#Road tripper chair upgrade
After all, you’ll never taste the best jerky in all of Arizona if you don’t take the random exit claiming to have it.ĭO: Upgrade Your Data PlanI think this one is self-explanatory. Perhaps it’s the lack of expectations, but the unplanned moments with kids (or life in general) tend to be the most fun, the most memorable, and the most relaxed. Just a few hours into our trip, we took a detour to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in southern Utah, and en route to Mount Rushmore, we did a surprise stopover in the Wild West town of Deadwood, South Dakota.
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There are so many hidden gems along the way, and the unexpected stops are often the best ones. This seemed to keep the “I don’t want to wear that” tantrums to a minimum.ĭON’T: Overplan Your JourneyWith kids in tow, it might make you feel uneasy to have a few open-ended days and nights in your agenda. If she guessed the color correctly, she got a Tic Tac. I turned it into a guessing game for my daughter. Pack in order and tell her (or him) that what’s on top is what we wear that day. In addition to trimming the fat in your luggage, you will also guarantee good-looking family pictures, while eliminating the time spent negotiating with your 4-year-old. For every major stop on our tour, I mapped out a look for each of us, with an outerwear piece (sweater, jacket, hat, etc.) to accommodate any sudden changes in weather. With that information on hand, it’s quite easy to plan specific outfits. Though it’s impossible to predict the weather, you can research it in advance to best prepare. When kids are involved, organized packing is the key to success, and planning ahead will not only save you massive amounts of time getting out the door each morning, it will also prevent you from overpacking. A long journey in the car often results in moving hotels (or more likely, motels) often. My “kit” includes matching family robes, slippers, travel candles, proper wine glasses, Gathre mats to place bedside, luxe travel toiletries, and a cute picnic basket filled with healthy “minibar”-style snacks and beverages.ĭO: Plan Your OutfitsThis may sound extreme, ridiculous even, but it can also be a lifesaver. To counter the lack of room service, minibars, and robes, I suggest creating your own “in-room experience kit.” It may go against your intent to pack light (something I will address next), but providing a little luxury to an otherwise average hotel experience can make a world of difference.
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#Road tripper chair free
With children, it’s all about proximity (and free Wi-Fi). My advice: Make a reservation at the nicest three-star accommodation you can find within a seven-mile radius of the South Rim.
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While El Tovar Hotel is a lovely and historic lodge, it can book up a year in advance. So if you’re considering hitting the open road with tots in tow, allow me to share my cornucopia of road warrior wisdom.ĭON’T: Expect Five StarsFunny thing about our nation’s wonders-they’re not often surrounded by top-tier hotels. Holy moly-we were road-tripping from sea to shining sea with our two tots (4-years-old and 3-months-old).Īfter two months on the road with stops in over 30 states alongside my husband and our two kiddos, I am now a self-proclaimed expert “road-tripper.” While I realize even a long weekend trip with kids in the car seems daunting, it can be surprisingly manageable-magical even-if you set the right tone and expectations. Naturally, when the very last arrangement was made, it dawned on me what we (I) had agreed to do. As the owner of a large sprinter van (a mobile outpost of our online store, BURU), I quickly began making arrangements for an epic cross-country trip for our family. In a moment of clutter exasperation, I jumped on the idea. After three back-to-back showings in three days with three-hour cleaning routines (mostly involving toy reorganizing), my husband suggested that we get out of Dodge. When we put our home on the market last winter, it became clear (in a hurry) that keeping said home “so fresh and so clean-clean” with two tiny humans was going to be the challenge of a lifetime.