How to travel with a child in a car and not go crazy

It's complicated. Very difficult. The child can't stand it. He wants to run, to his mother, look, touch, again on the pens, eat, drink, and so on. He gets tired quickly, so he will cry and break out of the car seat. This, in turn, makes us terribly tired, and everyone, tired and irritated, wants to turn back and never go anywhere again.

Don't do this if you are not sure or want to. Or you have a completely restless child. Fly by plane. Vzhuh, and you are there. Or just an 8 hour flight. Yes, after such a trip, 8 hours on the plane is pf-f.

Stops

Large

Divide the journey into parts. By experience, we have established that the maximum number of hours that parents and a child can withstand is 7. And better is 6. We drive for 6 hours, stop in some city for the night.

Small

Stop to refuel, drink, pee, eat - get the child out and walk for 15-30 minutes. As you might guess, this turns 6 hours of travel into eight or more.

When Yan was six months old, we went by car to Moscow without stopping. I thought I was going to end, I roared on the way from impotence. Now we even divide the trip to Moscow into two days - we spend the night in Nizhny.

After 6-8 hours of driving, we are exhausted. But sleep returns strength, and in the morning we are cheerful and cheerful again. And the side effect: you will enjoy the ride.

Dream

If the child sleeps during the day, guess a trip to sleep. For example, leave the city at 11-12 days, the child immediately falls asleep and sleeps for 2-3 hours. And there the remaining time will be easier (this is not 8 hours to entertain).

Don't drive into the night. You will have one person who slept well - this is a child. In the morning he will be cheerful, and you will have to hang out with him, and you are a zombie.

Food

One rule: don't bother. The child may stop eating from stress or switch to bread and apples. Let him eat it if he wants to. Hammer.
If the child is still eating formula (like we have: one feed per night), this is the easiest option on the trip. Diluted, given. In this case, the usual one feeding with a mixture at night can turn into three feedings instead of breakfast, lunch and dinner. See point one: don't bother. Moreover, the mixture is nutritious and healthy.
Breastfeeding is even better: it's also a quick way to calm your baby.
You don't have to take jars or containers of food with you. First, the child may refuse to eat this food. Secondly, it is inconvenient. If the child is on a shared meal, stop eating regular meals. There are super-awesome gas stations where normal food is prepared.
Cosmoeda. Praise for this invention! These are purees in soft packaging. There are fruit, vegetable and whole dinners with potatoes and meat.
Snacks: apples, carrots, dryers, cookies, bananas, crispbread, bread. We eat cookies, dryers and apples in tons on our trips. If you are worried about a healthy lifestyle, see paragraph one. Nerves are more important.

Drink

Lots of water, lots of water. Or whatever your child is drinking. The air is dry in the car. Buy one bottle with a sports neck and fill it with water from large bottles.

Entertainment

Toys

Take a ton of toys with you. It is best to buy new ones and give them out to your child. The novelty effect is distracting.

Cartoons and mobile games

Download gigabytes of cartoons your child is watching. And muffle your conscience if you think that watching them should be only 18 years old or 20 minutes a day.

Cartoons are salvation. Likewise with playing games on your phone or tablet. If the child is playing, let him play.

We do not put cartoons for Yana for all 6 hours of the trip. It's too much, of course. We had a schedule: 2-3 hours of sleep, then 1-2 hours for food and entertainment (toys), an hour for "Malyshariki". The last hour is the most difficult: everyone is tired, the child rushes somewhere and cries. And here's the salvation: you put on cartoons and relax. And an hour of watching for a small child is also tiring, he gets tired and no longer cries when you turn it off.

Refueling

Drive only on highways with good gas stations. A good gas station is normal food and a clean toilet with hot water. The most disgusting thing is when you need to change the diaper, it is not clear where.

We have favorites for gas stations: Shell, BP (they even have their own kitchen), Lukoil, Gazprom (there are also excellent ones). In Europe, as a rule, every gas station on the highway includes huge clean toilets, almost restaurants, and children's corners with highchairs.

First aid kit

A lot has been written on the Internet about what to put in a first aid kit for traveling with a child. We had a separate container, a big one. You probably won't need anything, but you will be calm.

Stroller

Take it. Even if now you think that you can carry the child in your arms, it is not so. You can't. On the first day, you will fall and refuse to walk any further. Better to take fewer clothes.

Napkins

Napkins should be shoved wherever something can be shoved. Dry and wet.

Handbags

Make separate bags or bags with these things:

Food on the road (and let it lie in the cabin).
Overnight stuff. These can be slippers, hygiene items, change of underpants, diapers, home clothes or pajamas. And put it in the trunk in quick accessibility. Thus, you only need to take one package from your car to the hostel. And you won't have to take out a huge suitcase every time.

Order

Be prepared for a mega-rat in the car: crumbs and pieces of food are everywhere. Don't bother (golden rule). And get a trash bag.

Overnight

Hostels are better than hotels: there is a 24/7 kitchen where you can wash bottles, prepare food, there is water and boiling water, a washing machine. Hotels have their own rules for this. Almost every hostel has a family room with its own bathroom. Well, it's also cheaper. We booked on Booking.com.

Choose hostels with 24-hour check-in. Otherwise, you can get, as we got once in Prague: the arrival time shifted by several hours (from 8 pm to 12 am), and in the hostel only check-in until 8. They completely refused me, like “go nowhere, to to a foreign country. I had a bit of a scandal, and Booking.com allowed me to cancel my reservation for free. I booked another hostel in a few minutes with the same app and it turned out to be just awesome.

Planning

Plan everything. Reservation of overnight stays, where you will eat, what you will watch. Believe me, the attitude “let's go where we look and sit in some cafe” does not work.

Google Maps to help you (Explore Nearby feature) and MAPS. ME (for offline maps). Lay out the routes in advance (to the overnight point), generate a link to the route and place it in easy accessibility (we had a separate chat in the Telegram channel): got into the car, clicked on the link and drove off.

And agree on who is doing what: "Now we are stopping, you are carrying this, I am taking the child and this package." You already have enough trouble. Planning makes life easier and takes away the annoyance of unjustified expectations (“I thought you would do it”).

In general, despite the fact that such trips are very exhausting, it is very cool. Moreover, traveling enriches with impressions and develops young children.

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