by Ashley
Roadtripping with toddlers can be tough, but I’ve got to say that our trip this time (at 2.5 years) was SOOOO much better/easier/more fun than last year at this time (at 18 months). It was even much easier than our summer road trip to Utah (when they were 2). Here’s my take on the experience, and how to make it a bit more bearable, in a frugal way.
At 18 months (and younger), the biggest challenge was lack of mobility. This is really our fault because we were so used to making these big, long roadtrips in a single day and we hadn’t really shifted our thinking and our mindset to accommodate little people yet. We kept trying to drive for such looooong stretches that just did.not.work. And the wee ones would let us know how miserable they were.
At 24 months, the biggest challenge was lack of independent play. By this point we’d shifted to allow for more frequent and longer stops for walking around and stretching out our legs (which helped a lot), but by this point our girls still did not watch any TV shows or movies so downloading things to the ipad, for example, was not a realistic or helpful idea for us at the time. Most of their in-car entertainment involved me having to squeeze between the car seats in the second row to read books, sing songs, and entertain them in whatever way possible. This was exhausting for me (moreso than them), and made the hours seem to draaaaaag by.
At 2.5 years traveling felt like a breeze in comparison to earlier trips. We knew what worked and what didn’t (e.g., need a few short stops, and at least one mid-day long stop). And by this point a whole new world of independent play car-appropriate toys were opened up to us. The girls spent a lot of time “reading” books to themselves, playing on cheap etch-a-sketch toys, and taking turns playing different learning apps on the ipad (for the record, they still don’t watch TV shows or movies, but I can see that coming in handy for any future roadtrips as they grow older).
What Did We Do Differently?
One thing is that instead of relying so heavily on toys, I relied more on food this time around. Last time I had given them some sweets (their summer roadtrip to Utah was the first time they’d ever had suckers), but this time I opted for more nutritious foods. They’ve just learned to peel clementines and are SO proud of themselves for doing it on their own. This was a perfect snack because its (1) cheap, (2) healthy, (3) time consuming. It takes them a good 5-7 minutes to peel the whole thing, another 3-5 minutes to eat it, and then they want another. The clementine snack was a solid 20-30 minute ordeal that required nothing on my part. Easy-peasy!
Another thing that we did differently was to try to strategically plan stops at big, open spaces where the girls could run around. I packed things for lunch (lunch meat, cheese, bread), and had planned to stop at a rest area for lunch. There’s so much more open area for the girls to run and play in, plus its cheaper and healthier than a fast food lunch. Unfortunately, it was raining the full first day on the road. We would not have been able to eat outside, plus the rain made the cold feel so much more biting and bitter than it would otherwise have been. So we still ended up eating fast food in the end (sad face). But the second day we stopped at a rest area for snacks (we were to my Mom’s house by lunch time, so didn’t eat lunch on the road), and the girls loved running around. They made a little game of holding my hands and running around me like a merry-go-round. Made me dizzy as can be, but they had a blast and it was a great way to release some pent-up energy.
The last thing that we did different was with our dinner plans while on the road. Last Christmas (and even over our summer road trip), when we stopped we checked into a hotel and then went out for dinner. What a TERRIBLE idea! Hubs and I thought it sounded good, in theory, because we’d get “real” food instead of fast food. But in reality it’s a huge mess. WHY would you take two 2-year-olds who have been sitting in a car all day long and try to force them to behave in a restaurant? Nightmare-status!! This time around, we knew that we needed to check into our hotel and stay there! We ordered a pizza and let the girls play in the room (just now realizing we really should’ve eaten the sandwich stuff I’d packed, though it was nice to have a hot dinner). They jumped on the beds, took a bath in the tub, and climbed all over the desk chair and miscellaneous furniture. Maybe not the best behavior, but they were able to release some energy and not be forced to sit politely at a dinner table on their best behavior (which would NOT be happening). As a result, hubs and I were so much more relaxed because we weren’t worried about the girls fussing, trying to run around, or cause a scene. We just let them play in the room and all was well.
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So, the moral of the story is that we made it to Austin all in one piece. We also made it here on significantly less money than I’d planned. Remember when I’d guesstimated our costs?? Well gas was much, much less than I’d planned (in some places it was as low as 1.97/gal), and although we still ate out for lunch and dinner, we did so cheaply. I’m tracking our expenses so I’ll likely do another numbers post (like the one from last time) about this trip once its complete. In the meantime, I hope everyone is having a safe, healthy, and happy holiday season!
