Linda (minnemom) writes about the adventure of traveling with four young children in tow.  You can read more about their day trips and road trips at Travels with Children.

Are you heading over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house for Christmas?  Or perhaps taking advantage of the school vacation to take a family vacation?  While you’re making your holiday road-trip plans, keep these tips in mind.  They helped us survive (and enjoy) a 17-day, 3700-mile trip with four young kids last Christmas.

1. Prepare a detailed itinerary . . . but be prepared to change it.
Know how far you have to go, and how long it will take to drive there.  Make hotel reservations and plan your fun stops and destinations.  But work in the flexibility to change plans if necessary.  Look for liberal hotel cancellation policies.  Write down the hours (and holiday closures) of attractions you plan to visit, in case you don’t get there on the day you had planned.  We ended up leaving two days early to outrun a blizzard, and then being sick in a hotel room for a day.  We still got to see most of WHAT we intended, but not always WHEN we had anticipated.

Read the full article on Travels with Children (photo courtesy of minnemom).

December 11th, 2009 | by travelsavvymom 1 comment