We hadn’t intended on doing a second trip to Darwin but when my mother texted one afternoon with ‘they think I have a blood clot in my broken leg’ my husband screamed we got to go.
Trouble is I’m in penny-pinching over drive, so all our dollars are in accounts that take days to access because well we have no contract after the 23 of August and Im taking no chances. So I’m hiding away most of what we can, however, this brought a lesson to mind have an account that doesn’t take days to access, common sense I know but I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Regardless of getting a family of five up to Darwin on short notice is a lot of money and not wanting to beg, borrow and not wanting to go into debt on the credit card (And knowing my mother is bred tough and bred harder to kill) and without fail, she did not have a blood clot. What she did have was a severe case of the blues something left untreated is just as deadly. So began the magic and being magician, I am with money my tax accountants words, not mine, we combined our pool of frequent flyers and viola we got five fares for the next day and with the grace of all that is mighty a relocation campervan van back.
The flight to Darwin from my home town is a cool and easy 2.5 plane flight. The road trip home is around 23 hours not including breaks or over nights easy for two adults sharing the driving not so much for three boys. When we did our first road trip together as a family, I vowed I would never do another one again and told my husband so. I will never travel with you in a car with the kids again I hissed after two hours of hell however since then we have done three major road trips. Two home from the Norther Territory and one Cairns to Melbourne. All were awesome, and it’s now something I look forward to- I know who am I?
While the last few hours of travel can make things weary the whole road trip vibe is something I love but it like most good things require some planning and so here are a few things to make road trips much more enjoyable.
- Stop lots. If you’re doing a road trip over a sprint, stop at every major stop. It allows the kids to burn off energy, the driver to refresh and its the whole point of the ‘trip’ is to see new stuff.
- Snack at the stops and consider what snacks you have. If your kid reacts to sugar, don’t hand jelly snakes every twenty minutes that’s just crazy stupid. Have a small esky filled with nuts, fruit, water, etc. buy yourself a $15 bunsen burner and make yourself a coffee and tea. Those little hot plates are perfect for cooking up some sausages and bread roadside.
- Pack ‘old school’ activities into the seat pockets over electronic devices. For long trips rotate activities stored in back packs that can also be hung on the back of seats.
- For each of the big trips back from Darwin where there is little to see or stop at I brought cheap $5 activities from Kmart and the reject shop. I gave two out each day one just after morning tea and another after afternoon tea. I also packed snap lock bags of Lego, brought new colouring books and new novels.
- Keep electronic devices for the tough moments. We tried to keep electronic devices for when the chorus of ‘are we there yet’ started.
- Try and do some driving when the kids are sleeping. While we cope okay with hours in chairs, I think it’s hard to ask for a kid to do so.
- Play audio books. We listened to the whole Harry Potter Series and the Martian on our trips home from the NT. Kids loved them.
- Talk to each other sounds simple enough but it’s the whole point of being trapped in a car together isn’t it? Play games like ispy, truth or dare, 20 questions and I’m going on a picnic.
Most of all have fun, enjoy the sights and the company of those with you.
xxDeb
