We recently went on our first road trip with our new travel trailer. We traveled from Georgia to Illinois (we had a wedding in Illinois so we figured we would try out this whole camping thing).
We have an 8 year old and two 4 year olds.
We learned a good bit along with the way so I thought I would share with you in case you are considering a road trip with littles.
Motion sick children will feel worse when pulling a trailer
I don’t know why but I never thought about this before. With every bump, it is amplified by the trailer. I would recommend having a bucket or bowl in case someone gets sick! You will not regret it if you have to use it! Also, these 2 oils saved us for the rest of the trip!
And because this can be an issue, that is why this next thing is important….
Bring quarters (and laundry detergent)
Our son got car sick on the first day. We were almost to our first campground when this happened. I was however, thankful we had the camper because there was a change of clothes in there as well as towels.
When we got to our KOA, we were so excited to see washers and dryers but we realized we did not have enough quarters. My husband had to walk to a gas station to get change – not very ideal.
Keep a bag full of quarters in the camper just in case you need to do laundry. We also ended up having to wash some sheets after one of them wet the bed. We were skipping naps and going to be super late so our kids were REALLY tired at night, apparently! With all that being said, don’t forget your laundry detergent. I took some of my favorite kind with us.
I actually get twice as many loads because you can dilute it. I will post some of my money saving tips in a later post! You can purchase some HERE.
Sound Machines
Sounds machines will save your life! We actually just have an app on our tablets and phones (White Noise Baby Sleep App) but it really helps drown out other sounds outside of the trailer (and inside since our kids went to bed before us).
Snacks, snacks, and more snacks
The kids were ALWAYS hungry. Isn’t that always the case? I felt like it was even more so when we were in the car a lot. The only thing I would suggest (because I am going to try and do this better next time) is to have healthy snacks mixed in with those unhealthy ones. By the end of the week, we were all just done with having all the junk!
Research campgrounds thoroughly!! Look at all different sites to see if they get consistent reviews.
This was probably one of the biggest lessons learned. We were going to stay in a State Park that we knew would not have water hookup but we did not do more research in the bathhouse situations and how easily the water stations would be to fill up.
Each KOA we stayed at was great. I would HIGHLY recommend them. Also, we stayed at a great private campground in Illinois which was exactly what we needed. So glad that things worked out the way they did.
I would LOVE to hear tips you might have about camping with your small children! Leave a comment below!
