{"id":34723,"date":"2022-07-22T13:08:20","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T13:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/?p=34723"},"modified":"2024-03-04T11:06:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T10:06:37","slug":"survive-long-distance-car-journey-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/tips-tricks\/survive-long-distance-car-journey-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"How to survive a long-distance car journey with kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re heading across the country for a well-earned staycation this summer, it can be tricky entertaining the little ones for hours. Hearing the dreaded “are we there yet” can make the journey feel that much longer!<\/span><\/h2>\n

Well, you\u2019re in luck! With our guide on how to keep the kids occupied on long journeys, the drive will be over in no time.<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Pack a charged tablet with lots of films and games<\/h3>\n

\"\"If your kids are glued to their tech on a normal day, then when better to let them loose on the tablet than during your car journey! So make sure the tablet is fully charged, or bring a portable charger if the journey is extra long, and download a few kid-friendly titles from Netflix! Or perhaps once the excitement of the film dies down, make sure you have downloaded a few videos from YouTube! Kids love digital games as well, so be sure that the tablet has plenty of your little one’s favourite games to keep them quiet and content!<\/span><\/h5>\n
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Bring plenty of snacks and drinks<\/h3>\n

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A lot of children use eating and drinking as a way to stop boredom. So, if you\u2019re going on a long trip and don\u2019t want to be making any stops, be sure to stock the car up with plenty of snacks and drinks. Bring fruit or vegetable snacks such as carrot sticks and raisins to be healthy, plenty of water, and maybe a sweet treat or two to help with any tantrums or crying. This can also help stop them from saying they\u2019re hungry every 5 minutes, which means no need to stop at every service station for some scran!<\/span><\/h5>\n
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Remember to pack their favourite toys and some colouring books<\/h3>\n

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If there\u2019s anything to entertain the little ones, it\u2019s their favourite thing. So if your kids have any favourite toys, then bring those along! Whether they\u2019re barbies, soft toys, or a Rubix cube, they will be sure to give you a few minutes of silence. If you bring along a colouring book, some pens or pencils and some stickers, that will be sure to buy you a few extra hours of quiet time. Just make sure the little ones aren\u2019t car sick!<\/span><\/h5>\n
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Travel late at night or early in the morning<\/h3>\n

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There are plenty of benefits to travelling at early or late times in the day. For example, once you arrive at your destination you will have more time to spend there. The roads down will also be a lot quieter. The best thing though is that the little ones will likely be snoring away! Late at night will be past their bedtime, and if it\u2019s early in the morning they will likely just drift back asleep! This can be a big benefit if you\u2019re travelling a long way, or if the kids don\u2019t enjoy long journeys anyway.<\/span><\/h5>\n
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Play some fun car games<\/h3>\n

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If you don\u2019t want too much mess or chaos in the car, then why not play some games with your kids! There are lots of games you can play just with your surroundings, such as eye spy, or the number plate game when you think of a sentence with the last 3 letters of the car\u2019s numberplate! If you\u2019re begging for a little bit of peace while you drive, then why not try the \u2018quiet game\u2019, where whoever stays quiet the longest wins!<\/span><\/h5>
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Plan your journey for toilet breaks at service stations<\/h3>\n

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If your little ones are constantly saying \u2018I\u2019m hungry!\u2019 or \u2018I need the toilet!\u2019 then you should definitely plan out your journey stops. On a long journey, lots of pit stops to services can make the journey drag even longer. But if you pre-plan and tell your children in advance, I bet you will end up making fewer stops than usual. Keep a few service stations in mind that you will stop at for toilet breaks or perhaps for some dinner, but make sure you get back on the road ASAP!<\/span><\/h5>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re heading across the country for a well-earned staycation this summer, it can be tricky entertaining the little ones for hours. Hearing the dreaded “are we there yet” can make the journey feel that much longer! Well, you\u2019re in luck! With our guide on how to keep the kids occupied on long journeys, the […]","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":34724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1675],"tags":[855],"class_list":["post-34723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-tricks","tag-summer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}