I’m sure we’ve all taken road trips with the family at least once in our lives. The confined car space, exploding luggage, annoying siblings and nagging parents can make the entire trip ompletely unbearable. I know the feeling! My parents, two sisters and I drove to Orlando, Florida about five years ago in a van that had a little more space than an ordinary car, but we still argued and felt trapped just the same. Eventually we made it, but after I took a trip back to Florida with my friend years later via airplane, I couldn’t get over that we had wasted about two days trapped in a car when we could have spent TWO HOURS flying there.
The gallery contains some tips on how to survive your next family vacation and make it out alive. Look, we made it!
Yes, I love my family, but when we’re all forced to share and recycle the same oxygen in a car on a road trip, the meanings of “love” and “closeness” take on a whole new meaning. The best thing I have found to do is trying napping, but even that proves difficult when dad gets lost and starts cursing at road maps and signs. But if you’re debating between driving and flying a long distance, PLEASE FLY!!! You’ll preserve so many precious hours of your life, unless, of course, you encounter airport trouble…
How do you stay sane on family vacations? What helpful trips do you have to offer?
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guest
Best thing to have on a long trip with kids? Portable DVD player (unless one comes in the car) and lots of movies. I have been on mannnny long car trips and I WISH I had one. It’d help me not be so bored :/ I’ve been from western B.C to Manitoba (2 times there and back), B.C to California 2 times as well as well as from B.C to Vegas. Although, I will always choose a car over planes. I realize that there are more car crashes than planes, I still feel safer though.
guest
About 5 or 6 years back, my family ended up in the Denver airport during a bunch of blizzards, where people had had to stay in the airport for days. Then I took a bunch of trans-Atlantic flights over the next few years. I prefer to not fly if possible.
Best thing to do is take your own car if you can.
guest
The longest car journey I’ve been on was about sixteen hours spread over two days. I was with my dad and we didn’t fight – I had my iPod and headphones, mobile internet and my tablet, and I brought a blanket and pillows too, as well as food and a couple of books. The best way to get through it without fighting is to bring your own entertainment and to just remember that everyone else is probably just as bored as you are!
sunflower / 413 posts
A 12 hour drive from Pennsylvania to Myrtle Beach was torture. My recommendation is if you’re going to be in a car that long, don’t sleep the night before so that you can sleep in the car lol.
guest
There’s eight of us, so flying was always wayyy too expensive.
guest
I’m not flying until the TSA knocks off the b.s.
My parents lived two hours away from their parents from the time I was six months old and would visit every weekend at first, so I got used to longer car rides early and they don’t bother me from a “stuck in a car” perspective.
I come from a family of seven. That’s a full van. Plus gear. Luckily, we camped with a friend for most trips while there were kids in car seats, so we could put stuff (and a kid or Mom) in his truck. Having my cd player helped, but then it was a fight of me turning it up to drown them out and then getting yelled at for it being too loud. There’s only so much “Wheels on the Bus” I could take! I would try to initiate the “no talking game” – whoever talks first loses, winner gets a quarter – but that didn’t work for long.
@Love_never_fails - Ohio to Myrtle Beach (and some other beach “near” there) with relatives I don’t like…. I should have stayed home.
guest
I’ve never liked family vacations. I love my family, but traveling with them is cramped and people end up cranky and stressed out. Ipod+books+napping is the answer to long car or plane rides