HOW TO SURVIVE A ROAD TRIP WITH KIDS
BY MARCIA LEONE
Sydney to Byron, not for the faint hearted- particularly with a child in the back, but there are a few common-sense tips to ensure the long ride is as smooth and painless as possible.
- Time the long stints with your child's nap time. Even if they have grown out of day sleeps, the motion of the car will make most kids sleep- if they've been up long enough.
- Stop for lunch where they can run and use up energy.
- I-pad- yep! I said it. Absolute life saver! Download some new shows/games before you leave.
- If you have time, break up the trip with an extra stop over. We did 5 hours stopped at Port Macquarie for the night and five hours the following day.
- Create a music playlist with everyone's favourite songs. Archie is currently into Drake and Kanye so we sang all the way up. Our Mazda featured MZD Connect, our innovative in-car connectivity system so we played music through our phones. This came very handy when driving in and out of radio reception.
- Make sure you have a comfortable ride! The MAZDA CX-5 had the perfect amount of space for our family of three and all our gear in the back. The seats are super comfortable, the driving was easy. Hubby was very impressed with the responsiveness, cruise control, safety technology and fuel economy. We only had to fill up once in 800kms! We trialled the MAZDA CX-9 earlier this year, with this size being perfect for larger families.
