I love a good road trip. Ambling through the countryside, admiring the view, be it mountain, ocean or plains. Stopping whenever it takes your fancy so you can stretch the legs, have an impromptu picnic, chat to a local.
How beautiful is this? Taken on an ambling road trip around Lake Tahoe in Northern California in October 2010.
We’re going on a road trip soon. One that will be nothing like the road trips I love. It will be 11, maybe 12 hours in the car, driving as directly as possible from point A to point B. Oh, and have I mentioned we will be leaving at 1am. Yes. You read that correctly. 1-freaking-AM.
Every year in one lot of school holidays we go to our family holiday home on the NSW Central Coast for a week, and take hubby’s son, Mr13. It’s been a tradition for many years. And, so far, every year I’ve been able to fly to Sydney a few days before, catch up with some friends, do a bit of work for a client, catch the train to Gosford and meet them there. And I’ve also flown home.
This year I’m joining the 1-freaking-AM departure. Why 1am you ask. Let me put it this way. My brother did this drive recently with his wife and two little kids and it took 16 hours. Due to traffic, an accident and roadworks. Hubby has always left around 1am when he has done this drive, and has always arrived in time for lunch. Which I have usually had ready and waiting 🙂
Which brings me to my next point. Food. For the road trip. As we want to get there as quickly as possible (I mentioned Mr13 in the back seat didn’t I?), we don’t want to make too many long stops along the way. Other than the essential stop-revive-survive stops every couple of hours.
So I need to pack some snacks. Snacks that we will all enjoy. And no, my beloved (should you be reading this), the snacks will not include a couple of family sized blocks of chocolate.
Hmmm. We might take ONE of these. But five blocks is a few too many.
So how do you choose what to take on a road trip. So my snacks tend to include:
- no food that needs reheating – so no leftover lasagne
- not too much sugar or junk food (I can’t believe I wrote that – memories of road trips past sustained with bags of chips and blocks of chocolate…)
- lots of water to drink – at least 1 big water bottle per person
- lots of easy-to-eat-while-driving food – for example cut up fruit such as apples or banana or pear, maybe with some nut butter for dipping; veggie sticks such as carrot, celery, red pepper – maybe with a solid dip like hummus
- food with a good protein kick – hard boiled eggs can be good for this, as are cooked chicken strips and left over slices of roast beef or lamb
- sandwiches with non-spill fillings – vegemite is my favourite for this
- little containers of yogurt
- slices of cheese and crackers
- a mix of dried fruit, dates and nuts.
I always pack an esky bag so that food that needs to stay cool can.
Berries such as these amazing blueberries are the perfect travel snack – easy to eat, sooo yummy and no mess. Unless you drop one and accidentally squish it…
We also usually stop for a quick meal somewhere – this time it will be breakfast. Hubby is telling me it will be at McDonalds, which is traditional for the boys’ trip. I suspect I’m going to be called the fun police when I look for somewhere else to eat! Or I’ll be packing myself a sandwich. Or a few extra snacks. With a thermos of coffee.
What foods do you take when you go on a road trip? And have you ever been crazy enough to leave a 1am?
For me it is more about what the driver can eat easily, rather than what the passengers want. Definitely fruit is on the list – apples or bananas are ideal and can be eaten whole without too much mess, grapes are good too. Cherries are sort of fun in summer until you need to spit the pips out. Muesli bars are convenient, but get the good ones that aren’t all sugar. Homemade muffins or oat cookies can be good healthier choices that are portion controlled and easy to eat. And I definitely agree with a vegemite or peanut butter sandwich. And of course a lot of water.
Absolutely Glenda – mostly I am the passenger and pass the driver food. Or he has a decent snack when we stop for a quick break every couple of hours. Of course, for my family, friends and readers travelling with small children, it’s much more about what those passengers want, if only to keep some peace 🙂
Fantastic ideas. We did an 11 hour trip with 2 littles to Barcaldine and thinking of snacks that were transportable and not full of sugar was a massive headache. I will be keeping this list in mind next time.
A well planned list, I’d say. We have been packing healthy snacks for trips for years, except for the one exception each child got to choose — usually that was Red Vines or Peanut M&M’s. One trip we even packed hummus with vegetables, though as co-pilot you might have to help the driver with this one a little more. Nuts, cheese & crackers, rolled lunch meat, anything is better than buying from convenience stores. Oh, and chocolate is a must! 🙂 Happy road tripping to you!
I am partial to almonds,cashews and dried apricots but they can become boring after a while. Vegemite sandwiches always a hit – with fresh squishy bread. But the best road trip (yeah bad) snack for me are minties. Try and not chew them for as long as possible and then get the kids to tear the papers (minutes of entertainment).
You can keep the 1am start – did that once in Bali – to climb a mountain and be at the summit for sunrise – the rest of the day is a write off! You never really get to sleep knowing you have to be awake in a few hours!