On average, kids can travel for a full day if they are given regular breaks to stretch and move around. Regardless of which means of travel you choose it is important to allow your child out of their seat every couple of hours.
Kids are generally great travellers if you prepare them for the journey ahead, along with preparing yourself. Many parents are often put off at the thought of long-distance travel or cross country road trips with their children. However, it is entirely possible to accomplish and dare I say it, enjoyable!
When Should Kids Start Traveling?
Overall kids should start travelling as babies if you want them to become comfortable and confident travellers. Babies can generally fly from 2 weeks of age with some airlines allowing week old infants to board flights.
Newborns are in fact the perfect age to start travelling with your children. It is the age we have personally loved travelling with our kids. Newborns sleep a large portion of the day which makes it easy to get a large amount of driving accomplished before they need tending to. When it comes to flying with newborns they are nine times out of ten incredibly comfortable to cuddle up with mum or dad for the flight and feed as needed. The sound and vibration of the car or plane often lull babies to sleep which is why travelling with newborns is a lot easier than you would imagine.
As babies get a bit older they become a little needier and hard work when it comes to travelling but nothing that is too hard if you are prepared.
Once babies can move around they like to be entertained especially on flights. This can take a lot of energy and patience on your part. Make sure you are prepared with some new toys and know all the words to at least ten lullabies or the infamous baby shark song!
Toddlers and preschoolers can be good travellers if they are entertained on the trip. Plenty of colouring activities or new toys will make the trip a lot smoother. Packing an abundance of snacks will make the trip far more enjoyable also.
Travelling with kids takes a little more preparation but don’t let that put you off heading out on an adventure with your children. The more you do it the easier it becomes.
How Long Can Kids and Babies Ride in a Car
The general rule is that babies and children should not be in car seats for more than two hours at a time. This is known as the two-hour rule. This means that your child should be able to get out of their car seat to move around and stretch every two hours.
It’s important to take breaks on long car trips for you and your child. You should aim to stop every two hours, which will allow you to stretch and have a hydration break
Queensland Department of Health
This rule coincides perfectly with our experience and recommendations also. We have found the two hours is the average time that our children can go before they become restless and need to get out and move around.
This is pretty consistent with adults also. I find that at the two-hour mark I am ready to stop and take a break too.
How Long Should a Road Trip Be?
On Average, a road trip should be between 7-10 days. This is assuming that the road trip is a vacation and not just a road trip to get from A to B. An ideal road trip would allow for travel days of no more than four hours along with a number of travel free days.
If you are setting out on a road trip to get to a certain destination then you may opt for a much shorter road trip with longer travel days. However, this does not mean you can not make the road trip a part of the destination. Many times the journey is just as much fun as the destination itself.
We have taken very long road trips. 22 hours in one day once. That was something epic let me tell you. I was so excited to see my shower and climb into bed that night, or should I say morning! We have also done the same trip and broke it up over many days.
Both of these road trips offered very different experiences and had pros and cons. On the longer trip, we were able to stop and enjoy lots of fun little towns along the way and immerse ourselves in the different areas we passed through. On the road trip that we drove straight through to our destination, we were forced to drive past a lot of places we would have loved to stop at. In saying that, we were able to spend more time and money at our final destination.
Where Should I Stop on a Long Road Trip?
Where you stop on a road trip is so important. It can really be the mark of a memorable road trip if you make that road trip stop worth it. A little bit of research prior to departure is always wise as you can plan out your route and know what is coming next.
Places we like to stop at include an opportunity to really get out and move our bodies around. I wrote a detailed post here on where to stop on a road trip. You can check that out for a more detailed account but I still want to share some of our favourite ideas and places for stops on road trips.
Road Trip Stop Ideas
- Beaches/lakes/rivers/creeks: any body of water is great for a road trip break. This is especially true if you are travelling during summer. The cool and refreshing water will wake every one up and set you in good stead for the next leg of your journey. Splash pads are a great alternative if you have children too.
- National or State Parks: A quick 30-60 min hike is enough to get your body moving and some fresh air but not strenuous enough to exhaust you. The beautiful scenery is always a welcome sight.
- Bucket List Food Stops: Whenever we travel we have a list of places to eat at. A lot of those are factors in where we stop on our road trip. Look at places a long your route and reseach some of the best places to eat. It might be a famous BBQ restaurant in the middle of nowhere or a little roadside food truck that sells the most amazing donuts. Food is always a good reason to stop!
We try really hard to make the road trip part of the whole adventure and a huge part of that is the stops we make along the way. Travelling the country by car takes you to places you would probably otherwise never see. With that said try to find the little gems along the way and avoid the convenience of just stopping at the service center when you fill-up with gas.