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.

Butt pillows; even if the seats are comfy, just to shake things up, keeps you from being stiff afterwards

Apply sunscreen during the day; the sun gets to you as if you were outside.

Stop and get out of the car more often than you think you need to. It’ll make the trip so much more pleasant.

Take lots of pictures! Future you will appreciate it.

I always bring a basic medical kit, flashlights and headlamps (especially headlamps for night time mechanical issues/tyre changes). I also like to bring my camping gear so we have that for sleeping just in case, but it’s not always feasible. Radios would be nice/fun, but usually overkill and the cheap ones don’t work that well unless you have line of sight which makes them useless.

PS5 might be a bit much, but could be nice if you can hook it up to a hotel tv. Other wise it’ll just be dead weight. Same with the oculus, especially if you bring both (doesn’t the oculus needlessly require internet anyway?). Would also be risky to leave them in the car when you’re away from it, would really dampen things to have it broken into. I don’t see a reason to bring all that unless you’re staying at the same accomodation the whole time (which you`re not); it won’t be fun moving it in and out of the car for two weeks. Power inverter is ootq.

If someone needs isolation they can use headphones and/or go for a walk.

I personally like to make sure nothing of value is ever left in my vehicle when I leave it. I like to make sure all of my stuff is packed in one bag, two at most and I bring everything with me anywhere I go. I’m relatively fit tho, so I’m not sure how much would be too much for y’all.

Most important thing is the medical kit and headlamps imo.

It’s hard while traveling, but eating even remotely healthy will make your experience a lot better. One of those fruit and veggie trays you can get from grocery stores plus like a loaf of bread and a thing of hummus can make a great dinner on the road for a family, I try to do something like that at least twice a week when im traveling. Panda express is a surprisingly decent place to get fairly plain rice chicken and broccoli, which is great for both nervous stomachs and people trying to maintain any kind of fitness on the road. Last I’d say careful not to give yourself kidney stones with energy drinks if youre doing a lot of long haul drives between stops

To paraphrase Pirsig, aim for quality time with an emphasis on the word “quality”. Speed and distance don’t matter, so don’t try to maximize them. If anything, maximizing them will take away from enjoyment of the journey.

I’ve driven cross-country in the US to visit various national and state parks numerous times, but always alone. So, this may not apply, but two things helped me tremendously:

1. Pack plenty of water, apples and beef jerky. Saves on human refuelling stops.
2. Don’t be afraid to stop, turn around and backtrack if you saw something interesting.

Bonus: Little or no technology. I did my trips when all we had was a road atlas and music tapes. Still ended up listening to the lical talk radios along the way. Would do the same even now.

Former long range trucker here. You can knock that drive out in three days if you go for it. This advice mostly applies to N. America.

Trip plan trip plan trip plan. Where are you getting gas, food, and lodging? Spending 15min per meal to figure out where you’re going and what you’re having adds up quick. Picking gas stations at random can backfire, some are quite aways off the freeway and can suck 30mins out of your day. All these little, seemingly minor delays add up quickly. Could easily add hours to your total drive time if you’re not careful.

Rest areas are your friends. Easy off, easy on. Picnicking areas, usually cleaner restrooms than gas stations. You can sleep in your car there too.

Entertainment wise I was always partial to audiobooks. Obviously I couldn’t play steam deck while driving, but audiobooks allow you to take in the scenery as well. May I recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl, Murderbot, and the Bunny Mcgarry series?

Be safe! If you get the feeling you’re too tired to drive you probably are, pull over. Good luck and have fun!

I’m seconding the other person - lay off the tech!

What’s the point of doing a massive road trip if you’re all going to be glued to a screen of some sort?

Take some books as they work without any reception, have you read any books about road trips? The most obvious one would be On The Road by Jack Kerouac.

How are you mechanically? Can you change a tyre? If not have you got breakdown cover?

I drive from UK - Spain twice a year. I tend to drive for 4 hours each day. I know I could do that trip loads faster but I prefer to do it and relax.

Tunes for when driving and then either read a book or watch something on the downtime

Get AAA. It’s super cheap and can save your bacon if your car breaks down.

There’s literally no point in taking the trip if you’re just going to play video games the whole time.

Get a Justin Case for the car, and a bag of kitty litter in case you get stuck somewhere without traction.

Don’t know where you are driving, but prepare for heat.

• Wide brimmed hats
• Cooling neck wraps

Some small/easy card games, possibly:

• Skull
• Loveletter
• Flip7
• Scout

The best driving song I’ve found:

Carboforce