5 Things We Never Travel Without

This post was sponsored by Nabisco as part of an Integrated Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

Do you spend a lot of time in your vehicle? Maybe you head out on field trips frequently or have lots of therapy appointments for your children. Your family might just enjoy spending some time on the open road and you could use some sanity saving tips like these 5 Things We Never Travel Without. Maybe your family is like ours and needs snacks, tech, and comfortable clothes to make it through the day OR maybe your family is more relaxed and travel on the fly. Either way I am sure you can relate to needing somethings in your vehicle to make your travel go more smoothly.

Things to Keep Kids Busy in the Car

Usually we do not allow tech for local travel unless it’s for school. I have been known to download a YouTube video on Anatomy or a video about Math for the little boys or an audiobook for American History for Eldest or Princess.

If we plan to travel an hour or more then we allow tablets with headphones to help keep the car quiet which allow mom and dad to keep their sanity! Keep each child quietly engaged allows mom and dad to talk without too much interruption (a rare thing with 4 kids and 2 dogs).

Type 1 Diabetes Supplies for Eldest

Insulin, BG Meter, and some snacks for lows follow Eldest wherever he goes. If he is just riding his bike around the block maybe not but he needs his Type 1 Diabetes supplies to keep him alive so it’s very important. We were recently out of town at Cedar Point and I didn’t remember packing his Levamir aka night time insulin. I was about to panic right in the middle of the amusement park. I frantically Facebook message my hubby and ask him to check to see if it was packed otherwise it was going to mean a call to Endo and a very long weekend for us… Thank goodness Eldest had grabbed his bag of supplies from the fridge! Crisis averted..

Jackets, Hats, Sunglasses and Gloves- sometimes

No mater what time of year it is we usually have jackets in the back of the car. I pack rain jackets for Spring and Summer then switch over to hoodies for Fall. I add a small bag of stretchy gloves and winter hats for Fall and Spring just in case we attend an evening program when the air gets chilly. During the Summer I am sure to have hats and sunglasses on hand to protect everyone’s eyes and head from the sun.

Charge Cables and Extra Power Packs

We use both our front and rear auxiliary outlets to keep our phones charged while driving. Since pay phones are getting more scarce it’s very important to keep your cell phone charged at all times in case of an emergency. We use a 10 ft. cord from the back to the middle captain’s chairs so Princess and Eldest have a way to charge their devices. We use shorter 3 ft. cords up front and usually in a multi-port charge adapter which allows 2-4 things to be charged at once. If we plan on being on the road all day with a stop for a museum or blog review trip then we check tablet battery levels before we head inside and try to allow things to recharge while we are exploring. We also bring extra charge packs so that we don’t run out of battery while taking pictures of videos. (I realize not all cars allow items to be charged while the vehicle is shut off but our van does.)

Drinks and Snacks

Last but certainly not least on our list of must have travel items is drinks and snacks. I keep a snack bag stocked all year round. We have found that traveling without some snacks and drinks to stay cool and hydrated can mean unhappy or sick riders. Princess and I get to feeling not so good if we get too hot. Eldest much keep hydrated to help keep ketones at bay. Big Red and Lil’ Red love having their own snacks in the car as well.

Sometimes we head out the door between meals or just before a homeschool activity and I know that they will be hungry BEFORE we get home. I try to pack some snacks like fresh fruit, cheese sticks or jerky sticks when we haven’t had lunch. If we have had lunch then we usually pack typical snack items which might include fruit snacks, cookies, or TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks.

We try to switch things up a bit and even allow the kids to pick snacks out before longer trips or at the beginning of the season. Most of our snack shopping is done at Walmart due to the large variety of items in the store. We stopped into Walmart before our recent trip to Sandusky and Put-in Bay for BloggyCon.

Big Red and Lil’ Red had remembered seeing a commercial for TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks during a recent visit to grandma’s. Since there’s two different flavors I allowed each boy to pick a box. Big Red picked the chocoloate filling and Lil’ Red picked vanilla filling.

Have your heard about or seen TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks at your local Walmart in the Cookie/Cracker aisle? One of the things I noticed about TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks is that they contain no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial flavors and no artificial colors. This information make me feel good about buying these ready to go snacks for our next adventure!