2 adults and 1 younger teen
We’re going on a two week road trip that’ll be fairly leisurely. Stopping by some parks and sights as we go and a few nights at our ultimate destination
I had my car recently serviced. It all checks out
I have a steam deck on the way! Any recommendations here for travel accessories? Or just in general?
We’ve all got devices and chargers and their respective blocks. I’m looking at a power inverter for the hungrier devices
I was debating bringing the oculus to give whomever a bit of isolation if they need; is there anything specific I’d need to do to use it where there’s no internet? I haven’t used it enough to be very familiar with most of its abilities
We adults have ps5s. Most likely won’t bring one. I’ve seen portable monitors that people use with a local device; does anyone have experience using one for remote play for the ps5?
And making sure we’ve got entertainment downloaded to our devices; obviously books and offline/non electronic entertainment will be brought, as well
I’m really looking forward to this and want to make it the best experience for all involved! I look forward to hearing your tips
Edit to add: the point of the road trip is to bury my grandfather. And I’m petrified of flying in the current state of the US
Since we HAVE to make this trip we’re trying to make the most of it by stopping by some state/national parks and other landmarks/pois during which we’ll be present. But there’s going to be LONG stretches of literally nothing exciting. Like corn fields. Many hours of corn fields. Most days are 6 - 10 hours in the car
I second things like spare tire, pillows, less focus on electronics (boredom is a gift not many are given today), take time for spontaneous detours and breaks, drink water and limit intake of sugar and quick energy.
Try to involve the whole family in the planning.
Maybe there’s something the kid wants to take a look at, or that might be helpful for a school project/class or to talk about in show+tell (ancient burial site, gigant cheese, takeoff/landing strip for hobby airplanes, arcade, space museum).
Make sure to move around and stretch at breaks and in the car, perhaps everyone can take turn to lead a “movement minute” where one person does a series of movements or stretches and everyone else follows (make this fun and silly, stretching doesn’t have to be boring! do things with name like frog-jumps and helicopter arms and/or make the instructions silly like “keep your hands on the ground and make your butt touch the ground then make your butt touch the sky”). If everyone get to take their turn to lead they might have fun with it instead of complain. If your kid is prone to embarrassment, find a bit of shelter to do the stretches in, behind a bush or other structure not visible right off the road.
Have a 5-15 min dj session every hour where one person get to play a prepared playlist, and another person gets their turn the next hour (or take it in a row if your family also has trouble waiting for their turn). If you really want to structure it you can suggest different themes for the playlist, like “songs that represents the roadtrip”, “songs you wish grandpa/great-grandpa could have heard”, “songs that make you feel something”, “songs from when you were little”, “songs your friends like”.
A short RPG could be fun for the family as the driver can also be involved, there are systems that only require a set of six-sided dice, and DM-less games where everyone plays (I think “bunny we bought a house” could be suitable for a 13-year old, and they could get to control the pen and paper to draw the dungeon as you play it).
Go to bed early and give eachother some space once you leave the car for the night. Don’t demand a lot of socialising (unless everyone want to) at dinner or afterwards. Let everyone decompress on their own. …unless of course everyone has had their headphones in and been on their devices with their friends all drive - then its probably time for some family time.