Road Trip With Kids ... Expectation Vs Reality

I love these kind of posts and I thought I’d start doing my own as to be honest, that is my life. Expectation vs reality. Two totally different things.

Warren and I always say that we try to do nice things like holidays and days out and it just ends up stressful and not how we imagined.

I agree so we book it.

The day for our road trip comes and we leisurely get up at 8am, both girls have slept in, they must know it’s the start of a relaxing holiday. We have breakfast together and get ready with plenty of time as we can’t check in until 4:30pm anyway.

We load the car up in around half an hour, have everything organised and get on our way. We leave on time looking forward to our holiday. The three year old plays quietly on the iPad for the first half of the journey. The baby sleeps most of the way, only waking for a feed that coincides with a pit stop anyway.

We spend half an hour in the services, have a nice healthy lunch, feed the baby and all use the toilet before loading back into the car to make the last part of the journey. Both the girls fall asleep and stay asleep for the rest of the way.

Warren and I look at each other lovingly, I sip from my hot coffee I grabbed on the way out of the services and we chat together laughing and joking. We get to our destination and unload the car into where we’re staying. Warren is carrying the suitcases in and puts them all into the rooms. He’s now getting the last few bits out of the car and we’re nearly done.

The three year old is excitedly exploring the rooms and the baby is on the playmat happily stretching her legs after a few hours in the car. We bath the girls and get them in bed and settle down for a relaxing evening in the lodge with a glass of wine and some cuddles.
The perfect start to our family holiday.

Reality
———–
‘Shall we go to Bluestone again this year?’ I ask. (Bluestone is about 2 hours away and we have a 3 year old and a baby.. as in a 3 month old baby)

He looks at me, remembering that time we went last year.. ‘Yeah we should, it was really fun last year, the three year old loved it and it this time we have a baby too. It will be even more fun’

I agree so we book it.

The day for our road trip comes and we are abruptly woken at 5:30am by the three year old shouting for breakfast which wakes the baby. Clearly they don’t know it’s the start of a relaxing holiday. We have breakfast together and get ready in between doing last minute panicking as to what we need but it’s ok as we can’t check in until 4:30pm anyway.

We load the car up which takes forever as we are trying to take the whole house ‘just incase’ and nothing will fit. Now nothing feels organised but we get on our way. We leave later than scheduled but looking forward to our holiday. The three year old plays on the iPad for the first half of the journey but is constantly shouting and asking questions about the games she’s playing that we know nothing about as w’eve never played them before. The baby tries to sleep most of the way but keeps crying out unsettled due to a noisy big sister. She then wakes for a feed that coincides with a pit stop anyway.

We spend ages in the services, we’re feeling so stressed we have a not so healthy lunch, feed the baby and all use the toilet before loading back into the car to make the last part of the journey. Then the three year old decides she needs the toilet again so I take her back in and waste another 10 minutes while she sits on the toilet asking me god knows what. Both the girls fall asleep until the baby starts screaming. The last half the journey is intense as the baby won’t stop screaming unless I’m holding her, but we can’t drive while I hold her. We compromise with putting up with the screaming for half an hour, then stopping to get her out and calm her down, then putting her back in and listening to the screaming for the next half an hour. and repeat every half an hour until we are finally there.

Warren and I look at each other feeling stressed, some words are said and now there’s an atmosphere. I spill my hot coffee I grabbed from the services. Brilliant. We don’t speak the whole rest of the way. We get to our destination and unload the car into where we’re staying. Warren is carrying the suitcases in and the suitcase falls open across the road. He’s now gathering up odd shoes and underwear in the middle of the road and we’re nearly done.

The three year old is still tired and hungry now too, so is stood just crying and the baby is still screaming and still refusing to be put down. We skip bath time as they just need to go to bed out of our way. We settle down for a relaxing evening in the lodge with a glass of water not talking.