Planning family road trips is a major undertaking, but long distance driving makes for one of the best value and most rewarding vacations you can do.
After all, you’ve got your own wheels (and a place to sleep if need be.) Factor in the lure of the open road, time on your hands and serendipity. You’re bound to discover something new.
Be sure to have print-out maps on your family road trip so the kids can follow the route. Photo c. NPS
The Origin Story of this Blog Post
We asked the team to examine each family’s own trip planning process after a reader posted this question on the FamilyTravelForum Facebook page:
My husband and I are planning to take a road trip with our 7-year-old son (he’ll be 8 when we leave) from Maine to Florida and then over to Mississippi to see family (and go to some parks i.e. Disney, Universal, etc.) and then back to Maine. I’m wondering what kind of trip planner tools are out there that work well. I want something that will help decide what route to take and offer suggestions on places to stop on the way. What do you recommend?”
Terri H.
We decided to share the family roadtrip resources we use. The goal of this guide is to make planning easier, decide daily drive times, choose destination highlights, uncover the essential pit stops and keep it fun. Read on for resources to discover limitless forms of entertainment to make the miles fly by.
Terri, we hope our resources for family road trips help you and others planning a family road trip this season!
How to Schedule Days when Planning Family Road Trips
Planning family road trips is a job the whole family can get involved in. Photo c. Allianz Travel Insurance
A road trip from Maine to Florida, while long, sounds just great. In general, allow time to stop at fun places along the way to make the drive down and back much easier for any child. If he or she’s the only child traveling in the car, you’ll have to make sure that there’s enough entertainment to keep your child engaged.
Pack Whatever Your Child Needs for In-Car Entertainment
Ask your child to pack a variety of things for the backseat such as books, a music source, some toys to play with and a pillow and blanket. Our “50 Tips for Road Trips” has a long list of recommended items you can use as a checklist.
Surprise kids with your knowledge of car games. Pack a lap table or shelf to play on, and crafts like an origami set that will keep them busy. While it’s not the time to ween iPad-addicated kids from their digital toys, do introduce new forms of traditional entertainment to see what sticks. How about some recorded books to listen to together?
Decide How Much Time You Want to Spend in the Car
Each family’s tolerance for car time is different. We recommend limiting the driving to about 4 hours per day so you can fit in a half-day attraction. Having said that, there are always exceptions in road trip planning. On a few days, start very early or drive into the night, so your child can sleep in the car part of the way.
Where to Find Destination Inspiration for Planning a Family Road Trip
Ask kids to describe any unusual rock formations they see on their road trip. Photo c. Sebastian Palomino for pexels.
To determine where to stop and break up the road trip, download Family Travel Forum’s e-guidebook, “America’s Most Popular Family Vacations.” It reviews more than 200 destinations with maps that show where each one is, so you can pick out several places to stop along the route that way. Kids enjoy the research process too, as each section has Fun Facts for kids.
A Maine to Florida road trip should stick to the Eastern seaboard. If you’re familiar with the east coast already, start with an atlas, and get a rough idea of which regions you will pass through. Many atlases include symbols marking the major roadside attractions, national parks and monuments.
Pro Tip: This is much easier to do at a library or at home if you have a hard copy atlas, than it is to review maps online where the scale is so tiny.
Plan Ahead to Make Major Road Trip Detours, then Slow Down and Enjoy Them
Mount Rushmore is one of the best known attractions on a USA road trip through the Western states.
On a road trip of this length, don’t stay on a major highway like I-95 all the way south. From our team’s cumulative expertise, we know unexpected sites come up that we hadn’t thought of. Challenge grownups and kids to make a list of places they’ve always wanted to visit. Plan that detour and do it.
Be sure to involve children in the trip planning so that they have stops to look forward to. Make a laminated map for the journey, with these stops highlighted. En route, kids keep track of where you are and how much driving is left.
For example, here’s a classic itinerary for an American history road trip, with visits to Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Your child has probably studied different aspects of America’s history at school and might find any one or all of these stops interesting. Plan a few days in Washington DC or Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia as well. Keep in mind that for every history stop, there’s also kid-centric fun like Hershey Park or the Smithsonian’s Air & Space Museum or Busch Gardens Williamsburg so you can combine a variety of attractions.
Use Planning Resources Like AAA for Fine Tuning the Road Trip Plans!
Once you have the broad outline of how many days, what type of stops, must-do activities, we like the Trip-Tik Travel Planner on the AAA site to design specific route plans. AAA Members should click on Travel and Road Trip Plans to order Digital TourBooks with directions. Or, download digital maps and print them out so kids can follow along.
Store your route information online and review alternative routes, all the while calculating the mileage and time traveled.
Planning Road Trip Resources Always Need Some Magic!
Traffic moves slowly along Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. Photo c. NPS
Refine your intended stops, then check sites like the government’s National Scenic Byways program. They highlight the nation’s most significant roads in terms of beauty and history, which really adds special elements to your trip.
Look at the National Park Service site if you’re driving by any national parks, because you can drive right through several of them, enjoy the sights, and stick to your route.
If you’re driving at night, look for Dark Sky designated regions so you can stop and stargaze during breaks. Star-gazing is also a magical pre-bedrime activity.
Resources for Discovering New & Different Foods when Planning Family Road Trips
For driving directions and restaurants along the way, we like Google Maps Voice navigation and Gemini (AI) Assistant for route directions and dining advice. This simple application allows anyone in the car to ask about a nearby restaurant by food type. You can ask about directions, hotels, even phrase your questions in different languages and learn new vocabulary that way.
At RoadFood.com, the team behind this classic guidebook keeps adding reviews of restaurants and truck stops and diners and memorable eateries along the major US highways. Yelp.com has a large variety of online reviews. Their app and mobile site recommend nearby places because they use GPS to know where you are when you search for the next meal.
Making your Road Trip Unforgettable
By the way, all the Old School families make a hard copy album of the maps, emails, tips and brochure resources used in road trip planning and bring it with us. Then on the way, kids can color on it, add to it, and paste in their own souvenirs. (One boy we know always loved truck stop placemats.) Even notebook binders make a great basis for a scrapbook when the trip is done. Perhaps your child will keep a daily diary.
Your kids might enjoy being the timekeeper for this trip by noting how far you travel each day, and adding that information to a journal kept with the binder.
Wherever you venture and whatever you discover, let us know how your travels go and what your favorite stops are!
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