When my dear husband had the idea to take a road trip by car to visit our friends 800kms away in Melbourne. I admit I had some big reservations.
"Shouldn't we just fly, then we will be there in less than 2 hours." I stated
"No it will be fun." he said
"It's a long way for the kids to sit in the car." I said
"We can stop a lot and we wont have to hire a car when we get there," he argued "we can take a couple of days getting there and go along the Great Ocean road. The kids will love it." He stated.
I was doubtful, "I think the kids will just want to see our friends, they will be bored in the car, what about if we fly one way and hire a car and drive home." Thinking this was a great compromise.
"Driving will be more of an adventure." He pursued.
In the end finance made the decision in favour of the husband. Flights were over $1500.
Drive we would. So I got to thinking about in-car entertainment as I soon realised that my job would be to keep everyone happy, fed and watered along the way, perhaps the real reason I wanted to fly. We have i-devices, but I didn't want to arrive with two screen zombies so needed something else. They could have their own travel bags, bring a book, drawing pencils, a favourite toy, but what else would keep them amused for days in a car?
One night at dinner someone came up with the idea of a travel diary. Brilliant. Next day I bought two sturdy blank ring bound books that would be able to double as drawing pads and expand as finds along the way were stuck in. I printed out maps of our route and B and Little Miss stuck them in. This small activity really captured B's imagination. He packed himself a compass and binoculars and loved the idea of tracking his path across the landscape. Little Miss loved having her own pink book, but also the idea of a travel bag that she could pack herself. Admittedly she tried to fit as many soft toys in it as possible.
The kids were so keen to get going they were in the car hours before we were ready. They had filled the car with pillows, blankets and soft toys which I had to edit down dramatically. Finally we set off on our great road trip.
The
husband adventurer at the wheel
B happily reads a book
Little Miss content with her two remaining soft toys
A few hours into driving my husband said,"It is great to be driving away from all our stress at home" His statement made me realise that this road trip was a really important part of our holiday. While looking at the road ahead and moving swiftly through the landscape, we didnt look back at where we had come from.
“Life is a journey, not a destination.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
more to follow...
