Before finalizing our first US road trip, I invited my friend Kay to join me for a coffee. She’s a road-trip pro, so I knew she would be the best person to speak to. Kay helped me to see that however crazy this trip looked on paper, it was possible. And the road-trip was likely to bring us closer together as a family unit.

Leading up to our road trip, (Langford BC to Utah—1,600 kms each way) I found myself mentioning it to almost everyone I met, bringing to light happy memories of long road trips that kind strangers had once taken. They only had good things to say about their adventures and seemed excited and in awe of what we were about to embark on.

Pushing the Limits

Travel time was around 16 hours each way (or 26 hours with regular breaks).

We escaped the island via the Coho Ferry from Downtown Victoria to Port Angeles, a surprisingly affordable and stress-free passage, to and from the US (as British citizens).

We travelled southeast across Washington towards Yakima. Climbing high up into the snowy mountains, and surprisingly staying up at this elevation for what felt like hours.

The journey pushed us to our limits. Seeing the “Welcome to Oregon” sign was very welcome—Washington is vast! We planned to stop for a couple of hours somewhere in Baker County. And when we did, the children woke up, wriggly, wanting hugs.

An hour or so after stopping, the temperature dropped considerably, our teeth were chattering. We decided to press on.

Welcome to Utah

Boise was our intro to Idaho, and as soon as we passed this metropolis, the traffic vanished and I was able to enjoy the quiet open roads, with three sleeping passengers… heaven!

Seeing the “Welcome to Utah” sign was emotional. I couldn’t believe that we had almost done it! Just an hour or so away from reuniting with my brother and family for some quality time together.

After a nourishing three days of parks, bike pump tracks, water balloons and BBQs, we began our homeward journey, taking a different route home, through Oregon—towards Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA. This extended our travel time quite a bit but descending towards the Columbia River with the sun setting in Oregon was breathtaking.

We took more regular breaks on the return journey, every one to one-and-a-half hours during daylight hours. And it wasn’t until the light faded that I felt some anxiety. I used breathing exercises and meditation to help me regulate, including affirmations “I am safe, I am loved, all is well”—it wasn’t always easy, but this helped.

Service station coffee was surprisingly sublime, and a couple of McDonalds along the way had Play Places, which were fantastic for our wriggly littles.

Things to Consider

We had a great time and learned a lot on our adventure. Here are some tips for how to prepare for your big summer road trip:

• Service your vehicle. Make sure you stop into a garage before you leave. Have a mechanic check your vehicle over and change your oil if needed. They can also offer valuable advice, such as how to eject your spare tire if you need it.

• With young children, break the journey into one-to-two-hour segments. When our children would ask “How much longer?” We’d say, “Just another 45 minutes until we have a break.” Imagine saying 12 hours!

• Consider downloading an app such as the Playground Buddy App, which helps you to find playgrounds—anywhere in North America. (Thanks to Kay for this tip!)

• Research awe-inspiring stops that are worth detouring for. Shoshone Falls in Idaho was spectacular. It was a 30-minute detour, and a memorable highlight of our return trip.

• Aim to fill up with gas when you get to 50 percent full.

• Consider who you want to share your journey with. I shared our plans with 12 to 15 close connections. Giving them the opportunity to feel like they were with us on the journey.

On our return, I shared photos and audio notes with our family WhatsApp group and my close connections. I plan to host a live virtual event for friends and family who want to hear more about our adventure and will print and send photos and letters via mail, during the month of May. I will share it with my wider connections via social media once I have caught my breath!

As someone passionate about social and digital health, I urge you to be mindful that close connections appreciate hearing from you directly, not only through social media.

Travelling with kids is like taking your work on vacation. You still have to meet all the usual needs (road trip food/sleep/laundry) while throwing in a bunch of extra jobs (cleaning sand out of the back of the car, ice cream highs, entertaining everyone during the long-distance drives).

A little prep-ahead road trip food goes a long way towards keeping everyone happy. Whether it’s lunch on the side of the road or just giving everyone enough calories to make it to your final destination, having a bag of go-to snacks is necessary.

Here are a few prep ahead road trip food recipes that are perfect for packing into your lunch bag or cooler. They are easy to make, simple to serve, and packed with nutrition.

Homemade Hummus

Hummus is SOOO cheap and fun to make, I really don’t understand how grocery stores can justify the price of pre-made hummus. It’s also the perfect road trip lunch. Skip the soggy sandwiches and have this dip instead!

I’ve written this recipe as a larger batch. This way you have enough to feed a bunch of hungry kids. Hummus also freezes really well, so if 4 cups is too much for your family, freeze smaller portions so you can enjoy your hummus all summer long!

2 cans of chickpeas (2 x 14 oz cans)

1 cup tahini roasted paste (raw tahini can taste bitter)

1⁄2 cup lemon juice

2 cloves of garlic

1 to 2 tsp salt, to taste

1⁄2 cup cold water

1⁄4 cup olive oil

Optional Flavour Additions:

Roasted red peppers

Pesto

Chopped olives

Toasted pine nuts

Za’atar spice mix

Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Combine the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, and garlic in a large blender or food processor. Blend until it starts to form a paste. Add a 1⁄2 cup of water. Then add more water 1 tbsp at a time until you have a smooth and creamy dip. The flavour additions can be pureed into the hummus at this point or added on top afterwards. After adding any additional flavours, taste the hummus and add salt. The exact amount of salt required will depend on the saltiness of the chickpeas. Scrape the hummus into an airtight container. Top with olive oil and any additional flavour toppings. Hummus will last in the fridge for up to 4 days, or up to 4 months in the freezer.

Tex-Mex Dip

This recipe is based on my go-to sandwich filling as a teenager. However, it is much nicer as a Tex-Mex alternative to hummus. A perfect dip for vegetables and corn chips at a road side lunch stop. Best of all…it’s ridiculously easy to make!

1 can of refried beans (14 oz can)

11⁄2 cups of salsa (mild, medium, or spicy)

Optional 1 cup of finely shredded cheese (cheddar or mozzarella)

Simply mix the salsa into the refried beans. For a bit of added creaminess, stir in 1 cup of finely shredded cheese. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Like hummus, this dip can also be frozen for up to 4 months. Bonus tip: Frozen dips work great as ice packs for your cooler. A two-cup container will take about 1 day to fully defrost in the fridge or cooler.

Back Seat Road Trip Food

Having a good supply of snacks is a road trip necessity. It’s hard to eat well while travelling, so start with some healthy snacks and save the chips, cookies and ice cream for the road side cafes and diners.

This list of snacks focuses on everything you need to feel good: fresh fruits and vegetables, protein and fiber.

Vegetable Sticks: Stick with firm vegetables like carrots, celery, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and sweet peas. Cucumber and coloured peppers just don’t last well on a long road trip. To add a bit of flavour to your vegetables, toss them with some fresh herbs (mint, basil, parsley or chives) and a pinch of salt.

Fruit: Chopped fruit doesn’t last very well in a hot car. If you don’t have a cooler, stick with whole fruits instead. Better yet, stop off at a roadside fruit stand to pick up some fresh seasonal fruit!

Nuts and Seeds: I love serving nuts and seeds because they are so good at filling kids up. The fat and protein are really sustaining. Make your own mixes with dried fruit, pretzels, cereal or candy-coated chocolate pieces. I don’t recommend chocolate chips because they’ll melt in a hot car. Also, don’t give nut mixes to young kids, as it is a choking hazard.

Wholegrain Chips and Crackers: Wholegrain crackers (like flax crackers or brown rice cakes) and chips (like low-salt corn chips) are also hearty snack options. They tend to have more fibre and protein than other crackers, which means they’ll keep everyone full for longer.

Salty Snacks: There are lots of snacks that seem to be healthy, but really are just an alternative potato chip. These include things like pea snacks, vegetable chips, etc. While these sometimes contain more fibre and protein than a typical potato chip, they are usually quite high in salt and fat, and are more of a treat than a snack. Choose homemade popcorn instead.

A summertime experience to remember

From the moment we found out we were having twins, I had a preconceived notion that we wouldn’t be doing much anymore.

Late in the pregnancy, I remember taking our older son Hudson out for dinner and thinking “This is it. Likely our last enjoyable supper of freedom. It will never look or feel like this again.”

Fast forward nearly two years later and I was right. Nothing is ever easy anymore and it’s usually always a complete spectacle to do anything out in public. It’s become all that I know, though. As twin +1 parents we have to constantly keep tabs on six arms, six legs and three very mobile strong-willed bodies. It’s a lot—all of it—but what I’ve come to realize is that for every one of our challenges comes equal parts reward.

That’s how I feel about our recent camping trip to Hornby Island, BC.

It’s a place I grew up visiting almost every summer with friends, enjoying every ounce of its laidback tropical vibe without a care or responsibility in the world.

Hornby is peaceful, calm, cool and collected. It’s where my husband and I first travelled to in our early days of dating. We had set up a tent at the oceanside campsite and blissfully floated away on the crystal-clear shallow blue waters.

The island holds an immense sentimental value and so I thought that this would be the year to go again and celebrate my husband’s birthday—with the support of my dad—as it was Father’s Day too! So we rented an RV, we had grandpa’s extra hands and we had the ambition. I will say I definitely braced myself for work and set my standards quite low for any form of relaxation. I don’t think anything could have prepared us for what was to come, though.

Getting there wasn’t so bad. It’s a few hours’ drive and two small ferries to arrive at this paradise, all while being first-timers towing a large sleeps-six trailer. The twins had their nap and we got there at a good time and lucked out with beautiful weather for the majority of our stay.

Our home base was the same campsite as always—the one with two-minute loonie showers and outhouses for bathrooms. It’s only a short walk away from the stunning Tribune Bay Beach so I was all for roughing it on a budget.

The hardest part of trip? Taking all of the chaos and stress from home and seemingly amplifying it in one-sixteenth of the space. It was a humbling challenge not for the faint of heart, each and every one of the five nights, six days.

It was meals eaten on the ground. It was endless diapers. It was a questionable-family-hygiene-type of animalistic vacationing.

The biggest fail of the trip? Not bringing the twins’ travel beds along. My husband said there wasn’t room—and while this did seem true—they turned out to be crucial.

In place of the pack-and-plays was a lower bunk bed with a makeshift rail guard enclosure for the twins to sleep together. My daughter figured out how to break out of that after the first few sleepless nights of adjustment.

We never knew if she was finally asleep, or if she was standing up in the trailer walking around like a little ghost in her sleep sack. Eventually the twins found their rhythm and cuddled up together. This was the first time they’d done this, other than newborn naps, and the visual made everything worth it. It was the sweetest thing.

The most important realization of the trip? Not having thought through safe containment (for sanity) or ideas for daily distraction.

I spent way too much time thinking about meals and snacks and not enough communicating with my husband about how each day would go for entertainment, how they would eat their meals and what to do for naps. An octagon enclosure saved us—and so did the beautiful beach—but we could have done so much more to prepare for how each day would look. You live and learn I guess.

The best part of the trip?

I got closer with my dad and was able to see him in such a different light, helping out with our children in a different atmosphere. The twins finally got to experience something so different than their usual daycare and bedtime routine in a post-lockdown world. Their eyes lit up in a way I’ll never forget.

Our family of five once again grew through taking on a new challenge and coming out more knowledgeable and resilient on the other side. The goal was to have a family experience and create some lasting memories—and we did just that. We sailed back home with something that far exceeded what I ever could have envisioned.

Next time, though, I won’t go anywhere without those travel beds.

5 No-tech ways to keep them entertained

Our four-year-old daughter couldn’t wait to board our plane for Cancún. Minutes after take off she couldn’t wait to deplane. We asked our flight attendant if they had tablets to rent. He replied that they stopped this service a few years ago now that everyone has their own phones and tablets. He said the only movie playing would be Gone with the Wind—right outside our window. We laughed and I thanked myself for installing the in-flight app. However, screens can provide entertainment for only so long.

Here are my Top 5 non-screen entertainment options for kids on planes. Keep in mind that a few of these activities will depend on your kids’ ages, too.

Write, Draw and Crafts

My kids enjoy watching me use handwriting in my journal, so I taught them how to hand write their names. Printing practice, sudoku, mazes, word searches, and connect the dots are also great time fillers.

We have a set of cards that you write and draw on with white board markers. There are also colouring books that you colour with water and then reuse and mess-free colouring pages, too. Other great activities for passing the time include: drawing, airplane making, and Origami.

Read

I love the unlimited time that I have to complete tasks when I am travelling. You might be able to read an entire magazine on the plane or an entire book. It won’t be uninterrupted, which is why magazines for kids are great. They also include lots of activities to keep kids busy.

Bring books, comics, and/or any books your kids love. I recommend carrying all these items in a wheeled carry-on bag—which is easier to transport. Perhaps you can even leave some of the books at your destination to free up space and weight for souvenirs on the way home.

Play Games

We have travel-sized games, but if you are worried about losing tiny pieces, a mini deck of cards will do. There are so many games from Go Fish, Crazy 8s, to Solitaire. Visit considerable.com for the rules to many card games. If your kids are too young for some of these, then even learning to recognize the numbers and suits can be a great activity.

Brainstorm

I try to think of all the items that I never have time to do at home or that the kids don’t have time to do.

Think of lists that you could write together. For example, How many different types of stickers are there? Fuzzy, scratch n’ sniff, puffy, etc. Write a list of all the photos you want to take while you are on vacation. Write lists of things to do when you are on vacation and when you are back from vacation.

Make a list of who you are buying souvenirs for or email thank-you notes from your child’s birthday party. Update your electronic calendar with events for the year. While you are typing away on your phone or tablet, teach your kids to type, write a letter, or email to their friends.

Walk

Need more cookies or pretzels? Take the kids for a walk and ask for more at the back of the plane. Make it a game. How many people did you pass on the way there? How did you fit by? Walk sideways and then change it up and walk on the other side. Stretch your legs. For stretch ideas, Google “Simple Airplane Stretches.”

If your kids are still small and you get tired of pacing the plane, they can even just stand up in the space in front of their seat.

After you‘ve spent some time on all of the above activities, your kids might be ready for a few more minutes of screen time. Remember to download their favourite shows and music ahead of time.

Empathy may be challenging to have as your patience is continually tested, but they can go a long way. Sometimes you have to accept that your kids will make noise and other passengers may not like it, but in some situations there is nothing you can do. Your kids ears may hurt or they may just be miserable and cry. Sometimes you just have to accept the circumstances.