Over the years I’ve taken lots of road trips. I’ve learned a few tricks from our travels that make it a little easier to travel with kids and with animals. We have 4 kids ages 14, 13, 8 & 6 so these tips will mostly be for parents with kids in this age range, but if you have babies and toddlers you will need to add about an extra 30 minutes per kid to get packed and at least 30 minutes per kid in extra travel time. 
Top 10 Travel Tips
1. Pack Everything except your toothebrush the night before you leave. All clothes, shoes, charged tablets and other randomness. If you wait till morning you won’t get on the road as early as you would like.
2. Have kids wear flip flops and leave them closest to the door of the vehicle so you can find them and easily slip them on and off during pit stops.
3. Download Overdrive, Hoopla or the Audible app, connect your library card, then get FREE audio books to listen to. They have several childrens audio books on Overdrive. Adventures in Odyssey app is also FREE with great stories for kids. Audible is a subscription service but usually if you are a new subscriber you will get your first book for free.
4. Create a music playlist as well. When you get tired of listening to books switch to music and have a jam session. Include your kids favorite songs and some of your favorite tunes as well.
5. Don’t stop at CVS or Walgreens for bathrooms, those are great stores but they have too many temptations and delightful products little people think they need. Stop at nice hotels to use the restroom. They have bathrooms right near the front, they are always very clean and you don’t have all the tempations for little minds and fingers to see and grab and want to take home.
6. Download your map onto your phone. If you go through an area with little to no cell service it is nice to have the map downloaded so you will still know where to go. You could also buy a paper map, but truthfully who wants to do that these days???
7. Subscribe to some podcasts and get the episodes downloaded and ready to listen to on your drive.
8. Bring your essential oils and get a car diffuser if you can. There is something about having a delightful aroma in the car that makes everyone behave better.
9. Have the dog bowls, leashes and poop bags right by the door so you don’t have to go digging for a leash when it is time for a dog potty/walking break.
10. Eliminate being in a hurry. Enjoy the journey and if you are still stressed in the car with your kids or family, roll down the windows and scream JESUS!!! Then start praying, put on your praise music and I promise you everyone will straighten up real quick.
I hope these tips are helpful and if you have others, fell free to leave them in a comment.
Happy Traveling!
Sincerely,
Paige
