Things To Do On Long Driving Trips

Things To Do On Long Driving Trips

Whether you’re going on vacation, visiting family or friends, or you just want to see the sights, a long driving trip can be fun for everyone. Many of us are so anxious to get where we’re going, we forget that the joy is in the journey.

Listen to Audio Books

Since many people tend to get a little car sick when they read in the car, an audio book is the perfect replacement. With a moderately priced Mp3 player, you can easily carry several audio books with you no matter where you. You can listen to it yourself, or choose something everyone will enjoy to play throughout the car. You can buy audio books in three formats – digital Mp3s, CDs or cassette tapes (although cassettes are getting to be a bit outdated).

Sing Songs

Most people are embarrassed to sing in front of others because we all don’t have beautiful voices, but when everyone sings together, half the fun is listening to everyone’s off-tone voice and the forgotten words to the song. One thing that’s guaranteed, when you sing songs on a long driving trip, those songs will forever be remembered fondly, and great memories will be created.

Talk

I know…I know…Talking seems like an obvious thing to do on a long drive, but you’d be surprised how very few people actually do it. These days it seems any child twelve and under has a portable game like Gameboy or PSP, and teenagers have ear buds permanently attached to their head with the latest music streaming from their iPods, or the incessant text messaging through the “required” cell phones for everyone in the family. All of these distractions make it difficult for families to really “talk”.

So why not take this time on the road to turn off all the electronic devices and talk to each other – about anything. If you’re going on a family vacation, perhaps you all list the top 3 things you’re looking forward to doing on vacation. You can also make up questions that everyone has to answer – like “If I could go anywhere in the world, I would go to…”, “If I could go to lunch with any famous person I would want to meet…”, or “The three things I want to do before I’m 65 are…”. These kinds of statements help you get to know things about your friends and family you never would have known otherwise, and it starts fun conversations too!

Car Games

Most of us at one point in our lives have taken part in a car game which usually involves the alphabet, looking for items along the trip, or a good memory. Here are a few car games to get you started, but you can always make up your own.

License Plate Game – See how many different state and country license plates you can spot on your trip.

20 Questions – One person states if they are a person, place or thing. Then the other people in the car can ask up to 20 yes or no questions to try and figure out what they are.

My Father Owns a Grocery Store – The first person says “My father owns a grocery store and in it he sells apples”, then the next person follows by saying “My father owns a grocery store and in it he sells apples, and bananas”. The game continues going through the whole alphabet. They must say the entire list of items previously said by other people and then add their own item at the end. If someone gets stumped on the list of items, they are out and the remaining people continue.

These are just some of the fun things you can do on a long driving trip. Remember to make the journey fun, light, and full of memories!