AboutSuzan Jackson Expertise I am a writer specializing in topics related to family, especially enjoying travel and the outdoors with children. My husband and I have traveled extensively with our own 2 sons - now ages 10 and 14 - since they were infants. I can advise on travel by air or car and on a variety of destinations across the US. We also enjoy many outdoor activities with our sons. For more information, see my websites: www.travelfamily.net and www.outdoorfamily.net.
Experience Traveling with my own 2 boys since they were infants, by air and car, to a wide variety of destinations, both urban and outdoor. Writing about travel with children.
Publications FAMILY FUN magazine
See my website www.travelfamily.net for articles and tips on traveling with kids.
Question I'm considering flying to California this September and driving back with my sister and my 2 yr old. Having never driven cross country before, how many days should we plan for? Is this too much for one so young?
Answer Dear Fran -
How long the drive will take depends on how long you're able to drive each day. You don't mention where you live, but I'm guessing it's somewhere on the East Coast. Just as an example, a trip from the San Francisco area to Delaware would be about 42 hours of driving time - but that doesn't include time for stops, meals, overnights, etc. So, if you decided you could handle 7 hours of driving time per day, then that trip would take you 6 days.
Two year old's are probably the worst age for long car trips, just because they're so active and are still a bit young for many of the diversions that help pass the time for older kids.
For a multiple day trip like you're considering, you won't be able to drive 12 hours a day, every day, but you could certainly make the trip work if you were able to take a little longer.
We take long road trips with our 2 sons every summer, from our home in Delaware to Oklahoma or South Dakota where we have family. Our kids are now 9 and 12, so they could handle longer days, but we still take our time so that the trip itself is part of the fun. We usually plan on driving 6-8 hours each day, and we often plan a fun stop (like a park, zoo, or museum) in the middle of the day to break up the drive and give everyone a chance to stretch their legs. With mostly reasonable days like that, we can then occasionally do a longer day of about 9 hours, but we rarely drive longer than that in any single day.
One very helpful resource is the website www.mapquest.com. On this site, you can click on the Directions icon and enter a starting and ending point. Mapquest will give you detailed directions and will also tell you how many miles and approximately how many hours it will take (that's how I got the 42 hour estimate from SF to DE). You can also enter multiple stops along the way. We use this site extensively when we plan a trip.
If you decide to make the trip by car, you should consider several things to help your 2-year old handle the long days in the car. Make sure to pack plenty of snacks each day to keep her feeling good (and snacking is a favorite activity of 2 year olds!). Plan on making plenty of stops for meals and stretching your legs. It helps to plan some sort of stop into each day when your child can really move around. Sometimes we just pack a picnic lunch and stop at a park so the kids can run and play. If you have some fun stops along the way, it will give you all something to look forward to.
The other thing that helps us to pass long days in the car are audio books. Some of our favorites for toddlers include the Little Bear books(read by Sigourney Weaver), the Francis books (very funny for adults as well as kids!), and anything by Jim Weiss (he has a few for younger kids). The Jim Weiss CDs and many other great audio books are available from Chinaberry catalog at:
