Thanksgiving travel tends to be the most hectic travel for most families. Are you traveling for Thanksgiving by road? Hopefully by now, you’ve already prepared for your family road trip. According to AAA, an estimated 39.7 million people will travel by car this Thanksgiving. Here are some last minute ideas to help you before you hit the road and while you are on your way.
- Give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination.
- If you are driving, save the texting for later. Otherwise, pass your phone to the passenger and have them send and receive your message.
- Ensure that your GPS is fully-functional, packed, and charged, just in case you have to take a detour or there are unexpected road closures.
- Practice patience on the road with yourself, your spouse, and your kids.
- Pack any and all electronics that will entertain and engage your kids (CDs, light up toys, See N’ Say toys, educational toys, iPod, iPad). Don’t forget the movies and videos for the children when you need a break from entertaining them.
- Bring flashcards for educational time-out for kids.
- Pack plenty of snacks to hold you and the kids over for the ride. Double or even triple the amount of snacks you’d normally bring. You can never have enough snacks. Here are some healthy snacking ideas.
- Make sure everyone uses the restroom right before you leave the house.
- Limit the amount of drinking you and your kids do in the car and halt all drinking at least one hour before departure.
- Take along a CD of Christmas (or Hanukah) songs so that the family can do a sing-a-long and get excited for the upcoming holiday.
Hopefully you are already on the road and just happen to be reading this from your phone – of course you aren’t driving while you are reading this though. If you haven’t left yet, then you may want to prepare yourself for a long practice in patience.
The key to a successful road trip is not only getting “there” safely and soundly but also having enough snacks and activities to make the trip as comfortable, relaxing, entertaining and fun enough as possible. We all share the roads; hopefully we can share these tips.
Thank goodness, this year we decided to stay local. Otherwise, we generally like to leave mid-day or early morning the day before Thanksgiving. Even then, Thanksgiving traffic is almost always assured. When does your family like to leave?