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Summer Travel Tips: How to Enjoy The Ride

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When I think of summertime as a kid, I always think of road trips. My grandparents lived about 12 hours from us, and at least once a summer we would each pack a bag and make the drive to their house. I used to love those trips, but being a parent of three small children I have come to recognize how much work they really are!

Summer Travel

I received compensation and samples for this post. all opinions are my own. 

This summer we had the opportunity to make the road trip of a life time. We moved our little family from Phoenix, Az to Anchorage, Ak. That is 3,665 miles and 62 hours of driving. It is safe to say that we are pretty seasoned road trippers. Along the way we learned what worked and what didn’t to help us enjoy the ride.

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Music– For me good music is a must. I have learned that everyone has their own choice for road trip music. I prefer musicals to sing along to, my husband loves a good audio book. No matter what, we always sit down before our trip and download our favorites to our iPod. Now that we have kids ww make them a playlist of songs they love as well. Some of my favorite memories are belting out my favorite tunes with my favorite people in the car.

Entertainment– Our kids are pretty good in the back seat, but I always be sure to pack some fun stuff for them to do while they drive. We like to wrap up some little dollar store toys and yummy snacks and pass back reward presents while we go. They also love coloring books, their LeapPad tablets, movies, and classic handheld games to help pass the time in their seats.

Food– Good road trip food is a MUST for us. We have found that we like to leave early in the morning and stop somewhere in the road for a sit down breakfast. My kids will always eat pancakes so they leave full, happy and ready for a nap. The rest of the day we can munch on our favorite snacks or swing into some fast food as we go.

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Road trips are so fun, but one thing is for sure, they can be hard on your car. From rock chips in your windshield to the weird smell that lingers from all being confined to a tight space eating fast food, after road trip clean up is a must. Right?

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Lucky for us, Refresh Your Car has everything you need to whip your car into shape after long days on the road. We always start our trip with a new air freshener.

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There are so many styles to choose from, but for this trip we went with our Hula Girl. Not only is it fun to have a little dancing friend along for the drive, but she smells so good and keeps the car smelling fresh instead of like stale french fries.

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Once we get to our destination we always hit the car wash and follow it up with a good vacuum. Once everything is cleaned out, we wipe down the interior with Refresh Your Car’s Clean Wipes. These handy wipes come in all your favorite scents and kill 99.9% of bacteria*. Make sure you really get the kid’s car seats! Now our car is clean and ready for our next adventure.

*Refresh Your Car! is the only EPA approved automotive products that cleans, conditions, sanitizes and protects interior automotive surfaces. *Kills Staphylococcus Aureus (Staph) and Enterobacter Aerogenes.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Thank You for the giveaway…our kids enjoy reading & listening to their iPods, or we will put on an audio book that everyone can enjoy.

  6. Eating twizzlers and listening to the radio while the rest of the family naps

  11. I enjoy the ride by making a playlist full of songs I love to sing along to to make the time go by quickly!

  24. y family lives for road trips. We have traveled to over 20 states in the last 5 years. the boys have their DSs and the spouse and I chat. Thank you

  37. Music is definitely a must! I customize my playlist to the type of trip and where we are going.

  48. we enjoy the ride as a family, myself the husband and the four legged baby in the back.

  51. I drive. I can’t stand for anyone but me to drive. I get nervous and drive the other person crazy if I’m not driving. I keep telling them everything they are doing wrong(they’re really not doing anything wrong).

  60. I enjoy the ride when someone else does the driving because I don’t particularly like to drive.

  66. We map out points of interest before hitting the road – we especially love the quirky ones.

  75. We enjoy our road trips by having great music to sing to, snacks that aren’t too messy for the car and frequent stops to stretch our legs!

  76. I keep baby wipes in my car and whip them out for a quick wipe down when the inside is getting a little dusty and dirty!

  78. Snacks and music are what I need! When I’m tired, I force myself to sing along to the music. It seems to help keep me alert.

  81. I absolutely love road trips.. we are going on one next weekend- I should stock up on these wipes.

  83. I always keep my car clean & smelling nice so i can enjoy the ride, i am a bit of a neat freak, so my car has to remain tidy.

  84. I must have this for my car. I bet it would be amazing to have with three kids, two of which are boys, always stinking up my car!

  89. I love going on road trips. It can get messy being in your car for a long time. This would be a great way to clean up your car.

  93. I love taking road trips! They can be so much fun, especially with my daughters. I know that fresheners certainly help out on road trips too.

  94. Keeping the car fresh and clean is something you can’t neglect. I make sure to bring a podcast, an audiobook or some music too.

  96. The ride is always the worst part. Food and music are always a must!

  97. Not a fan of road trips unless they’re only a couple hours. Love how easy these are to use

  100. What a fun air freshener! These look like awesome tools to help keep your car looking awesome!

  102. We take a lot of road trips because we have family spread across the country. Good music and snacks are a must. So are disinfectant wipes.

  103. The snacks are the most important part of our road trips. I don’t know why my kids are so food obsessed, but whenever we get in the car, they expect a buffet.

  104. I enjoy the ride with good music and some good scents. I have to have some type of air freshener in the car!

  106. I’ve got to get this for my husband. He takes cleaning the interior of the car as seriously as he does the outside. He’d love these.