Another road trip question...

[3 ladybugs]

Sorry for yet another question about my road trip but I want to find out if I am being nuts or not. Okay, maybe not nuts, but more nutty then normal. :P

 

My original plan was to purchase a low cost portable DVD player to entertain my children on the way down. I would need one with 2 screens as my 4 year old is still rear facing. Now I am thinking that it isn't needed. We haven't had a DVD player in the car since before my 4 year old was born (used to bring it with me to entertain my older son in my appointments... it died at the last appointment before his brother came). So they are not used to having videos in the car. Grandma's house will be without wi-fi for a bit so I thought this could help for times when we are visiting her as well. However I am bringing a laptop, though that needs to be plugged in to work (battery is dead... though I am considering getting a new one as they are only about $30). I do have a converter for my car and the laptop has a DVD player in it. However it would only work for one direction in the car. My children both have i-pads (8g and 16g respectively) that I may allow them to use in the car... without wifi obviously. 

 

Am I insane? Do we need a DVD player for the car? I am traveling alone with my boys. My children are ages 4 and 8 and we are going about 1200 miles over 2 days in each direction. My children are used to this trip but DH always comes when we go. 

 

Thank you as always for the perspective. 

 

 

[Harriet Vane]

I think you have plenty of options with what you already have. I would likely not buy a DVD player.

[HomeAgain]

We just did a cross country trip without a dvd player.  It was remarkably easy, BUT....we took a lot of breaks at rest stops and kitschy attractions.  One state had playgrounds and/or little museums at every rest area we stopped at, so energy was burned off every 2 hours before getting back in the car for quiet time. I bought sets of the little bingo cards (I think they were $5 for a set of two) to keep everyone looking for things, we listened to audio books, and we had brought building toys and magnets along with paper, crayons, etc.  We stopped early in the evening, too, and at hotels with kid amenities like a pool.  We stopped at one in Tennessee where the clerk showed us a great walking path to a basketball court, pond, and small field to run in. :)

My 7yo did have my ipad.  I loaded Lilo And Stitch on there the day before we went to Graceland, which gave him a great frame of reference for it. :lol: That was the only movie watched over the week or so of driving.

[gardenmom5]

dvd player, tablet screen with stuff downloaded to it (so you don't have to worry about actual dvds), whatever works.

 

2ds brought his laptop so he and dudeling were watching something as we drove.  he'd downloaded it - and used a power adapter so it was plugged into a car charger.  no batteries needed.

[magnificent_baby]

IME they are difficult to find and rarely last long term. We've been through several of them over the years. I would be more apt to purchase tablets to play games on. 

[TheReader]

I'd load digital content onto the ipads instead. 

 

Many movies you own may even have codes for digital versions, or you can often buy cartoons cheaply in iTunes (we bought a full season of Phineas & Ferb for something like $10 or $15, in iTunes, for on the iPad, for our youngest). You could load each one with what they love, and they could use that. The 8 yr old could use ear buds if the competing noise would be a concern. 

 

Also, whatever things you normally do on the drive would still work, wouldn't they? What sorts of car entertainment do you normally provide for the drive? 

[Night Elf]

I have a portable DVD player I've had for years and years. I don't know what kind it is. My problem with it is I can't see the screen when the sun is shining into the car. I was fine in the backseat of the van but I couldn't use it in the front. 

[gardenmom5]

I have a portable DVD player I've had for years and years. I don't know what kind it is. My problem with it is I can't see the screen when the sun is shining into the car. I was fine in the backseat of the van but I couldn't use it in the front. 

 

why are you using a portable dvd player in the front seat?  are you a passenger wanting to watch something?  (if you're a passenger - one of those portable sunshield's that the driver can still see through, but block glare.)

 

It was pretty scary what people do while they're driving. on the freeway in california,  we say one guy who had a phablet hanging in front of his face from the windshield while he was driving . . . kinda blocks the view - and totally distracting if he's watching something while driving.

[Night Elf]

why are you using a portable dvd player in the front seat?  are you a passenger wanting to watch something?  (if you're a passenger - one of those portable sunshield's that the driver can still see through, but block glare.)

 

It was pretty scary what people do while they're driving. on the freeway in california,  we say one guy who had a phablet hanging in front of his face from the windshield while he was driving . . . kinda blocks the view - and totally distracting if he's watching something while driving.

 

Yes, I'm the passenger. I even tried holding a blanket over it but that didn't work. I don't know about a portable sunshield. Is that something that goes on the windshield and the door window?

[gardenmom5]

Yes, I'm the passenger. I even tried holding a blanket over it but that didn't work. I don't know about a portable sunshield. Is that something that goes on the windshield and the door window?

 

you can put them on the side windows - I wouldn't do it on the windshield.

[My4arrows]

We bought the DVD players years ago for our first family vacation. They can be a pain since not all kids can see them (we have 2 screen, 4 kids) and then there are cords all over the car. If your kids already have their own iPads I'd just put shows on there if you think they'd need something and have earphones for each. We also limit the Ipad/tv time and have the kids do other things like bingo, spotting license plates, audio books, etc.

[3 ladybugs]

Thank you for all the help! We will be having 4 kids soon (potentially, we are in the process of being licensed to foster, we will be licensed for 2 children). So it sounds like leaving well enough alone is the best idea. 

 

Thank you again!

[MistyMountain]

You can download movies into an iPad if you have Netflix or Amazon then each kid can pick their favorite shows or movies. I also like to get interesting audiobooks for road trips.

[bettyandbob]

I would do audiobooks, not movies.

[JFSinIL]

What is wrong with gazing out the window while listening to an audio book?  Or just gazing out the window and mentally traveling all over one's imagination.

[Night Elf]

What is wrong with gazing out the window while listening to an audio book?  Or just gazing out the window and mentally traveling all over one's imagination.

 

I loathe car trips. We do one a year to visit my MIL and it's a 15 hour ride. I'm either asleep or reading or watching a video if I'm not the one driving. I've got to do something to pass the time and so I don't feel like I'm cooped up in a tin box on wheels from which I will never escape. 

 

And yes, I do occasionally talk to DH but for the most part he's driving and happily listening to the radio. Who the heck can agree on only one music source, or one audio book? We all have different tastes. My kids, as adults, are not readers. They play on their phones, listen to music, or watch the portable DVD player. Playing an audiobook in the car where everyone is forced to hear it even if they aren't interested is rude in my opinion. Just playing the radio is bad enough. I have Sirius XM in my car. Radio stations have awful commercials that last twice as long as the couple of songs they play at one time. I hate listening to the radio but I endure it on our summer trips because DH has to have something to listen to while driving and he certainly can't wear ear phones.

 

Heck, when I was a small kid in the 70s I had stuff to do in the car when traveling state to state. It obviously wasn't a video but my parents made sure we had lots of stuff to do to entertain ourselves. That's not a new concept.

 

What is there to look at outside the window? Oh look, there's a field. There's a house. There's a cow. There's a tree. I've never been one to enjoy looking out a window. It's so dull.

[DawnM]

Where do you live?  I have one we no longer need/want/use.   :laugh:

 

And how do you have an 8gb iPad?  I thought the lowest memory amount on an iPad was 16gb.

 

I would be inclined to just let them download stuff on their iPads prior to the trip and be done with it.

 

We are about to take a VERY long car trip, 36 hours each way, and I am going to go to unlimited data on our cell plan for the duration of the trip.  I will encourage them to download movies first so that if there are dead spots, they will be ok.  Mostly they like to play games on their devices though.

 

I would like to finish a couple of audiobooks while I am on the trip, but not for everyone to have to listen to.  I will bring headphones.  I can't watch anything in the car, I get carsick.

 

Oh, and that reminds me, I need to get another car charger.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

<snip>

 

What is there to look at outside the window? Oh look, there's a field. There's a house. There's a cow. There's a tree. I've never been one to enjoy looking out a window. It's so dull.

What?

There's an entire world out there to see. Maybe my perspective is influenced by growing up in poverty and never getting to go anywhere but I love taking car trips and seeing everything I possibly can. The little changes in flora and fauna from one region to the next can be breath taking. For instance, we have yellow fireflies in our immediate area. They are beautiful and I love watching their twilight dance. If I drive a couple of hours away, there is an area with blue fireflies. Blue! They are delightful to watch. I can see how someone might imagine the existence of blue fairies dancing through the woods, enchanting travelers and granting wishes.

 

DH and I took a long road trip in May and, as the passenger, I was able to see a newborn antelope suckling from its mother. We were traveling along an older, less traveled highway in Wyoming and pulling a camper so we were going at a leisurely clip. The antelope herds were prolific and the females were swollen and sluggish. I had hopes that I would be able to see antelope babies during the trip and I did. We were able to pull off onto the shoulder and watch as a brand new baby antelope took its first steps. We must have missed the actual birth by minutes. We were able to see big horn sheep running along the ridge that followed the highway.

 

And then there were the bluffs of Nebraska. Beautiful rock formations that rose from the fields of prairie grass. At one point, there was a thunder storm approaching from the southwest. The sky was black with thunderclouds and the lightening would flash across the sky and highlight the bluffs from behind. The contrast of the rocky formations against the darkened sky was breathtaking.

 

Even when driving through metropolitan areas, there is much to see. A changing landscape of houses, buildings, stores, parks and people. I was in a town once that had a fountain made out of old mining sluice boxes. It was quite creative and beautiful and provided visual and auditory stimulation while sitting at a stoplight. There are the brown plank barns of the west. The red colored barns of the midwest. The barns of Pennsylvania and Virginia with their multicolored embellishments that recall their Dutch roots.

 

From the pine forests of Maine to the kudzu vine covered trees of the Smokey mountains to the palm trees of the Southern states.

 

There is just so much to see. 

 

 

[Guest]

I agree on the whole looking out the window thing... but this is a 1200 mile trip. 1500 took us 24 hours without stops, so I imagine she will have a LOT of time in the car. Kids can only be expected to entertain themselves that way for so long. I'm 45 and it gets boring for me... let alone a kid.

[HomeAgain]

Things my children got to see on our road trip this summer:
-a ghost town

-the spot where ancient cars had to go up backwards because the hill was so steep.

-a giant freaking bass pro shop inside a pyramid :huh:

-the batmobile

-a full sized skeleton hanging on to the front of a semi

-peacocks

-a pirate flag on the back of a Uhaul

-license plates from every state (including Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico!) except New Hampshire

-Herbie

-state lines

-the Sandwich Police

 

 

It really was a fun trip.  :lol:

[Lanny]

If I was going alone, or with my wife and DD, 600 miles in the USA, in one day is a long haul. BTDT.  With young children, you are going to need to stop and let them use the rest room and stretch and be outside the car for awhile.  I would suggest that you reduce that to about 400 miles each day.  That way it will be less of an ordeal.

 

I've purchased 3 or 4 laptop batteries for our Dell Laptops (they all use the same battery) from laptopz-outlet on eBay and they all work fine. They were probably between $12 to $15, including shipping in the lower 48 states when I bought them. Possibly they have the battery for your laptop.

 

Something to entertain the DC in the car would be good or it is going to be a difficult trip.

 

Good luck and drive safely and enjoy your trip!

[SJ.]

Do you have Netflix? If so, some tv shows and movies can be downloaded onto the iPads for free. I would do that and not buy a DVD player. Have a nice trip!

[3 ladybugs]

My children are normally fine with this trip. We have left the last 2 years at noon-ish from Philadelphia (ODS has class till then). I drive to about North Carolina then DH takes over and drives to about Savannah and then we stop at a rest stop and sleep in the car. I sleep while he is driving because the Carolina's are BORING (to drive through). Then I take over early in the morning and normally finish before noon the next day. Total stoppage is around 4-6 hours, so therefore we don't see the need for a hotel.

 

They sleep, they eat, they talk to the dog (not coming with us on this trip), they do whatever. However if there is an issue, one of us is there to help. I really think I am over thinking this trip. If my children can handle what we do in November (when we typically go) then certainly they can handle the much easier time I will do with them. 

 

I am thinking I will plan on printing some maps for the drive down. My oldest is old enough for him to sort of follow along with the trip. I have also thought to see if Prime Day has a Knex set on sale. My ODS loves making things and I could take the instructions and copy them for 1 step at a time. Then fill lunch bags with the parts needed for every step and at certain set points in our trip hand him another step. I would like to do something like that with my younger son but I am not sure what would work for him like that. 

 

With any luck we will get lots of songs. I might download some audio books too. I am also looking at podcasts. 

 

Oh and my ODS has an ipad that was the first generation and has little memory. I thought it was 8G but maybe it is more. My point is that it has little memory available. 

[Night Elf]

What?

There's an entire world out there to see. Maybe my perspective is influenced by growing up in poverty and never getting to go anywhere but I love taking car trips and seeing everything I possibly can. The little changes in flora and fauna from one region to the next can be breath taking. For instance, we have yellow fireflies in our immediate area. They are beautiful and I love watching their twilight dance. If I drive a couple of hours away, there is an area with blue fireflies. Blue! They are delightful to watch. I can see how someone might imagine the existence of blue fairies dancing through the woods, enchanting travelers and granting wishes.

 

DH and I took a long road trip in May and, as the passenger, I was able to see a newborn antelope suckling from its mother. We were traveling along an older, less traveled highway in Wyoming and pulling a camper so we were going at a leisurely clip. The antelope herds were prolific and the females were swollen and sluggish. I had hopes that I would be able to see antelope babies during the trip and I did. We were able to pull off onto the shoulder and watch as a brand new baby antelope took its first steps. We must have missed the actual birth by minutes. We were able to see big horn sheep running along the ridge that followed the highway.

 

And then there were the bluffs of Nebraska. Beautiful rock formations that rose from the fields of prairie grass. At one point, there was a thunder storm approaching from the southwest. The sky was black with thunderclouds and the lightening would flash across the sky and highlight the bluffs from behind. The contrast of the rocky formations against the darkened sky was breathtaking.

 

Even when driving through metropolitan areas, there is much to see. A changing landscape of houses, buildings, stores, parks and people. I was in a town once that had a fountain made out of old mining sluice boxes. It was quite creative and beautiful and provided visual and auditory stimulation while sitting at a stoplight. There are the brown plank barns of the west. The red colored barns of the midwest. The barns of Pennsylvania and Virginia with their multicolored embellishments that recall their Dutch roots.

 

From the pine forests of Maine to the kudzu vine covered trees of the Smokey mountains to the palm trees of the Southern states.

 

There is just so much to see. 

 

 

 

So you enjoy it and I don't. It's just a difference of opinion. No, I was not raised in poverty but neither were we rich. We took one long road trip per year from Louisiana to Georgia. It was boring. As a married adult, we do one long trip per year from Georgia to Wisconsin. It is boring. No, I don't get any enjoyment from watching nature. A bug is a bug. An antelope is an antelope. Baby animals are cute but I'm not awed by them walking or suckling. I'm happy you enjoy your trips but I'll continue to entertain myself besides looking out the window. My point was not everyone wants to look out the window and imagine. And I hope I'm not looked down upon because I don't. That's just silly.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

So you enjoy it and I don't. It's just a difference of opinion. No, I was not raised in poverty but neither were we rich. We took one long road trip per year from Louisiana to Georgia. It was boring. As a married adult, we do one long trip per year from Georgia to Wisconsin. It is boring. No, I don't get any enjoyment from watching nature. A bug is a bug. An antelope is an antelope. Baby animals are cute but I'm not awed by them walking or suckling. I'm happy you enjoy your trips but I'll continue to entertain myself besides looking out the window. My point was not everyone wants to look out the window and imagine. And I hope I'm not looked down upon because I don't. That's just silly.

Oh my. Oh no no no no no.  I was terribly imprecise or wrote poorly. I did not mean for you to feel put out or looked down upon. I understand that we are different in this matter. I was simply trying to express that I believe there is so much out there to see and experience. I enjoy your online friendship and seeing your smiling avatar and am grieved that I hurt your feelings. I apologize profusely.

[theelfqueen]

When we are doing a long trip or something ... our kids know that if we enter a national park all devices are turned off... if I say "pause devices" because were driving through something great - they do it. But they also get the devices for the long stretches. I grew up driving back and forth from Denver to Kansas City several times a year. I read on those trips (can't do that any more reading in the car makes me sick now) ... and played car bingo and dumb games with my brother and listened to cassettes on my walkman to avoid listening to my mother's endless Crystal Gayle and Barbra Streisand lol ... and I stared out the window and I wished I could watch tv. And i was able yo unbuckle and lay down on top od our stuff in the way back or whatever. My younger brother got a gameboy when I was in high school - I would.steal it to play Tetris. ... there is joy in road trips but there's definitely a lot of .. sitting still and close together in an enclosed space. Being able to tune each other out a bit can definitely be a blessing!

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[DawnM]

So you enjoy it and I don't. It's just a difference of opinion. No, I was not raised in poverty but neither were we rich. We took one long road trip per year from Louisiana to Georgia. It was boring. As a married adult, we do one long trip per year from Georgia to Wisconsin. It is boring. No, I don't get any enjoyment from watching nature. A bug is a bug. An antelope is an antelope. Baby animals are cute but I'm not awed by them walking or suckling. I'm happy you enjoy your trips but I'll continue to entertain myself besides looking out the window. My point was not everyone wants to look out the window and imagine. And I hope I'm not looked down upon because I don't. That's just silly.

 

That is me too.  I need something.  For me, I can't watch a screen as I get carsick, but I will at least listen to an audiobook.  I have several.

 

My kids say they don't want to watch a movie, they will play games on their devices or phones.