4 Stress Free & Easy Ways to Make it Through a Crazy Holiday Road Trip in the Company of Tweens & Teens

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Cars.com

Ahh the infamous holiday road trip! During the holidays, many people opt to travel to visit family, see the sights or simply to get away from the hustle and bustle of the holiday grind. This means that many families are hitting the road with kids in tow, and preparation is definitely key.  

With kids, the older they get, the harder it seems to keep them engaged and not glued to their electronics and technology. While that may seem great, because literally silence is golden...it can also be pretty boring. After all, road tripping is all about the experience...TOGETHER! Keep reading for some easy and stress free ways to make it through a holiday road trip with tweens and teens ??

Comfort is Key

There is nothing worse than having to sit in a super uncomfortable vehicle for a long period of time. Discomfort can mean many things...not enough leg room, seats are uncomfortable, not enough technology plugs...anything that constitutes an annoyance, in my opinion, can really classify as discomfort.

For this reason, we personally like to road trip in a large SUV. When I say our family, this includes myself, my husband, my tween son, and my teen daughter. What's funny is that our road trips totally remind me of the road trips my mom would take us on when I was a teenager. My mom LOVED road tripping. Since my parents were actually divorced, we usually also took along my grandparents, which looking back was such an amazing experience ??

Cars.com is a great research tool to picking a vehicle for your next road trip. We like to rent road trip vehicles, and it is definitely way smarter to do my homework before heading to the agency and letting them pick a vehicle for me. Oh no, this mama knows what she wants!

Feed the Need for Snacks

Junk food can easily become pretty standard fare when it comes to a road trip ?? There are definitely some major drawbacks on hitting up the next rest stop and filling up on high sodium, high fat, and carbonated snacks. I can thing of a few smelly reasons off the top of my head, but they can also lead to acne, bloating, water retention, and bad breath.  

With some planning, snacks can go from gross to good for you! Fruits make for an amazing snack, and veggie packed Buddha bowls are perfect for a lunch on the go. Drinking water is also key to staying hydrated and satiated, and is amazing for keeping skin clear and beautiful. Now when you hit the rest stop, it is usually to make the bladder gladder, and getting back on the road.  

The Family that Road Trips Together, Has Fun Together!

Who remembers playing punch buggy? My brother and I used to play it all the time on road trips. We also played cards, listened to music together on my Walkman (raise your hand if you now what a Walkman is ??), and following our route on a physical map. Yep a real paper map...back then there was no such thing as GPS or Siri to tell us where to turn.  

Now using a paper map can actually be a lot of fun and actually quite educational and useful for no reception areas ??Having the kids spread the map out nice and wide across their laps and finding their position on a wide expanse of road is also incredibly educational. Who knows? They may find some really cool hidden gems off the beaten path.

Travel games are also a great idea to pack on a road trip for some easy entertainment. Coloring books (yes you read that correctly...I said coloring books)! If adults can color, so can teens and tweens!  

Down Time Can Be A Good Thing

There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving everyone some down time on a road trip. It can be relaxing to just slip into an e-book, listen to some music, or play a few rounds of Candy Crush. Depending on your family's technology needs, it is important to pick a road trip vehicle that meets those needs.

Chances are a car rental agency, if that's the route you're taking (did you see what I did there?!?! Route? Road Trip? LOL!) will most likely not have the specs of the vehicle you are renting.  Cars.com is an excellent resource to check out a prospective vehicle's specs for USB ports, power ports, blue tooth capabilities, and even WIFI! 

So tell me... 

Have you taken a family road trip recently? What are some easy and stress free ways you make it through a road trip where everyone has a good time???