10 Family Road Trips Tips: How to Plan and Enjoy your Trip
Planning a family road trip can sometimes feel like you’re planning a trip to the moon — the routes, the stops, the snacks, the backup plans. It’s a lot, and it all falls on you.
But here’s what I’ve learned after years of packing up the car and hitting the road with our kids: road trips don’t have to be complicated. They just need a little bit of planning and a whole lot of flexibility.
Some of our absolute best family memories have happened on the road — the kind of slow, unrushed time together that’s hard to find anywhere else. No schedules to keep, no flights to catch, just your family, the open road, and whatever you find along the way.
These are the 10 things that make our family road trips work — the practical stuff that keeps everyone fed, happy, and actually enjoying the ride.
1. Plan the Route
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Book your overnight stops ahead of time, especially in summer — I learned that one the hard way at 9pm with three overtired kids and zero vacancy signs.
But outside of that? Leave some wiggle room. Some of our best memories came from spotting a random “World’s Largest Apple” sign and pulling over on impulse. Your kids will talk about stuff like that for years. The museum you pre-booked? Maybe not so much.
Wild Nest Tip: I started picking one “mystery stop” per day that I keep secret until we’re close. The kids go absolutely wild trying to guess what it is. Also — download your route on Google Maps for offline use before you leave. Cell service will vanish exactly when you need it most.
2. Get your Car Checked BEFORE You GO
I know. You’re busy. You’ll “get to it.” I am telling you to get to it. We once broke down on a highway with two toddlers in the back in 95-degree heat because we skipped the pre-trip check. Not fun. Not cute.
Get the tires, oil, brakes, and belts looked at before you go. And make sure your CAA or roadside assistance is active — it’s like $80 a year and worth every single penny.
Wild Nest Tip: Write down key phone numbers and your route on paper too — if your phone dies, you’ll be really glad you did.
3. Patience is Everything (Stop More than you Think)
I used to think pushing through was faster. It is not. A 20-minute stop at a playground saves you from 45 minutes of backseat chaos. Every 2 hours is my rule now — and I mean a real stop, not just a gas station where everyone stays in the car.
Let them run, scream, do cartwheels in the grass. You’ll all get back in the car as completely different people.
Wild Nest Tip: Search “rest stop with playground” in Google Maps — there are way more than you’d think, and they’re free!
4. The Snack Cooler is Non-Negiotable
A hungry kid in a moving vehicle is basically a ticking clock. Pack the cooler. Pack it well. I do cheese sticks, grapes, cut veggies, homemade muffins, and some fun stuff like fruit snacks for the long stretches.
I also keep a little basket on the back seat floor with the easy-grab snacks so I’m not playing backseat chef every 20 minutes. You will save so much money and so much sanity by not stopping at fast food every time someone says “I’m hungry.”
We eat our actual meals in the car while we’re driving — sandwiches, wraps, easy stuff — so that when we do stop, that time is 100% for running around and burning energy, not sitting at a picnic table eating. It’s a total game changer for keeping the kids sane on long days.
Wild Nest Tip: Freeze water bottles the night before — they act as ice packs AND turn into cold drinks as the day goes on. Game changer.
5. Audiobooks for Easy Entertainment
This one completely changed our road trips. We started doing audiobooks a few years ago and I genuinely cannot overstate how much better the vibe in the car is.
Everyone — kids, adults, even the reluctant readers — gets pulled into the same story together. We’ve done the whole Chronicles of Narnia series, Harry Potter, Roald Dahl, you name it. Kids who were bickering five minutes ago will be completely silent, just listening. And then you’ll all want to talk about what happened. It’s kind of magical, honestly.
Download them ahead of time through Libby (free with your library card!) or Audibles so you’re not dependent on data.
Wild Nest Tip: Let the kids take turns picking the next book before the trip — they’ll be excited before you even leave the driveway.
6. Set the Ground Rules Before You Leave the Driveway
Five minutes before we pull out, we do what I call the “road trip meeting.” Everyone gets to say one thing they’re excited about and one thing they need from the rest of the family.
Then we go over the rules together — no fighting over the aux cord, we take turns picking music, if someone needs a break we ask nicely, and absolutely no telling your sibling to “stop looking at me.” It sounds a little silly but it genuinely works. Kids behave better when they’ve been part of setting the expectations rather than just being handed them.
Wild Nest Tip: Let the kids help come up with the rules in the days leading up to your trip — they’ll hold each other to them way more than they’ll listen to you.
7. Book A Stay Where Kids Can Actually Get Outside
Standard hotel rooms with five people are rough. Everyone’s on top of each other, there’s nowhere to spread out, and eating three meals a day at restaurants gets expensive and exhausting fast.
I love condo or cabin rentals for road trips — a kitchen alone saves us hundreds of dollars on a week-long trip. But the thing I always look for first is outdoor space. A yard, a garden, even just a big open area where the kids can get outside and decompress at the end of a long driving day. After hours in the car, they need to move — and so do I honestly.
Wild Nest Tip: When browsing rentals, look for “private yard,” “outdoor space,” or “acreage” — especially for fall trips, there’s nothing better than the kids running around in the leaves while you have a quiet coffee on the porch.
8. Deal With Car Sickness Before It Becomes a Situation
One of my kids gets carsick on anything more than a 30-minute drive. I found this out on hour two of a mountain highway. I will spare you the details. Now we have a whole system: he sits in the front or middle, windows cracked, no reading or screen time, ginger chewsat the ready. Gravol (Dramamine) for longer stretches if needed.
Wild Nest Tip: A “sick kit” in a little bag right behind the front seat with bags, wipes, and a spare shirt. Don’t bury that thing in the trunk.
9. Start Some Silly Little Traditions
Christmas ornaments from each stop are our thing. Somehow we manage to find a Christmas Shop in every place we visit, regardless of the time of year. Every December we unpack the tree and relive every trip we’ve ever taken. One year for Christmas our kids each received a little instant print camera — the kind that spits out the photo right then and there. They love to take their own photos whle we travel and staple the photos together in their own personalized albums. These tiny things seem insignificant when planning a big vacation but they become the fabric of what makes your family trips feel like yours.
10. Let Go of Perfect and Just Go With It
Something will go wrong. I promise you. The restaurant you Googled will be closed. It will rain on the one outdoor day you planned. Someone will cry for 45 minutes for no discernible reason. And that’s okay. Some of our most-talked-about memories are the disasters — the time we got lost and stumbled into that amazing little town, the time we somehow ended up on a tractor road in the middle of a farm field, completely surrounded by goats and sheep with absolutely no idea how to get out. You don’t need a perfect trip. You need a real one. Mom Tip: Try to build in one totally unscheduled “buffer day” where you have zero plans. It sounds scary. It is always the best day.
If you’re ready to plan the ultimate family road trip and need some help getting ready before you go check out our Family Road Trip Packing List for more details.
