How To Have A Great Family Road Trip Part 2: Driving Through the Night

Have you ever done a drive-through-the-night road trip?  Or does the thought make you want to run to the nearest travel agent and book a flight right away?

Driving through the night doesn't have to be scary.  It can actually be kind of fun!  It gets you to your destination quicker. And saves you the cost and hassle of getting a hotel room.  And sharing a bed with your kids who kick you all night long :)

We often drive through the night at least one way on our road trips.  My hubby and I take turns driving and sleeping.  When the kids were younger we found we could cover a lot of ground during the night because we didn't have to stop as often or as long.  Now we do it so we can save the cost of a hotel and be able to spend more time at our destination.  And the traffic is much lighter at night so we have less delays.

Last week I shared tips for how to have a great family road trip.  If you missed them, you can read them here. 

Today I want to give you a few more road trip tips, specifically for driving-through-the-night trips. 

How to Have a Great Family Road Trip!

Do you take road trips with your family?  Or do you avoid them because the thought of being cooped up in a vehicle for hours on end overwhelms you?

I have great memories of family road trips.  We flew for some vacations, but many of our family trips when I was growing up involved driving to our destination.  Often the journey was a big part of the vacation itself.  Of course back then we were bouncing around in the back seat with no seat belts and could just lay down on the seat to sleep (maybe I'm showing my age a little now!). I'm glad some things have changed.  Safety first :)

Early in our marriage I shared my love for road trips with my hubby.  He'd never traveled very far by car so it took a bit of getting used to.  But it's MUCH more economical than flying and since having our kids we've only taken road trip vacations.  Our kids don't know any other way of traveling.

Road trips can be great.  Or not.  I've heard plenty of horror stories of road trips gone bad.  Sometimes those make for great shared memories... years later anyway!  Like the time my parents' car got tired of pulling a trailer through the mountains.  We were already hot because we didn't have A/C, but when the car started overheating, we had to turn the heater on full blast.  Not fun at the time, but funny to look back on now.

You can't control everything on a road trip, but over the years I've learned a few tricks to help make road trips great.  I'm sharing them with you so you can plan a great family road trip too!

Organizing Ideas For The Weekend: Road Trip Tips

Happy Friday!  Time for another organizing idea for your weekend!

Continuing on with my vacation, travel, and packing, packing, and more packing theme, today I want to share some tips for a great family road trip!  Road trips are great memory makers.  Memories that last a lifetime.  I still remember some road trips I took with my family when I was growing up.  And I've passed that love of road trips on to my kids. 

We nearly always take road trips for our family vacations.  Our kids don't actually know any other way of traveling because they've been taking road trips them since they were weeks old (actually even before they were born - the only time I remember being carsick - but that's another story).  I know they'd love to fly somewhere, but it's much more economical for us to drive at this point in our lives.  And saving money by taking road trips means we can go on vacations more often :)

We're road tripping to Florida soon, and when we get back I'll be sharing some of my own road trip tips, but in the meantime, here are some great ones I've found online, in case you're planning a road trip soon!  Or if you've never taken one because you've got too many concerns, hopefully these tips will help you overcome those! 

Organizing Ideas For The Weekend #15

Happy Friday!  Time for another organizing idea for your weekend :)

Is your car a mess?  Are you overwhelmed with the thought of a road trip for spring break because clutter has taken over your vehicle?  Do you avoid having anyone else in your car because you're embarrassed by the chaos? 

If you answered "Yes!" to any of these questions, then read on!  Today's post will give you some tips for organizing your car this weekend.  If not, please share your tips in the comments :)