.

The only problem I have with stickers is that she still isnt over the ' everything in the mouth ' phase.
I would worry that she would swallow them. And we are putting her car seat closer to the middle so she can kick all she wants without hitting the back of the passenger seat ( tiny car.. a corolla ) AND so we can reach her more if necessary .

What is a magna doodle? >googlesearch<
She is really into blocks right now, but that isnt practical given that she has no room.

I am also making some chamomile tea to put in her juice drinks in the event she cant sleep, get comfortable etc...

How old is that tall Bean now?

Does she have favorite music CDs that you can bring along?

Magnadoodle is like Etch-a-Sketch but lots better.

I second the magna-doodle. At bean's age, planning the trip around her nap time is handy. For us, road trips mean McDonald's or BK. I'm not a big fan of them otherwise, but they usually have indoor playgrounds for the wee ones. Rest areas with playgrounds probably exist somewhere along the way -- there's just no way to know where until you see it. Bring along a ball for those stops.

In general, I think your instincts to just stop often are good. Overall, that seems to be the most important thing.

Bean is 1. Or 15 months..

How big is the magna doodle? Is it something she has to hold on to , to be able to use? Or can it prop up on something?

She doesnt have any real music cds she likes.
Our days are spent coloring, running outside, playing ball, and swimming. So tv's , radios.. she doesnt know much about yet.
That will change soon.

They have travel sized magna-doodles.

They have various sizes of magna doodles. I have a full size one and there is also a travel size one.

One other thought is that crayola has these markers that only color on a certain type of paper - that could avoid any type of messes. Will you be in the back so you can take the caps off for bean and also to prevent eating the caps?

You could buy little plastic toys in dinosaurs, animals, people - whatever bean likes. We had a bunch with Sesame Characters. Small, but not so small it is a choking hazard.

There are also these felt boards (again size varies) with felt pieces that you can make a story with - almost like color forms - you could maybe find them with larger pieces.

Even if bean doesn't have a favorite music cd, you could buy one with lots of involvement - like songs that include itsy bitsy spider, head sholders knees and toes, wheels on the bus, etc. and play along.

Im thinking that getting one of those will be a great idea. Simply because she will be lost in thought about HOW to work it for a while and then she should be entertained for a while.
I am also contemplating some noise makers.
OY!
I will loose my sanity, but she will be ok

I know you've discounted the idea of videos, but may I suggest that you reconsider?

Two words: Elmo's World.

(Also, Baby Einstein, Blue's Clues, Teletubbies, and those little atom-looking things.)

We did a 15 day cross-country road trip with K when she was 15 months old. We took it slow, stopping by 4:00 each afternoon to give her plenty of time to run around after we checked into our hotel. We learned a lot during the first two days and made some changes to our plan. The rest of the trip went much smoother. Our trip consisted of 5 days traveling west, 6 days at our location, and 4 days returning east. The second half of the outbound trip and the return trip were pretty smooth.

Here's what DIDN'T work during the first two days:

Get up before sunrise and hit the road by 4:00 am. I was told she'd go right back to sleep and we'd have 4 or 5 hours travel time under our belt before we had to stop for breakfast. Not my child - once we woke her up she stayed awake until late morning.

Drive all day, eating snacks and small meals until you get to your destination. Even though we had lots of amusements for her, she would fall asleep for hours at a time and then have a very hard time getting to sleep in a strange crib in a strange room at night.



Here's what DID work

Let her sleep until morning. Have some juice handy to start the day and then drive for an hour or two before stopping for breakfast.

Drive for a few hours after breakfast. Pull off the highway at a decent sized town and drive to a grocery store. Get picnic supplies (sandwiches, fruit, cheese, drinks) and ask the checkout clerk to direct you to a local park with a toddler playground. Spend an hour or so having lunch and playing in the park.

Get back underway and stop for a stretch if necessary before getting to your destination by mid to late afternoon.

......

I'm not sure how long your trip is going to be or how many days you are planning on being on the road but if its going to be one very long day you'll probably be fine. More than one very long day and I would add an extra day and make the days shorter.

Magna Doodles are good. So are board or cloth books. K had a couple special stuffed toys she talked to along the way. I would also spend time in the back seat with her and read to her after lunch or play hand games. The biggest tip I can give you is to make sure she gets to run around during the day. Otherwise she'll sleep a lot in the car and be up half the night.

She is a great car sleeper. ( thank goodness )
We have done early morning trips before and with in about 20 minutes of getting in the car, she resumes sleep. I thank my lucky stars for that.. HOPEFULLY.. that will happen again.
Our plan IS to leave at 4 am, The trip is approx 11hrs . With all the planned stops it will be closer to 13.
I have created a route that takes us through over 20 cities ( big and small...then some cow towns. ) With the option to stop as many times as necessary we should do ok.
We are going to take a kitchen timer, set it for 2 hrs and stop for 20 minutes every time it goes off. No matter what. If it is lunch time then we will take an hour for lunch.. maybe a bit longer and keep trucking.

That is a great idea about the felt pieces with velcro. I can attach that to the back of the car seat and give her the pieces. I will be off and on in the back seat so she will have company , then when she starts to look tired, I will move to the front. Im hoping... less stimulation.. more nap time. It is ok if she sleeps for most of the drive. We are only going to be in NM for 3 days. We can adjust our sleep times to hers. That I wont fight with.

I went to the store and got :
Einstein cd's, Big Bird songs and some basic piano music.
More then one suggestion of music as entertainment.. so I got 3.

I wish i had a vcr player in my car. hehe
she has alot of these Baby einstein videos for vcr,, but no player for the car.


I have not found Elmos World on cd? Are thier music cds of that? Or is it just a TV show?

Elmo's World is a segment on Sesame Street. You can probably find some of Elmo's songs on the Sesame Street CDs.