We have recently been invited to a wedding which we wouldn’t mind going to. However, it’s about 10 hours one way, with no stops, which is a heck of a long time for an adult to sit in the car, but what about a baby?
How far is to far?
We’re worried that Lily will be sick and tired of sitting in her car seat after about two hours, three tops. Then she’ll want to get out and play. You know, stretch her legs and crawl around. But there won’t be anywhere to crawl and a 10 minute stop at a fast food joint won’t make her happy.
Flying is a good option, except it costs more. Plus when we get to our destination we’ll need a rental car and we’ll still have to take our car seat and base. Plus there is all that baby luggage and a baby on an airplane for the first time. What if we’re that baby that won’t stop crying?!
So many questions, so many unknowns.
Any advice?
We have been flying home about once a month since Audrey was born and highly recommend it. Instead of a 6 hour drive, it’s a one hour flight. We’ve managed to find decent flight prices if we keep looking and she flies for free up to age 2, so you don’t have to pay for Lily.
As for being ‘THAT’ baby – we plan ahead – we try to get a flight during her naptime so she sleeps during the flight. Otherwise, we hold off giving her food until we get on the plane. We can usually keep her entertained enough in the terminal that she’s not fussy and then she’s too busy on the plane to cry.
We have done an 8 hour drive once, and she did pretty good – slept most of the way too. But that was when she was only about 3 months old and sleeping a lot more.
As I’m a night owl, I love doing the big trips at night. The kids (and my wife) is more apt to sleep in the car, and I can listen to what I want. Plus traffic isn’t a problem. We’ve driven this way to NY twice, and NC once in the last 2 years. Either stopping at a friends in Michigan to sleep, or sleeping in the car during the day. And we don’t use a DVD in the car for our kids. They just enjoy the view when they’re awake.
I’m thinking this driving at night is a good idea.