Lifestyle|

6 Parents Share Their Smartest Family Road Trip Tips, Plus The Messiest Mistakes To Avoid

Brilliant advice from parents who’ve been there.

Oct. 24, 2023

Prototype shown with options using visual effects.

Memories made during a family road trip only get better (and somehow more hilarious?) with age. Take, for instance, the innocent story from my own childhood about a grape juice box that exploded halfway through a 14 hour ride to my grandparent’s house, but these days is retold as if my entire family emerged from the car dripping in red liquid (they didn’t) after I dramatically crushed two juice boxes in my fists pro-wrestler style (I would literally never).

If nothing else, being the butt of the family joke for nearly three decades now has taught me a couple of valuable lessons: One, never trust a kid not to spill something in a moving vehicle, and two, family road trips are always a good idea.

To help you plan your own memory-making family adventure, we teamed up with Toyota and the first ever Grand Highlander to chat with parents about how they prep their own families (and vehicles) for road trips. Keep scrolling to steal all of their best advice.

First, Check Out These Must-Know Tips

Equally important to my cautionary tale about vibrantly colored juices are these tips from moms who know exactly what to expect when hitting the road with a car full of kiddos. Beyond the standard advice of charging the tablets and packing extra clothes, these smart ideas solve problems you may not even be anticipating. Hover over each card to reveal their advice!

Prototype shown with options using visual effects.

Now Let’s Get Into The Dirty Details

You can’t talk about road trips without also talking about mess strategy. From car sickness to spilled snacks, road trips are chock-full of opportunities for surprising mishaps, but luckily there are some smart ways to be prepared. Flip over each card to find out how these parents recommend getting ahead of on-the-road ick.