Travel Tips & Trends

Are we there yet.

"Are we there yet?"

A long family drive trip can be fun—or a nightmare. Here are some tips to make it more enjoyable for children and parents alike.

Give kids their own map

Learning to use a map goes a long way toward getting kids excited about traveling. Show them how far you have come, how much farther there is to go and let them mark your progress on their own copy of the map.

Every time they ask "How much farther?" have them take out their map and see for themselves. It's a great chance for a geography lesson. Older kids can try their hand at calculating time and distance based on your driving speed. Another idea is to make your own simplified map, with drawings of major stops and interesting things they'll see along the way, such as a big lake or a mountain tunnel.

Surprise packages

Prepare paper bags in advance, each containing a "surprise"-perhaps a snack, a small toy or something pertaining to the trip that you can talk about. Give out a bag every 25, 50 or 75 miles, at locations you mark on the kids' map.

Travel tickets

Use colored construction paper to cut out some "tickets" for the trip. Give your child a pre-counted bag of tickets. Every half hour, he or she can turn in one ticket to you. When the tickets are gone, the trip has ended! This game helps young children visualize how much time is left on the journey.