Road Trip Tips: part two- Navigating, Saving Money, Items to Bring, and Memories

I have been working hard on some crafts around the house I can't wait to show you guys!

Today is the second installment of traveling tips. See the first post here.

Navigating:

We brought 4 different types of navigation and we used them all. Most of the time at least two at the same time. Of course we brought our trusty GPS. We put our final destination (going and then returning) so we could keep track of how long total we had to go. We also used the Google Map app on our iPhones to give us the best directions and update us of traffic conditions (which we hit a TON of in Arkansas, boo!). We used an atlas. It gave us distances between cities and and broader view of where and how we were traveling. Last, we used pre-printed paper directions of the whole trip. 

Stopping:

We tried to get as much done as possible when we needed to make pit stops. Gas, potty, food, and nursing the baby and we were back on the road. We had a sheet that we used as a picnic blanket in case we wanted to eat outdoors and let the kids run around. We had a pretty set schedule of when we stopped which coincided with meal times and my usual nursing schedule. For staying the night we used apps on our phones to decide. Mid-afternoon we would decide where we would try to make it to and I would begin my research into where to stay. I used the Expedia and Trip Advisor apps which I will talk about more below. 

Picnicking on a beautiful day

Money Saving:

Gas: So there is no app available on the iPhone for this (only Android) so I had to look at their website but I used FuelMyRoute.com . Once we had about a 1/4 of a tank I plugged in our current location and about where we could make it to and found the cheapest gas. We frequently found that at Sam's Club which is lucky my mom has a membership! If we were close to where we wanted to get gas I used the Gas Buddy app. 

Hotels: As I mentioned above I used the Expedia App. It is super user friendly and I found a promo code the first day to save the first time I booked on the app. We also used the TripAdvisor app to look at reviews of the hotels. There are reviews on the Expedia App but I just like to double check there to make sure.

General Tips for things to bring:

• First Aid kit with (at least) bandaids, triple antibiotic ointment, anti-itch cream, and stomach, headache, and allergy medicine. 
• Strings, paper, tape, scissors, and pens. Trust me in case you need to fix something or make something stay in place. I created a paper towel holder with the string and we tied it onto the handles on the back of one of the chairs.
• Air freshener. Trust it will get gross smelling especially if you were lucky like us and had a puker on the first day!
• Grocery bags for trash or other carrying needs. Both the paper towel and the trash hung by a baby toy chain link.
• Sunscreen 
• Camera (which is easily accessible)
• Single dollar bills for tolls
• Pillows for kids and adults
• Sheet- as mentioned above we used it as a picnic blanket and we also put it over the baby when she napped so she could have some darkness and peace.
• Gallon sized bags to put snacks once they get opened and all different sizes of baggies.
• Club membership cards. 

Memories:

Along our trip we did a few things to remember the fun times we had. I made a calendar of our trip. It gave us a visual of when we needed to leave and how long things had and would take. Each day we also wrote in box where we went, funny, sad, and fun things that happened. On the back we wrote our memories about each state. We also took a picture of each state welcome sign. 

I have one more post to write about traveling with kids! Do you have and tried and true methods of traveling?!

General Roadtrippin' Tips part 1

So last fall ( I believe when I was still pregnant) my mom said "Let's take a cross country road trip!" Well her plan came to fruition and we took a 17-day road trip that was over 5,000 miles! You may be thinking "wait-don't you have a 9-month and 3-year old? Are you crazy?" Maybe we were a little but it actually turned out great!

Here are some stats about our trip:

We stayed with 5 different family members' homes

and 5 different hotels

We traveled through 17 states

In one day saw 9 LDS temples

My girls saw all 20 cousins in the same week (from both sides)

Total number of hours caught in traffic was 6- big UGH!

We made tons of memories and we are actually considering making this a tradition. Today I have some general tips that I found while roadtrippin! I have another post coming up with tips for traveling in the car with kids.

Packing:

There was no way we could fit enough clothing in the car for the length of time we were going to be gone and it wasn't worth taking up the space. I picked out 7 outfits for the adults and 9 for the kids. I picked up some crates for less than $3.50 each that would fit in the back and could stack. I used one for each adult and the two girls shared one. I packed their socks and bows in baggies. The fourth bin was shoes and other things like my purse (since I usually use a diaper bag), socks, and belts. I then had an over night carry-sized bag that I kept our toiletries in. Every night when we got to where we were staying (except when we got to our final destination and brought it all inside) I put in outfits for the next day and pjs for each person that way I didn't have to lug in big suitcases each night. I would suggest putting a list on the inside of the bag because I think I forgot socks for my husband at least 5 times. 

Food:

Bring non-messy stuff. That should go without saying but I didn't heed my own advice. We brought along peanut butter and jelly and stopped a couple afternoons for a picnic lunch. Other things we really enjoyed were Goldfish, Teddy Grahams, MnMs, nuts/trail mix, Cheezits, grapes, pretzels, and my hubby really enjoyed sun flower seeds while driving. My mom has an awesome soft sided cooler (similar to this) that we kept our waters, fruit, and any melting candy in. We brought a bunch of bottles of water. When we were at family's houses we filled them up- hotel water is just too sketchy for us! At night we would freeze the water for the next day. 

Organizing the Car:
When organizing your car use as little of the floor space as possible. In our car since we had one in an infant seat she was in the middle and the floor space of her seat was where we kept out food and all the things we needed on hand. In between the front two seats we put a narrow three-drawer cart. We took off the wheels and it fit perfect.  (see picture) We had a place for all electronics. It was just out of site from a snoopy person but accessible to the front and middle seat passenger. We had a charging station for all electronics. My hubby bought this car charger spliter and we always had plenty of outlets. Speaking of charging things my mom brought a bag just for chargers that worked out great. Wherever we were we knew where our chargers were (in the hotel, at our family's house). I bought various sized plastic bins at the Dollar Store. I used one to slip under the backside of the front seats and some for storage of the kids' things (which I will talk more about in the post about traveling with them). We brought various sized plastic bags. Instead of keep around the boxes of food we put them in gallon- or quart-sized bags. The snack and sandwich bags came in handy as well. I liked to used structured organizing supplies (the bins and drawers) much more than the bags.

I have more tips in part 2 which will include tips about:

Navigating, saving money, and general what to bring