Traveling with Kids – 10 to Be Exact
July 29, 2014My colleague, Rich, recently returned from a family road trip where he visited eight states from as far west as CO, as far south as NC, and as far north as upstate NY. He and his family went to four Six Flags parks, three beaches, and three tourist sites and still had time for visiting family both immediate and extended. The amazing part: he did all this in 18 days…with 10 children and for less than $400 each!
Crazy? Maybe. Fun? Absolutely!
Planning was the key to his successful trip. For this undertaking, he took time to plan destinations, dates, times, and menus and then contacted family whom we wanted to visit to let them know (and to see if they had any extra bedrooms). When they weren’t staying with family or friends, Rich would stop at a campsite, which cost him only about an average of $45 a night, instead of paying for more expensive hotel rooms.
When planning a trip, one thing that Rich said was important to remember is that the car ride is part of the vacation. According to Rich, “We have a Chevy Express 15 passenger van which we love! Seatbelts for everyone with room to spare! To make the ride part of the vacation, we bring along activity and coloring books, music we all enjoy, and movies for the DVD player we installed. We encourage them to bring books they would like to read on their own. We also point out the beauty of the land around us as we pass it. This has allowed us to see such amazing things as fields of sunflowers and a red bi-plane crop duster fly over a field of corn.” These are things that unless you are there to see them or have seen them before, you cannot imagine the beauty of. Sunrises and sunsets and changes in scenery all add to the “things to see” on the trip.
A luggage carrier was a must for his crew. It held most of the suit cases and bags. Large Rubbermaid or Sterlite containers and tie downs held the rest of the stuff for Rich and his family but he cautions to be sure to tape down the corners and middle of the container lid…wind has a way of getting in there and taking stuff out even with the tie downs holding it tight.
“This leaves room in the van for the other stuff we are using while travelling: pillows, shoes (or slip-ons), travel games, and food. We love the flat boxes from Costco! They are just the right height to fit as drawers under the van benches and hold plenty of food. The cooler holds the homemade bean burritos, sandwich meats, juice for breakfast, and so forth. Does this mean extra work in the car or at the occasional picnic stops to make and hand out sandwiches? Absolutely! But it is far cheaper than buying fast food everywhere we go and takes less time. The total cost of food for the entire trip ended up around $800, less than $66 per person for the entire trip. Still, every once in a while, we’d shake things up with one stop at a fast food or sandwich shop.” I hope Rich had some 2 for 1 coupons.
On this trip, there are some basic “rules of the road.” One important rule is: once he stops for gas, EVERYONE takes a potty break. The next stop, with rare exception, will be in about 300 to 400 miles when he gets gas again, so now is the time to go!
Gas was a major cost of the trip, a bit over $2,200 – but that was still much less than having to buy 12 airline tickets. Another one of Rich’s rules: if there is a question or debate, the driver has final say on the music and movie played. That is because the driver has to stay awake and alert and so will only want to hear things that will help them do that. For that same reason, the driver has control of the temperature in the front.
Another rule: keep track of your shoes and put them on BEFORE you reach the next stop, not when you get there. You don’t want to spend forever at the stop. The stops are nice, but the destinations are better! With his crew of ten, if Rich can get out of the stop in 20 minutes, he feels pretty good! But better plan for 40 minutes.
For the Six Flags trips, he bought season passes, which are good for almost all Six Flags nationwide. Since we made several visits overall to the different parks (including CA where we got the passes), the average cost to our family was $12.50 per person per visit. The normal day passes are about $45 – $70 per person depending on the park and the height of the guest. If you won’t be visiting the parks as many times as Rich’s family did, you still may want to check with your HR department to see if there are any discount coupons available.
What it all comes down to is planning, budgeting, preparation, patience (lots of it!), and a sense of fun. This is a vacation after all and it is meant to be relaxing and fun but not meant to break the bank! As with any vacation, a good game plan is key to the success of the trip. The game plan includes destinations, dates, time estimates, a menu, and what types of things can be done on the way to that destination while in the car. Some flexibility is required but when a game plan is in place and is explained to everyone going on the trip, then expectations are set and understood and rarely will you hear the phrase: “Are we there yet?”