I have always been enthusiastic about travel: domestic, international, a fun road trip, you name it. As long as it's not on a boat (did I mentioned that I saw Titanic in theaters over 20 times? Y'all aren't getting me on a boat), I am here for it. This year, I had at least four trips planned with my kid between March and October, and we managed to complete exactly one of those before the virus brought our freewheeling lifestyle to a halt.
Like a lot of people, I've felt the itch to get out of my house and go somewhere besides the grocery store. But like a lot of people, I am scared of catching the virus and am fully unwilling to put my son in a situation where he could get sick. So we've been spending a lot of time at home, occasionally seeing friends from a distance and having a lot of video chats instead.
In late July, I felt particularly itchy to get out. A friend took a beach trip and reported that it was totally possible to be safe while doing so, which surprised me. After pressing him for more details, I started to hatch a plan: what if I could take my kid on a road trip, meet up with another friend and her kids, and … everything could work out OK?
Before diving in, it's worth mentioning two things: I am a pretty anxious person, and I am a relentless planner.
The Plan: A Road Trip With Kids During a Global Health Crisis
The friend I traveled with is one of my favorite people on the planet. My son and her oldest daughter were born exactly a week apart, and we have known each other since we were both pregnant in 2008. I'm mentioning this because I want to point out that she is the kind of friend who I can grill about her activity out of her home and vice-versa.
When we were in the early stages of planning this thing, we both started reviewing our activity in the two weeks before we planned to meet up. We chose a city between us, found an Airbnb through a third friend, and talked about masks and handwashing and how we would both get there. Happily, the city was only four hours from where I live, which meant I could get there on one tank of gas (stopping for gas currently feels like The Most Dangerous Thing That I Do, quickly followed by going to the grocery store for only 6-10 items).
I actually ended up getting tested for the virus before our trip, as I had helped another friend move and was a little anxious about possible exposure. I didn't actually encounter anyone that I knew had the virus, nor did I hear from my friend that anyone else who helped her move had it, but I told y'all: I'm anxious! I like to plan things! If only I could somehow schedule in my anxiety instead of it just popping up out of nowhere the whole time.
Tips for Road Tripping With Your Kids During a Health Crisis
I have an open, honest, chatty relationship with my son. He's an only child, we are very close, and he knows that I don't like to hide things from him and he regularly exploits this trait. That's fine. But I knew that if I told him we were going on a road trip and actually hanging out with other people, he would be confused: Hadn't we just spent the last few months confined to our home and yard? What made now an OK time to try this?
So I explained to him the precautions we were taking, how risky I felt like the trip was, and then asked what he wanted to do. He was pretty hesitant at first, so I let the idea just sit there, and told him that if he didn't want to go, that was fine: we wouldn't go. The next day, he said that he wanted to go.
I don't actually think kids can make informed decisions about what is and isn't safe to do right now. But I do think it's important for kids to have a voice, and if he had been totally freaked out, I would have called the whole thing off.
Now that he was on board, I looped back up with my friend and we started planning in earnest.
The road trip itself was easy. As I said, we were able to drive up on one tank of gas. We left after lunch and I knew we would arrive before dinner, lowering the odds that we would stop somewhere for a meal. I got gas ahead of time on my own, came home, packed up our stuff, snacks, and water, and we set out.
We did end up stopping to grab a coffee on the way, but that was 100% because the CD player in my car doesn't work, there is no Bluetooth anything, and I knew I'd hit a loopy point and would need the fuel to continue serenading my child with whatever the radio was playing. I wore a mask while paying, sanitized our hands excessively, and it was fine.
Once we got to the Airbnb, my friend and I set about splitting up tasks and deciding who would go do what. We planned to eat most of our meals there, and my friend volunteered to go to the grocery store while her youngest daughter gave me tips for Animal Crossing (tips that I have yet to actually implement, because, to my great sadness, I can't seem to stay interested in the game). We ordered pizza that night, the kids ran around talking to each other as if they hadn't had a ton of social interaction in months (go figure), and it was so nice to sit with another adult who I love, to physically exist with in the same space.
Unlike a lot of trips we've been on previously, we didn't plan any big activities for this trip for obvious reasons. Our only plan was to swim at a private pool, in a situation where we all felt safe, health-wise, and so we did that. Besides swimming, the biggest and most exciting thing we did on the trip was to surprise the kids with Blizzards while playing Lizzo loudly. As the kids say, we were living!
Other activities included letting our kids watch copious amounts of Nickelodeon (we don't have cable so my son was genuinely having the best experience of his life) and huddling together on our bed watching (and dissecting) Hamilton on Disney+. It was truly such a fun trip, even if it looked totally different from every other trip I've ever taken with my kid.
My son and I headed back home after a few days, and the ride home was largely uneventful (except for my aforementioned car concert, which is a staple in our road trips and cannot be avoided or contained). I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to plan and execute the trip with only a few adjustments. In short: there are safe ways to have tiny adventures right now if you're willing to think outside the box.
