Post by hbomdiggity on Jul 30, 2024 14:39:20 GMT -5
DS 9 has been a good traveler. Long plane/car rides are not an issue as he loves the extended iPad time. He and H just drove 10hours straight, no complaints.
It helps that he is a mini H so they love the same stuff. We do a lot of outdoor stuff - hiking, fishing, golf, snorkeling. We have not done as much of the museum/urban stuff, but I make sure we do aquariums and zoos and maybe a sporting event.
We are planning a trip to NZ for spring break, and admittedly, I am wavering. H and I went 14 years ago and did a lot of the same stuff we do now with the hiking and outdoors. But it’s a really long and expensive flight to do that, we’ve already done it, and I don’t know that DS would appreciate it any more than what we can do more locally. So we’ll see.
I agree with the posters above who said there is a lot of trial and error involved. And resetting expectations.
For example, I have one kid who gets really bad motion sickness. This anxiety comes up the most during travel when we will be doing new things, new environments. Over the years I have figured out the perfect combo of meds, how much we can push it with activities (white water rafting last year was just fine) and what we need to do if he does get motion sickness. I only learned all of this by having some errors along the way. THere was one sequence of flights where he threw up 4 times and it was miserable.
Can you share your tips for motion sickness? DD2 gets it and we had our first really bad experience on the way home from our last trip. She threw up on the car ride to the airport (BIL's car!) and made a huge mess, luckily we had easy access to a full change of clothes, left early and have precheck or we probably would have missed our flight because it took so long to clean up (ew). Then she got sick again on the plane as we were landing from turbulence, but luckily I got her an airsickness bag in time. I stole a few to keep in my backpack and I ordered Dramamine to try next time. We drive a lot and it seems like a combination of being stuck in stop and go traffic and looking at the TV in their minivan (we don't have those in our car). We're driving to NH in 2 weeks and I'm scared!
DS 9 has been a good traveler. Long plane/car rides are not an issue as he loves the extended iPad time. He and H just drove 10hours straight, no complaints.
It helps that he is a mini H so they love the same stuff. We do a lot of outdoor stuff - hiking, fishing, golf, snorkeling. We have not done as much of the museum/urban stuff, but I make sure we do aquariums and zoos and maybe a sporting event.
We are planning a trip to NZ for spring break, and admittedly, I am wavering. H and I went 14 years ago and did a lot of the same stuff we do now with the hiking and outdoors. But it’s a really long and expensive flight to do that, we’ve already done it, and I don’t know that DS would appreciate it any more than what we can do more locally. So we’ll see.
If you have been and are hesitating then don’t go to New Zealand! I would do something in S America for a much shorter flight, cheaper and lots of outdoor stuff to take advantage of.
Post by ellipses84 on Jul 30, 2024 15:42:03 GMT -5
[mention]noodleoo [/mention] DS1 gets car sick easily (and so did I). The stop and go in heavy traffic when my DH is driving definitely triggers it. When DS was younger we had a toy bin on the seat so we taught him to dump out the toys and use that for a “bucket”. Now we have those hospital vomit bags in the car. They are like a hard plastic ring with and long bag and they fit in the seat back pocket. Aside from Dramamine, there’s sea bands, motion sickness glasses that look goofy (I’ve never tried them but people claim they work), bland snacks like animal crackers or sour candies / drinks to help early nausea signs, rolling down the window/ not blasting the AC. No reading or watching screens, especially in stop and go traffic. Make frequent stops to get out for fresh air. Other than that, just try to set yourself up for easy cleanup, like using a sheet or towel on the upholstery, have wipes, water and paper towels in the car.
For car sickness… We always have a bucket in the car preferably lined with a plastic bag. Nobody has thrown up for a long time now, but my youngest still feels sick all the time. We open the windows a lot. For any longer drive, we always give her Dramamine. It does somewhat knock her out for a couple hours, but that works awesome in the car! My oldest used to take it and not get particularly tired. It’s worth the tiredNess to prevent the puking! I also would bring Clorox wipes, paper towels, extra plastic bags, and a change of clothes, back in the days when people would actually throw up once in a while. Also, no reading or screens for the kids who are really prone to car sickness. Other than a movie on our minivan screen, which seems to be OK.
hbomdiggity we’re going to Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia over the winter holidays (summer for them) this year with our four kids. 3/4 of the trip will be in New Zealand - that’s our primary destination.
We’re on the west coast so the flights are about the same for us as going to say Italy. The kids have 19 days off for winter break so we’re willing to take the long flights for that much time there. DH and I have never been to New Zealand and the kids haven’t been to any of the three.
My DD has always been a good traveler and enthusiast about it. We have done nothing special. It’s just her way. We do all the normal things people suggest like limit screens (especially in traffic/the car), new stuff to play with, a friend to take (sometimes), kid-centered places, a mix of cooking and eating in restaurants, new places and familiar repeats.
I agree with the posters above who said there is a lot of trial and error involved. And resetting expectations.
For example, I have one kid who gets really bad motion sickness. This anxiety comes up the most during travel when we will be doing new things, new environments. Over the years I have figured out the perfect combo of meds, how much we can push it with activities (white water rafting last year was just fine) and what we need to do if he does get motion sickness. I only learned all of this by having some errors along the way. THere was one sequence of flights where he threw up 4 times and it was miserable.
Can you share your tips for motion sickness? DD2 gets it and we had our first really bad experience on the way home from our last trip. She threw up on the car ride to the airport (BIL's car!) and made a huge mess, luckily we had easy access to a full change of clothes, left early and have precheck or we probably would have missed our flight because it took so long to clean up (ew). Then she got sick again on the plane as we were landing from turbulence, but luckily I got her an airsickness bag in time. I stole a few to keep in my backpack and I ordered Dramamine to try next time. We drive a lot and it seems like a combination of being stuck in stop and go traffic and looking at the TV in their minivan (we don't have those in our car). We're driving to NH in 2 weeks and I'm scared!
This question wasn’t directed to me, but we started giving DS Dramamine before he needed it. My sister used to get car sick almost every trip, until she started having saltines and OJ at the start of every trip.
Ginger also helps with nausea, so keep ginger ale on hand.
Post by dreamcrisp1 on Jul 30, 2024 23:50:25 GMT -5
We travel a lot with our kids and I’m fortunate that they all seem to enjoy traveling for the most part. But it is def a different vibe than a trip with just me/me and my H would be. And that’s ok! This is our season of life. I make sure to set my expectations and set us up for success. For example, my kids are still young and nap so I always make sure they get one good nap at home and we go out around nap times. I don’t expect them to sit still places so I let them burn energy when I can. I plan things that make both of us happy. They can eat whatever they want and drink whatever. Don’t care at all. It’s vacation! I only stay in 2 bedroom apartments or places bc they need their time to sleep and I want space to decompress.
Can you share your tips for motion sickness? DD2 gets it and we had our first really bad experience on the way home from our last trip. She threw up on the car ride to the airport (BIL's car!) and made a huge mess, luckily we had easy access to a full change of clothes, left early and have precheck or we probably would have missed our flight because it took so long to clean up (ew). Then she got sick again on the plane as we were landing from turbulence, but luckily I got her an airsickness bag in time. I stole a few to keep in my backpack and I ordered Dramamine to try next time. We drive a lot and it seems like a combination of being stuck in stop and go traffic and looking at the TV in their minivan (we don't have those in our car). We're driving to NH in 2 weeks and I'm scared!
This question wasn’t directed to me, but we started giving DS Dramamine before he needed it. My sister used to get car sick almost every trip, until she started having saltines and OJ at the start of every trip.
Ginger also helps with nausea, so keep ginger ale on hand.
I agree with the posters above who said there is a lot of trial and error involved. And resetting expectations.
For example, I have one kid who gets really bad motion sickness. This anxiety comes up the most during travel when we will be doing new things, new environments. Over the years I have figured out the perfect combo of meds, how much we can push it with activities (white water rafting last year was just fine) and what we need to do if he does get motion sickness. I only learned all of this by having some errors along the way. THere was one sequence of flights where he threw up 4 times and it was miserable.
Can you share your tips for motion sickness? DD2 gets it and we had our first really bad experience on the way home from our last trip. She threw up on the car ride to the airport (BIL's car!) and made a huge mess, luckily we had easy access to a full change of clothes, left early and have precheck or we probably would have missed our flight because it took so long to clean up (ew). Then she got sick again on the plane as we were landing from turbulence, but luckily I got her an airsickness bag in time. I stole a few to keep in my backpack and I ordered Dramamine to try next time. We drive a lot and it seems like a combination of being stuck in stop and go traffic and looking at the TV in their minivan (we don't have those in our car). We're driving to NH in 2 weeks and I'm scared!
We’ve used Sea Bands for DD when driving to NH and those did seem to work for her. We also stop halfway to get a bite to eat and fresh air. Someone else mentioned Dramamine and I don’t know why I never thought of that before! We are going on a cruise next year and I’m praying she isn’t prone to sea sickness too. Maybe we should do a trial run on a whale watch or something first! Except she’s paranoid about orcas trying to sink our boat lol.
Can you share your tips for motion sickness? DD2 gets it and we had our first really bad experience on the way home from our last trip. She threw up on the car ride to the airport (BIL's car!) and made a huge mess, luckily we had easy access to a full change of clothes, left early and have precheck or we probably would have missed our flight because it took so long to clean up (ew). Then she got sick again on the plane as we were landing from turbulence, but luckily I got her an airsickness bag in time. I stole a few to keep in my backpack and I ordered Dramamine to try next time. We drive a lot and it seems like a combination of being stuck in stop and go traffic and looking at the TV in their minivan (we don't have those in our car). We're driving to NH in 2 weeks and I'm scared!
This question wasn’t directed to me, but we started giving DS Dramamine before he needed it. My sister used to get car sick almost every trip, until she started having saltines and OJ at the start of every trip.
Ginger also helps with nausea, so keep ginger ale on hand.
Post by Patsy Baloney on Jul 31, 2024 8:21:54 GMT -5
If your kids are old enough for Bonine, you might try that in place of Dramamine. We all take it for trips that test motion sickness boundaries (cruises, flights, long car rides through different terrain, theme parks). Advice is to take it on dry land to begin with, a few days before the trip, and keep it up the whole way through.
The main benefit I’ve seen is motion sickness control without the side effect of zonking you out.
ETA: it’s a chewable. Aftertaste is pretty bitter, so have it before breakfast to get that yucky taste out of your mouth.
This has been an eye opening thread for me. I didn't realize this was a thing. We've been lucky in that our kids (10 and 7) love to travel. DD1 was actually recently complaining that we don't take enough vacations. I had to explain to her how privileged she is (e.g. I never vacationed as a kid).
We do tend to cater to the kids when traveling though:
- We do a lot of beach and pool vacations.
- We haven't done any big touristy vacations where you spend a lot of time in museums, etc.
- Dining is focused on restaurant cuisines they like, and also a lot of ice cream.
- We often vacation with friends or extended family, and they love hanging with them.
Ours are 13, 10, and 7 and I think last summer was the first time vacations became more enjoyable. We went to Disney for the first time when the youngest was 5 and he was a grump the *entire* time. I don't think I have one photo of him with a genuine smile from the entire trip lol.
We definitely choose kid friendly places and activities so that probably helps. We also have found that having them share beds never ends well so even if all three are in the same room, things will be better if they each have their own bed if possible. We do allow unlimited screen time during air travel but we have still had some fighting on the plane. Since we are a family of 5, we often have 4 seats booked across and then one behind in the next row. Usually DH is the one who "sits with strangers" but we threaten the kids that if one of them acts up on the plane they will have to be the one to sit with the strangers. We followed through with this last summer when we didn't have a direct flight. DD was fighting with her brother so on the second flight, she had to sit next to the stranger. She didn't make the same mistake on the flight home!
My kids only use tablets while traveling (the ones they have are crappy and old and not super exciting) and DD doesn't have Safari or any SM on her phone so their only source of screen time once we have arrived at our destination is the TV. If it isn't a smart TV, they get quickly annoyed at the commercials and lack of choice on cable TV and don't want to have a lot of screen time.
My youngest does get car sick but we just plan for the puking. He's good about making it into the bag since he's been dealing with it for so many years now. Our longest car trip has been about 5.5-6 hours.
Re: motion sickness. Get emesis bags from Amazon. My kids both get migraines. We’ve been saved by the stack of lovely blue emesis bags in my backpack more times than I can count.
I get motion sickness on long car rides. Aside from dosing all sufferers up with Gravol, I recommend taking away all screens and reading material. It's a lot more work for parents because you have to entertain the kid and also keep reminding them to look out the window (ideally front window), but it's better than barf all over your backseat.
Also keep the inside of the car as cool as possible. As soon as things start getting stuffy and warm it's puke city.
I'm here to gloat that my solo trip with the two kids (8 & 4) was a success. I know I should read the room but I'm really very pleased. We went to the town where I went to university for 4 days. It's a small city (150k) and I know it like the back of my hand. Everything was a short walk or drive so other than the two hour drive which we broke up heavily, no complaints.
We ate at some of my favourite restaurants, went to the beach and two big parks, did a harbour boat tour (1hr), went to a small aquarium and activity centre, shopped downtown boutiques and visited a couple of outlet stores, and visited some friends who had a pool and trampoline. We ate so much ice cream and they spent a lot of time just chilling in the hotel room watching the Olympics and HGTV (my daughter's fave cable programming) in the evening. They went to bed early every night except the first, and slept in since it was so dark in the hotel!!!