Hi my name is Annie, and I dread road trips

[AnnieW625]

Please tell me road trips aren't bad. I dread them as much as small prop. planes. I am almost 35 yrs. old and I honestly have no urge to go on a long road trip with my kids (will be 6, and 2 at the time) ever. I just don't want to spend my vacation in my car. I spend too much time (an hour+ a day) in my car commuting, and in general I like my car.

This summer we have 10 days in August where there is no school or summer camp. DH is thinking a road trip, and we need to see my in laws, our entire family has not been there in 5 yrs (so DD2 has never been). They live in SW Wyoming about 90 minutes south of Jackson Hole. We had a nice time the last time we were there, but it is a 17 hr. drive and I am dreading the drive, but DH thinks a road trip might be fun. I just don't think I can handle two days each way of 8 hr. drives. It will be $800 to fly, plus another $200 or so for a rental car, and another $100 or $200 for potential overnight stays in Salt Lake depending on when our plane gets in or leaves. It's a 4 hr. drive from SLC to their house. Lodging at the ILs would be free so that is a plus, but gas would be about $600 if we road tripped, but could be as much as $800. Plus they live in nowhere land and I would be scared of getting stranded in my 110K milage Pilot.

Another option that might make a easing into a road trip a little easier would be to go and visit my brother in Portland, which is about 14 hrs. from my area, but my parents are smack dab in the middle, and there are a few decent sized cities between us and the Oregon border and then again once we are in Oregon if anything were to happen. We could stay there for a night or two in the middle of the trip up and on the way back. If I have to road trip this seems much better IMHO. Downsides are we'd have to find a vacation rental in Portland or a hotel, although I have found some nice options on HomeAway.com. Airline tickets would be about the same as to see the ILs, but in addition to a rental car we'd have to pay for lodging also.

Sorry for the novel, but does anyone else feel that way or used to feel that way about road trips.

(eta: we see the ILs about 3 to 4 times a year when they are either in So Cal or in Nor Cal, so it is not like we haven't seen them in 5 yrs., but their house is just a pain to get to from ours unless we fly and traveling there with small kids is a pain; we did it once when DD1 was 15 months old and we both agreed it would be a long while until we did that again. The long while period has now expired).

[maestramommy]

Can you break it up into 3 days? We're doing that when we drive to MI this summer. First day 8 hours, 2nd day 4 hours, 3rd day 4 hours. We're thinking of doing a tour of playgrounds, and maybe Niagara Falls if we can. We figure the kids will be fresh going out so why not play on the way. Coming back we will do 2 long days because after a week of playing plus a family wedding plus moshing with cousins, they will be tired, and vegging in the car will suit them better.

Now admittedly this is the longest road trip we will have taken, so I don't know if we are just being optimistic. This might turn out to be one of those "Well we'll never do THAT again." But flying is so $$$, plus rental car, so we want to at least give this a try.

[hillview]

I hate road trips and love flying

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'm too cheap to fly so we drive for many trips. But, 10-11 hours is about my max/ day. Really, with snacks, movies and other entertainment I find that the kids do well and so do we. We usually press onwards vs stopping every 2 hours for running around...we'd much, much rather get to our destination faster!

[Simon]

Well, Dh and I looooove road trips, though I admit that driving with kids takes a little of the fun out of it! So far, Ds3 (8 weeks old) has gone on 3 road-trip drives of 14+ hours and countless shorter ones (approx. 5 hours).

I would only consider driving to WY if there are things you like along the way. Also, with a 6yo and 2yo, I'd try and drive more than 8 hr/day. But, that assumes you want to get there faster vs. have more scenic fun. It also helps a lot if you figure out how your family road trips the best.

Historically, we left just before nap (drive 3-4 hours, stop and play, eat dinner, drive another 3-5 hours, stop at hotel). Lately, we've been leaving at 2 or 4am (after a nursing session) and putting in a few hours before stopping for breakfast, then 45-90min to a play break + lunch, drive 2-4 hours over nap time and break for dinner, then another 1-3 hours until stopping at a hotel. We can easily get in about 10 hours this way.

How to make a road trip work for you?
Step 1: Google maps are your friends; check the driving times between start/destination and lots of intermediate points.
Step 2: find things YOU like to do that can be done along the way. Ditto for things the kids like. Find things at good breaking points so you have lots of options. We don't make firm plans on where/when to stop but go with the flow of when kids are riding well vs. whining.

[Percycat]

Originally Posted by AnnieW625

Plus they live in nowhere land and I would be scared of getting stranded in my 110K milage Pilot. .

You could also look into renting a car/van for the road trip. We rented a couple times before we owned a van. This might alleviate some of your concern about being stranded or having car trouble.

I agree with the suggestion to plan something fun on your days out to your IL and plan for a more direct return trip.

Have fun.
Angela

[Tondi G]

We don't do road trips. While it always sounds like fun, DH and I both don't really love driving long distances. We have a DVD player in my car, the kids have DS's, we bring snacks ... and Las Vegas is about the farthest we have attempted. DS2 (6yrs old) already started in with the "are we close to Vegas, Are we there yet" within the first hour of our drive the last time! LOL So glad my MIL is moving back here .... no more drives to Vegas!

So yeah with gas prices the way they are right now we usually look into flying if at all possible. I can't imagine 2 full days of driving and then looking down the barrel of another 2 days of driving home.

Good Luck making a decision on what to do/where to go!

[mackmama]

Could you take an early morning flight to SLC then drive the 4hrs in the same day? Then you wouldn't have to pay lodging. You could ask a rental car company what they charge for a one-way rental... or a RT could be cheaper.

[AnnieW625]

Thanks all. Yes we get the are we there yet when we drive to the San Diego Zoo, and that is 90 minutes without traffic most times.

An example of breaking it up would be stopping in Zion National Park for overnight, then spending the day there and then driving to Salt Lake City and either driving straight through and or spending the night and completing the trip.

However the light just turned on and this will be in August, which would not be a good time to be driving through the SW at all, it will be over 100 in most places. DUH! Even driving up to Sacramento in the heat could be a pain as there would be little relief heat wise until you get almost to Portland.

Originally Posted by bonstead99

You could also look into renting a car/van for the road trip. We rented a couple times before we owned a van. This might alleviate some of your concern about being stranded or having car trouble........

DH suggested this, but the problem is he wouldn't want to do it in a smaller car than our Pilot so he'd want to rent a Suburban, Grand Cherokee or similar and it wouldn't be that much cheaper than flying ($600 to $800 for 10 days), and that is before gas. If we flew we'd just be gone for a week, we'll go stir crazy if we spend more than 5 days with the ILs. DH spent 10 days with them last fall hunting and had a good time, but he said even that was a little long.

Originally Posted by mackmama

Could you take an early morning flight to SLC then drive the 4hrs in the same day? Then you wouldn't have to pay lodging. You could ask a rental car company what they charge for a one-way rental... or a RT could be cheaper.

yes we did this before and it worked out quite well. The return trip was when we actually wished we would have spent the night in SLC because the next day was a hard day for DD1. We drove for 3 hrs. or so and ate lunch in Park City, then we drove to the airport, and got back on a plane for 2 hrs. It was much easier to get in the car and drive straight to the ILs (with a small lunch break at Subway) than it was coming home.

[hellokitty]

I agree with the pp who said to make stops at different attractions en route. We went on the mother of all road trips. Airfare is crazy, esp for 5 ppl, so we drove 20 hrs to WDW in December. We drove mid-way and stayed the night at bil's house and then drove the rest the early the next day. I am lucky that my kids are at the point where they do ok with road trips, as long as I have lots of dvds, some use of their NDS and LOTS of LOTS of snacks. We usually pack one meal, so if someone is napping, we can just eat in the car instead of waking that child up. Then we do one sit down meal, so everyone has a chance to stretch their legs. On the way back, we stopped at my brother's and spent Christmas there, so it broke up the trip a bit. I'm lucky though, my DH likes to drive. I hate driving, but will do it if I have to (small bits at a time).

Your youngest is still at an age though, that I would consider difficult for a road trip. If you can split it into chunks, like other pp mentioned, it would be more doable, but then that means eating into vacation time, and I don't know if that is an issue or not (having enough PTO).