Traveling with kids - Our top tips.

Most of us have been there, you get in the car travel 10 minutes down the road into your 3 hour journey and you hear "are we there yet!?" and its probably not going to be the last time you hear it during your journey either!
We have always holidayed in the UK which has usually meant lengthy car journeys to our holiday destination, not always easy with young children.

So as the summer holidays are almost here I thought I would share some of our top tips for traveling with kids.

- Plan ahead! Try and pack the car the night before it will save you the stress of doing it in the morning and means you can check you have everything before you have very excited children at your feet desperate to go in the morning. Also when packing the car try and place things you might need in easy reach, if you think you may head to the beach when you arrive make sure your buckets and spades aren't at the bottom. Same goes for sun cream and sun hats etc.

- Be prepared to stop and know where the service's are. Quite often traveling by car can mean long journeys on the motorway which means nowhere to just be able to pull over when you hear the words " I need a wee coming from the back". Keep an eye out for service stations and when you know there is one coming up ask them if they need the toilet or anything that way you can be prepared to stop before you pass it.

- Snacks, Snacks and Snacks! I like to pack a small cool bag or lunchbox with a few snacks ideally ones that cause as little mess as possible. Try not to pack chocolate as it will no doubt end in messy hands and face etc. We like to take things like rice cakes, grapes, cereal bars, cucumber sticks, crisps etc. If your going to be traveling over lunch time why not take a packed lunch and stop somewhere for lunch on your way, it will certainly save you money as the service stations can be quite pricey and it will give you all a chance to stretch your legs.

- A fun travel bag for the kids. This can be made up a few days before your journey and can be so handy in keeping young children entertained whilst traveling. I make ours up in a backpack that the kids can have in the back with them. Our bag contains things like a wipe board and dry wipe marker (as this won't stain the upholstery if dropped) for drawing, books, leappad or tablet device for slightly older children (make sure you pre download some suitable games or apps), sticker books, snacks such as raisins and cereal bars + a bottle of water and etch a sketch type games.

So these are a few of our top tips, do you have any to share? How to do you keep your children happy whilst traveling on long journeys?



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