Tips for Planning Your Summer Family Road Trip

School’s out and summer is here … and airline prices are way up, which makes it a perfect time for a family road trip. Planning the perfect one can be tough though — there are a lot of moving parts, even if you aren’t planning for a whole family. To help alleviate some of the stress, we’ve compiled a list of some helpful tips to make the whole experience fun for everyone.

Get the Kids Involved
When kids have a say in what they do and where they go, they are able to have a sense of pride in the experience and have a lot more fun. And when the kids have more fun, so do the parents. So, before you hit the road, sit down as a family and have a chat about where you’ll go, what you’ll do when you get there and what you’ll see along the way. This gives kids ownership of their experiences and helps build anticipation, plus it’s a great tool for teaching them planning skills, incorporating things like mapping out routes, how long it takes to get places and how to budget for a trip.

Use Helpful Tools to Plan Ahead
The internet is packed full of helpful tools to make road trip planning easier and more interactive for the whole family. The National Scenic Association has an interactive website that lets you see all the scenic byways in each state so you can plan a trip that not only shows you the top sites in each state but also the most scenic landscapes in the country. The maps are interactive, so you can also plan ahead for which attractions you want to stop at and where you’ll want to stop and eat along the way.

Set Limits on Screen Time
A screen-free mandate for a road trip is simply unrealistic. After all, you don’t want the kids to feel like they’re being punished or, even worse, cut off from their social networks. But the point of a family road trip is to spend time seeing the country and having fun together as a family. If you’re traveling with kids old enough to have their own mobile devices, set clear rules and boundaries ahead of time. Discuss it during your planning phase so the rules are something everyone can agree on. And don’t forget to pack chargers!

Snacks are a Must, but Plan Your Snacking with Intention
There is something about a long road trip that makes us want to munch on tasty snacks. But rather than packing a ton of junk food or stopping at gas stations along the way for overpriced and unhealthy snacks, devote a little time to planning thoughtful munchies. Sports nutritionist and author Heidi Skolnick, MS, CDN, FASC, recommends “snack stacking,” a technique that pairs protein with carbohydrates.

This gives you mini meals that provide sustained energy and keep you fuller longer so there are fewer requests to stop at convenience stores for junk food. “Smart snack stacking allows everyone in the family to meet their own needs,” said Skolnick. “Start with a base, something stabilizing with broad appeal like New Jack Link’s Thinly Sliced Steak, made with 3 simple ingredients — and stack according to needs.” Teens, for example, especially if they are in sports, need to snack to feed their energy needs, so they can add some Triscuits, a granola bar or trail mix, and a banana or a dried fruit mix if fresh fruit isn’t available.