car trip ideas and tips
Road trip tips
Here is an overview over the topics we will go through:
- Car checklist
- Snacks for the car
- Car games
- Packed lunches for the trip
- Packing list and tips
Ready let´s go
Checklist for the car
and suggestions, depending on what kind of car trip you are planning.
A good thing is to have many of these things in the glove compartment or easily accessible.
- Passport, driver’s license, Visa card, health insurance certificates (the blue one for Europe), currency for any toilets and registration certificate for the car
- Tickets, rental certificate and other documentation if you have booked some, cabins or campsite.
- Remember various marks/motorway stickers for the car for the roads in Germany and Austria
- Some European cities (e.g. Berlin) require that the car is equipped with an environmental zone sticker, check with fdm.
- Update the GPS with the latest maps of roads in Europe or download maps for offline use on your mobile phone or print out driving suggestions
- Mobile phone holder, chargers, USB
- For the car: Yellow vest, warning triangle, a flashlight and a first aid kit (gauze bandage, plaster, cleaning wipes, etc.) lamp.
- Check oil and water
- Small garbage bags, hand sanitizer, paper and wet wipes
- Food, snacks and drinks for the trip – possibly cooler bag
- Sunshades for the side windows and possibly neck pillows and blankets
- Masks, if required
- Sunglasses
- Music, DVD players
- Pen and paper
- Truck assistance on the car
- Games, etc.
Car snack tips
It could be a circus with snacks that stick to everything or the word; I’m hungry and then you can turn around and turn around 50 times to hand out snacks 🙂
These bags were intended for a longer trip of over 10 hours, but you can also easily use the idea and reduce the content if necessary. You could also buy reusable zip lock bags.
We said; You get these bags and can eat them in 5 minutes or keep them for longer, thats up to you. These bags are only snacks, food is packed next to them, for meals.
A good idea is for each child to have a small bag or somewhere they know they can put their snack bag.
Another idea could also be a lunch box that suits the need.
There are many ideas for snacks but I tried to think of what I didn’t want stuck to seats or interior. A little cleaning up is probably unavoidable, but chocolate or chocolate biscuits can easily get on little fingers and then they get wiped off on, well, you know, anything but a piece of paper.
A little raisins or dried apricots will do, but date fruit sticks are too sticky, at least for my 1 year old 🙂
Car snacks content
Mom can have chocolate he he he, Mom and Dad share a little with each other, we both sit in the front. So our bags look a little different, the excuse is that we drive a car 🙂
Our youngest Jenna, 1 year old, almost 2 years old, hasn’t had any sweets or hard things in hers. With the fruit puree, we have to keep an eye on her a little, but that usually works. Otherwise, different kinds of biscuits, so it’s a bit fun and exciting, dried apricot mix, raisins and dried strawberry/apple snack in the little bag.
We have made other variaties as well, and also depending on the age.
Our 3 boys have had the same in theirs, otherwise we know that they will weigh and compare them ha ha ha. There was also some sweets in theirs.
The cool thing about the bags is that you can keep the rest for the trip you’re on, if you don’t eat it, and they just sat when wanted.
It may sound a bit funny, but here are also snack bags made for the trip home, they were smaller ones, so we could buy a little something to enjoy from there also. Here in the picture you can see what they contain for a family of 6 people. One bag for the trip there and one for the trip home 🙂
A little dog treat for the dog that needs to be looked after :)
Car play
Who will find them first?
Car bingo, found on Google by typing car bingo, then laminated so we can use them several times, they are for different ages.
From the top to the bottom: easy, medium and difficult.
On one of them, you have to have 4 in a row, otherwise it’s about being the first to find 5.
I’ve put stickers on, that only stick to one half, so they can take them off and on, but pens that can be erased can of course also be used.
Our boys thought it was fun to look at the map, then they could follow a long with where we were. You can also make it a game, finding the cities and drawing the route.
More Car games
- Guess an animal; an absolute favorite of ours, you think of an animal, where the others have to ask, for example. is it brown? can it fly? does it live in water? is it a farm animal? etc.
- Audio books: Our children love audio books and it is a brilliant idea instead of movies, especially if someone can get a little car sick.
- Quiet play 🙂 Who says a sound first, looses
- Alphabet animals: For each letter, an animal is mentioned, for example A: Ant
- Compliment game – go through the alphabet, where each letter must be a compliment to another.
- P.S Books with pictures for the youngest 🙂
- Magnetic drawing board
- Sticker book
Packed lunches for the trip
Packed lunches in a cooler bag or box make the trip much faster if you have to drive long distances and save time. We were really happy to have packed sandwiches, sausages and meatballs, it made the stops faster, easier and cheaper.
We noticed a big difference compared to the trip home where we had to order food.
Road trip - packing list
Checklist for a road trip
Tips for a good road trip:
- Download movies and games from home, or pack DVDs without covers in a CD holder.
- Headphones
- Chargers for all devices, possibly a power bank
- Close doors and windows in the house
- Set alarm for wake up
- Turn off TV, radio, computer, etc. at the switch, or disconnect the power completely
- Empty the refrigerator of food that cannot last until you get home again – If necessary, pack the food in a cooler bag to take with you.
- Empty the trash can
- Check that the heating is turned down or turned off
- Unsubscribe from newspapers and advertisements, or arrange with your neighbor to empty the mailbox
Practical things:
- Bed linen, sheets, wet sheet, towels, tea towels
- Kitchen roll and toilet paper
- Toiletry bag with all the essentials (toothbrushes, toothpaste, soaps, cotton swabs, cotton swabs, nail scissors, small hairdryer, hand soap, hair elastics, curlers, sanitary napkins, brush, make up, creams, face wash, etc.)
- Sunscreen and aftersun
- Entertainment, books, toys, board games, outdoor games (football)
- Cleaning agents and dishwashing liquid (possibly detergent if you want to wash clothes at the destination)
- Garbage bags
- Electronics (mobile, tablet, laptop), chargers, headphones, power banks and possibly travel adapters
- Blister plasters, cleaning wipes, aloe vera gel, lip balm and other first aid equipment, mosquito repellent, burn cream, hand sanitizer.
- Universal knife with can opener, corkscrew?
- Cheese grater? or other things that are not in the place you will come.
Baby:
- Travel cot
- Baby monitor
- Rain cover
- Mosquito net
- Stroller
- Pushchair
- Sleeping bag
- Duvet
- Pillow
- Sheets
- Diapers
- Wet wipes
- Baby oil
- Zinc ointment
- Clothing
- Swimwear
- Underwear
- Socks
- Trousers
- Shoes, boots, sandals
- Outerwear, hat, gloves, rainwear, thermal clothing, scarf
- Sunglasses, cap, sun hat
If you roll your clothes up, they take up less space in your suitcase. 🙂
Found some microfiber towels very cheap for the whole family, but they are not as good as regular towels, I can mostly recommend them to save space in your suitcase and they dry faster.
