Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

If you were going on a 13 hour drive with 3 kids leaving at 6pm would you
A. Get a hotel room 1/2 way thru and aim for it
B. Drive Drive Drive till you swirve off the road from exhaustion J/K
C. Drive till the kids cry then get a hotel room and risk them being awake in a hotel room at 3AM
D. Other

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

D. Other

Not go!


I would probably shoot for plan A. That way, you know there's a room available, and you have a target. Otherwise, you'll have to hope there's a decent hotel that has rooms available.

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

E. Pack a LOT of wine

Tough call, I would probably see how far you can get. But make sure to recognize when you are getting tired because that can be really dangerous. When we drove with DS we stopped after 8 hours (around 2am) and it took him a long time to fall asleep in the hotel room. But DH was getting really tired and there was no way I could have driven at that point so we knew we needed to stop.

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

D. other.

I went on a 16 hour road trip with the kids. We left at 4am. This way when you're driving, you finish up at 5pm versus the middle of the night.

My kids were wide awake at 4am but then conked out for hours on the way.

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

When we drove to Hilton Head last year, we left in the middle of the night and drove all night long. The girls slept most of the trip. We stopped for meals but went straight through (my dd's were 4 and 2 at the time)

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

Personaly I would plan to stop some place but DH would insist on driving straight through.

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

Leaving at 3 or 4 AM isnt an option cause we have to be there at 1pm to get the inlaws from the airport.

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

drive straight through.

I am leaving for an 11 hour trip next friday, me and my 2 year old.

I leave at 4 AM...stop midway to let him runaround a truck stop.

I could not imagine making it a 2 day travel trip. I need to just get it done.

good luck!

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

We drove straight through but my kids were 3 and 8 ...they were really good on the way there !! We stopped 2 times for 1/2 hr each time to stretch and eat ! On the way back was another story

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

I would leave at bedtime so they slept.

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

No, it's DH and I who can drive. I am good till atleast 1AM... I get tired after that. DH on the other hand is usually asleep at 10PM but up at 5AM. There is that 4 hour window I guess we wake the kids up to drive Jeremy steers and Emma does the pedals I am so confused as to what to do. I found a Fairfield Inn with 2 Queen beds for the 5 of us in but when I put it into my Garmin at 6pm tonight it said we would get there at 11:30. I can get another hour atleast out of myself so maybe Ill aim for south of Richmond for a hotel to book. I would hate to not be tired and pull into a hotel...

I also fear getting to a hotel, the kids waking up and staying awake because we are in a new place. That would not be ideal

How bad are 2 double beds with 5 people?

Message edited 3/31/2009 6:33:41 PM.

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

Well I have done the trip two times so far to Florida with my two boys alone. The first time I went my youngest was 5 1.2 months old and my oldest was 2 1/2 years old. As crazy as it sounds, I drove straight through. I just didn't feel tired and being alone the last thing that I wanted to do was get out somewhere and have to drag the in, etc. The second time I did it was this past December and my oldest was 3 and the youngest was 10 months. This time I drove and was planning on stopping somewhere. I was like you and didn't want to make reservations anywhere specific because I didn't want to have to pull over when I was not tired. I ended up pulling over about 3 hours before I got to my destination in Florida, not because I was tired, but because my parents who live in Florida kept telling me to pull over. I have made the trip numerous times alone before kids and there is always a place to stay. I have gone during busy times, slow times. I always make sure that if I am stopping it is at an exit that has a lot of hotels/restaurants and lots of lights.

Good luck with whatever decision you make. My kids were great in the car.

Re: Say you were going on a 13 hour road trip with 3 kids under 6...

13 hours to me is a one day driving trip. Let DH doze off at 10pm and gets some sleep, while you drive and then vise versa.