Family Road Trips: Then and Now

My family recently took a road trip to New Hampshire. It was a relatively short drive, just about four hours, but as the seven of us (my parents came too) piled into our minivan, I began to reminisce about the family road trips we took when I was a little girl. Some things have changed drastically, but other things have remained the same.

Family Road Trips: Then and Now

Here are the ones I thought of. What would you add to the list?

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Then: Pack as much into the station wagon as possible (mostly in that area between the back seat and the way back seat), but tie most of the luggage to the roof of the car with several ropes and some good Boy Scout knots.

Now: Pack as much in the back of the minivan as possible and put whatever won’t fit into the Thule on the roof.

Then: Drive half a mile down the road before realizing you forgot something. Turn around.

Now: Drive half a mile down the road before realizing you forgot something. Turn around.

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Then: Order a TripTik from AAA weeks in advance. (Remember those?! We’d know if we were almost there by how many pages there were left to flip through.)

Now: Ask Siri how to get there. (My kids stared at my phone for a good 15 minutes watching the little arrow move. They were captivated.)

Then: After half an hour, the kids begin to ask, “Are we there yet?”

Now: After half an hour, the kids begin to ask, “Are we there yet?”

Then: When traveling with another car, bring walkies-talkies to communicate with each other. Get a big thrill out of picking up a nearby trucker’s frequency.

Now: Your phone battery dies an hour into the trip and you don’t know how you’ll survive the rest of the drive.

Then: The youngest kid is relegated to the way back seat, which faces backwards. It’s at once cool (“Look! I’m facing backwards!”) and awkward (“So these people behind us keep staring at me and I keep staring at them and it’s getting a little weiiird.”)

Now: Everyone faces forward, but time spent looking out the window is minimal since there are handy dandy DVD screens to stare at.

Then: Parents come up with fun travel games to pass the time: bingo, guess the picture, I’m going on a picnic, etc.

Now: Parents come up with fun travel games to pass the time: bingo, guess the picture, I’m going on a picnic, etc.

Then: When the kids get tired, they unbuckle their seat belts and lay down on the floor for a nap.

Now: When the kids get tired, their heads flop over as the rest of their bodies remain tightly pressed against the seat thanks to their five point harness.

Then: The kids start fighting and Dad yells, “Don’t make me pull this car over!”

Now: The kids start fighting and Dad yells, “Don’t make me pull this car over!”

Leave your Then and Now thoughts in the comments!