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@bhbee: are you splitting it into 2-3 days, or what’s your plan? Staying overnight somewhere?

Pre-Covid, we’ve taken many road trips with our kiddos. Probably the longest was from our place in the NYC area to Florida. But we try to limit the driving to about 8 hours a day. I agree you LR youngest will be the hardest. I always had to sit in back with my kids when they were that young, or they would be utterly miserable, which would in then make us all miserable. I don’t know what your vehicle situation is, but if you can swing sitting next to the toddler, it makes it much easier to entertain them/pass them things (that’s the age where they drop everything and scream until you pick it up and give it back).

We just did an 8 hour trip and it was easy-peasy. Because of Covid, we really limited stops and had our kids pee in a travel potty rather than go inside anywhere.

My 6 year old did listen to an entire audio book (babysitters club, she’s into it which is a joy to my 80’s mama heart), and that was just shy of 3 hours. We also have them about 2 hours of screentime and then we filled in the rest of the time with singing along to soundtracks we like, eating snacks and lunch, nap time for the younger one, etc.

So if you are staying overnight, and shoot for 8.5 hours a day, or if you can even stay 2 nights somewhere on the way, then it can be downright pleasant with the kids on long trips. But of course, all my usual tricks are pre-Covid (Like stopping for lunch at a fast food place where there’s a playplace).

I am a big fan of driving at night for long road trips. Our daughter (2 and RF) has done it multiple times. So if it were me I would probably do one of these options- 1. leave around 3 in afternoon let kids get for a picnic dinner and then have them sleep in the car. Arrive around breakfast. 2. leave after bathtime and then stop somewhere for breakfast and let them have more movies for the rest until you arrive.

Switch off driving for the adults. There is a sticker license plate game. Extra treats. New toys as surprises. There are a ton of music,movies, tv and audio book options on the free app hoopla. Or the free app Libby.

@bhbee: this might be one of those things that you don’t know until you try it! we have done long trips (10-11 hours) but have always broken it up into two days. Anything 8ish hours or less we can do in one day. FWIW when my kids are younger (>2) they HATE riding at night and scream the entire time. So driving overnight never worked we do lots of screens while we are driving and have 0 apologies for it. I think your 1.5 year old will be the wild card—that’s the absolute toughest age to travel with IMO, but you’ve gotten good advice for distractions!

How long will your trip be? I’d only do it if it was a decently long stay! (week+, not including travel days)

We did 12 hours in 1 day when DS was about 1.5. It was totally fine - he slept a ton and we mapped out 2-3 rest stops along the way where we knew he'd be able to run around and stretch his legs. We used to drive the same route pretty frequently (maybe 5x a year) before kids, and preferred to do it straight through rather than stopping - we found getting unloaded from the car, checking in/out, etc. was just as tiring as pushing through to our destination in 1 day. Probably not doable if your trip is 17 hours, though!

We are doing this route with DS again next week, out of necessity, so I guess we'll know then whether or not the first time was a fluke We have to travel, and decided driving would be safer for us than flying - we are packing a cooler with all our food and drinks so the only stops will be bathroom and gas. I would have zero screen time guilt under the circumstances - do what you need to do!

You’ve gotten great tips, I just wanted to add definitely bring a bucket or big Tupperware with a lid, lots of plastic grocery bags, paper towels and some kind of cleaning spray. My kids have all randomly gone through spurts of carsickness due to screens and reading, and sometimes for them just having a bucket on hand makes them less overwhelmed and anxious about getting sick in the car. Good luck!

On the audiobook note, we've found some nice long ones on epic. If you have Disney+ you can download that content. My kids use an old Samsung Galaxy of mine that I wiped to watch shows on long drives. Have any old phones lying around that you could repurpose?

@bhbee: fwiw I think public bathrooms aren’t necessarily high risk for transmission—while it has been shown that viral particles are shed in urine/stool (or both?), these aren’t necessarily *live* or complete viruses that can infect you. (Disclaimer: this was info I read a couple of weeks ago, and as we all know the information is ever changing!)

I hate public restrooms though and avoid them whenever I can, covid or not

Maybe look into getting an iPad holder that straps onto the car seat they are facing for the 1.5 year old since they can’t really hold the tablets for long (if at all) without dropping them. Definitely download lots of movie options rather than relying on streaming in case you go through areas with bad connection. Also, my daughter started loving Sesame Street around 1.5 so you could try that too.

In the last 2 weeks, we've done a 7 hour car ride and a 10 hour car ride with the kids, with daily 1-2 hours in the car; with a 2 and 4 yr old. Last year summer we did four 8-hour car rides with a 1 and 3 year old.

Product tip: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4N4AGC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I like these because they have BIG pockets. We have 2, one for each kid. With the 4 pockets for each kid, we keep a spare set of clothes, snacks, small toys, and then in the 4th pocket we keep diapers/wipes for a little OR screens for a big kid.

We bought and borrowed a lot of interactive books, ones that have flaps and ones that have the buttons on the side to make sounds. We requested a lot of books from the library on their favorite topics / movies. We kept those in between the two car seats but you could also do a reusable grocery bag on the floor by their feet.

We brought a lot of their favorite small toys like Hot Wheels and mini figurines.

We planned stopping points every 2-3 hours, picking out cities. Then we would stop and do a picnic lunch on a playground. I personally think the infection risk is low there.

We avoided public restrooms and used potties and the outdoors. I honestly wish I had bought something like these: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=camping+woman+pee&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

We downloaded a bunch of kids songs to our phones / an old ipod, and played those.

We upgraded our netflix account for unlimited downloads on unlimited devices.

If your windows aren't tinted, I think it's good to still put on sunscreen.

I personally find that a pillow, eye mask, and ear plugs help me sleep.

We brought all of our face-masks and kept them in sandwich-size ziploc baggies, within a larger bag.

For a cooler, we love these ice packs, some of them we cut into strips: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LGZJNT2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

All that being said, both kids made it 5 hours through both car drives without using screens, even though they watch 2-3 hours daily at home.