Driving 17 hours with two kids- any advice?

[emer95]

Hi everyone- OP here. Thank you so much for all of the great ideas and tips.

Sorry- I should have mentioned, we're not going to Disney this time(I thought I posted this on the Budget Board. Maybe it was moved?) We're going to Amelia Island, so we won't be on-the-go for our week off. My dh says he can just sleep on the beach.

I appreciate those of you who say stopping halfway is better. I firmly agree, and hopefully reading these posts will help convince my husband. I'm going to find a cheap place to stay halfway through and book it. My family's safety is certainly worth one night's stay in a hotel.

 

[alice99]

I should've noted that getting home at 7pm is less than a half day's shift for dh

I worked 5 pm until 2 am for 10 years. I was falling asleep every night driving home from work. It's just not safe, by 3 or 4 am no-one will be able to stay awake.
I hope you reconsider.

Either way, I hope you have a safe trip.

 

[geishagirl81]

Nope, sorry, I go grocery shopping at 2am. Seriously, I am a night owl, I posted that. Some people get up with the sun. Some people go to bed just before the sun rises. Like I said, we will stop at the Tennessee border rest stop, around 3amish for a nap. Everyone has different habits. Obviously a night shift didn't work for you, that doesn't mean that no one can function that late. If I went to bed at 10pm every night, there is no way I'd try to drive that late. But dh and I are on different schedules than a lot of people and are ok with that. I would not put my family in danger, I don't appreciate the reference that I would. If people didn't have night owl tendencies, than there would be no one to patrol the streets at night as cops, the hospitals would close at 10pm ect. ect.

 

[mahend0]

We usually do the overnight drive too, and like it a lot. The kids sleep, so there is a break from complaining, get to listen to our own music instead of The Wiggles, and the roads are blissfully empty. Even the construction areas are a breeze.

The biggest problem we have is from the kids waking up crying because of sore necks, so bring enough pillows that they will be comfortable.

 

[jenharring]

Commando road trips were part of my childhood too, but be aware you are putting yourself and your children at much greater danger when you do it. Besides, how are you going to feel when you get there?

Road fatigue impairs driving as much as drunk driving!
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/drowsy_driving1/Drowsy.html

A friend of mine lost two nieces a few years ago. The wreck was after 12 hours on the road on the way to a family reunion. The driver dozed off for a second, lost control, and ran off the road. He woke up when the car left the pavement but overcorrected and flipped the car. A baby correctly belted in rear facing car seat had no major injuries at all, but the older two children who were incorrectly belted (one not at all) -so they could sleep better - were ejected from the car and died. The mom and dad had severe injuries, but survived.

If you are going to do it you must take frequent breaks and drivers need to get as much sleep as possible. Ask at the fast food places for close local park and get the food to go. Let the kids run, swing etc, and eat there and even have the driver(s) trade off and take short naps. Frequent bathroom breaks etc so that everyone gets up and moves around.

I so agree with you. I am a sleep tech and know the major effects of not having enough sleep. Never drive sleepy. switch off and take naps, if driving thru is a must. I have to say it would be a must for me too. We are only about 6 1/2 hrs away.

 

[jenharring]

Nope, sorry, I go grocery shopping at 2am. Seriously, I am a night owl, I posted that. Some people get up with the sun. Some people go to bed just before the sun rises. Like I said, we will stop at the Tennessee border rest stop, around 3amish for a nap. Everyone has different habits. Obviously a night shift didn't work for you, that doesn't mean that no one can function that late. If I went to bed at 10pm every night, there is no way I'd try to drive that late. But dh and I are on different schedules than a lot of people and are ok with that. I would not put my family in danger, I don't appreciate the reference that I would. If people didn't have night owl tendencies, than there would be no one to patrol the streets at night as cops, the hospitals would close at 10pm ect. ect.

I am soo much a night owl too. I work nights from 8p to 7a. I am working on a tuesday night and we check in on that thursday. As of right now the plan is to get up supper early on thursday morning and leave, but knowing me I will probably sleep when I get home from work after we finish packing and pack the van and then leave when I get up that night. Disney here we come!

 

[TinkerbellinLouisian]

Bring extra earbuds, as one pair will surely break down!

We do the DVD thing. Trying to bring Disney movies of course.

We always play Disney "20 questions" as we get closer.

We've refined "Disney 20 questions" to specific Disney areas, such as "Disney Movie 20 questions" or "Disney Park 20 questions".

For those that don't know the game... Disney Movie 20 questions might go like this: The person "Mickey" who's turn it is thinks of a DIsney Movie. The rest of the vehicle has 20 questions to guess it ...or Mickey wins another turn. Usually the first question on this one is "Real people or animated?".

 

[NotUrsula]

It won't be so bad with 8 & 10 yo's, but safety factors aside (other people have already covered that, and I agree with them), I absolutely wouldn't do it with babies or preschoolers.

Why? Because they are stuck in those carseats with nothing to do but sleep, and they get VERY well-rested. The adults, on the other hand, are running on fumes when they arrive at their destination. Those wired-out-of-their-minds little ones require careful supervision in a place that is not home, and doing it when you're wall-eyed is enough to make you insane.

Night owl or not, that's a plan only a masochist could love.

 

[geishagirl81]

It's not as bad as you'd think! We took my DS to Cape Cod when he was 6 months. We drove the 15 hourse straight there through night. We just checked into our hotel room and had a low-key afternoon. He played on the bed while we lounged. We plan on doing the same once we get to WDW. No big plans that first day. Maybe the kiddie pool and playground so the kids can burn off some energy while we chill out. I would not recc'd driving in and thinking you'll be up for hitting a theme park right away!

 

[luckytobeme88]

We could drive straight 19 hours if we want to, but choose not too. We have always start our journey before 4:00am. Technically we would arrive WDW before midnight. We have seen all too many accidents occur in the middle of the day because that's when drivers start getting fatigue. If you really want to do and you can too, leave before dawn(around 4am)

 

[mindyd]

We will be driving from the PA for the Third Time my Kids are the same exact age. I pack the portbale DVD Players and the Nintnedo DS and any thing else elctronic we have like their Pixel Chicks. I make sure they have their MP3 Players. I buy them each a Journal usually find them at the Dollar Store and have them write a story about our trip and what they want to do at Disney.

I pack Bratz, Coloring Book Crayons and Snacks I also pack Uno Cards and we listen to Disney Movie and every time we go into a different State I give them a small surprise that I had picked up. I make tons of CD's and bring tons of Movies especially Disney it seems to excite them about going more.

 

[trennr]

I figure your Kids will sleep most of it.

DVD Player, Gameboy (or PSP) and MP3 Players.

Also...be careful.

As I told a person I was traveling with for work..."I find it very hard to fall asleep when someone else is driving." Think about it.

 

[angelat]

We are planning to drive this year (from NEPA)too for the same reason. Our trip will be in August and it will be me, DH, DS11 and DsD10. We plan on leaving around 7pm Friday night to arrive mid afternoon on Saturday and just lounge by the pool. We'll have our 6 full days and then the next Saturday we'll head home. not sure what time yet. We'll switch drivers every few hours and I'll take a nap before we leave since I'll leave work early that day.

I have to say that We both can sleep through each other driving. When we drive home from NY late at night after a long day, one of us is almost always sleeping. So, we're used to that.

On the way home, I'm thinking that we might get a room for the night. I do remember from the drives as a kid that the ride home is ALWAYS much "longer" then the ride to Florida.

We have the DVD player and DS has a PSP and DsD has a Ninetendo DS, other than that, we're just driving. Oh, and I'm bringing less drowsy dramamine for the two of them! Just remembered that incase it may help.

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

lol trenner! love the quote. I like to say every so often, "whoa! I just had the weirdest dream..." when I'm driving. Freaks the DH out. I might have borrowed it from a chevy chase vacation movie...

I have the "bad leg" curse. Whenever I get into the driver's seat weird weather things happen, there's 40 miles of road construction with tractor-trailers and concrete walls within 2 inches of the van, etc.etc. ...Does anyone recall the tornado in Niagara Falls a few years back? Yup, that was my "leg". How ironic. Visiting NY from Kansas and we drive thru a tornado.

Just my luck.

 

[zarvgirl]

Being a parent that likes to plan things out (most of the time) has me checking out this thread as we have a 12hr. daytime drive just to get to an airport.

So, I'm telling my mother about all the things I plan on packing she casually mentions perhaps I'm over thinking things a bit......she then tells me about driving from California to East Coast Canada with two boys (3, 4.5) all by herself, 40 years ago. They maybe had a few dinky cars!!!!

I guess perhaps we might not need everything I was planning on packing!!

 

[halikatak]

Planning to stop a bunch of times?

When I was a kid we drove from Chicago to Florida a bunch of times. They just allowed 1.5 days and we stopped at places along the way. I don't recall it being too bad. Though, my mom says we were really well behaved kids.

 

[cathigh10]

We are driving straight through from MA next year. The trip is about 21 hours. We will have four different drivers in the car so I think that will make it a little easier for us. The savings is huge between not having to buy plane tickets or rent a car. I agree that the drive home is always more difficult so we might have to consider staying overnight somewhere on the way back.

My advice for anyone coming from the New England area is to make sure you don't go through NY or DC during rush hour. We got caught in it a few years ago on a family trip and it was just awful. Plan ahead so that you miss it!!

 

[MasterChief]

Suppository

 

[wahmof3]

I'd love to fly too but I'd rather spend that $1,000 on other things on our vacation. Make sure you have lots of DVDs, ipods, handheld video games, books, activity books, snacks and a comfy pillow. They seem old enough to entertain themselves. Imagine traveling 10 hours with an 18 month old and 3 yr old like we did. We had to drive half way late at night after they were put to bed ( in their car seats), then stay somewhere and pick up in the morning the rest of the way. They were troopers though and mainly watched movies and were fine with that. I also had a 13 yr old in the car too and she mostly listened to her ipod and did puzzle books or watched tv with the little ones. Good Luck.

 

[dyna]

JUMP ropes for rest stops an a ball