In my previous post, I was recounting our travels to my in-laws’ “winter palace” in Florida. The first two trips we took were with our oldest only, as our youngest was not yet arrived. When our little one was born, our family travel dynamic, er, multiplied.
At about seven months, our youngest made her first trip to Florida. We decided to take the Auto Train, Amtrak’s famous vacation locomotive that runs from just south of Washington, D.C., to just outside of Orlando, Florida. The gimmick about the Auto Train, for those living outside the States, is that you get to take your car with you to Florida. It’s an overnight trip, much like one you’d do if you drove it yourself from the Northeast United States, except of course, you do a lot less driving. Without the Auto Train, you drive it all the way as far as you can in a day, then stop at a hotel for the night, and start out again the next morning and end up in Florida before Sunset. It’s a lot for two small kids in a car. Especially if you don’t believe in driving an SUV with a DVD player in the back. With the Auto Train, you drive to Lorton, Virginia, then check your car in, then yourselves. The car is loaded up on big cargo cars, and you ride in a very comfortable passenger car all the way to Sanford, Florida. The train leaves in the afternoon, and you get served two meals, dinner and breakfast the next morning.
What’s great about the train is that the kids get to move about the train more freely, playing with other kids, having fun. Out oldest went around wearing a train engineer’s hat from one of her Build-A-Bears, saying, “tickets, please!” There was a movie in the lounge, but it was not really for those our size. Dinner was fun, though the little one was a bit rambunctious.
You sleep outstretched in the coach section seats, not the most comfortable, but not horrible, either. My wife had it a bit rougher, as the baby was still nursing often through the night. And I was sick, I think, so I was up a lot too. If you want, you can reserve a private sleeping car, but the prices our rather outrageous. We and our car arrived in Florida the next morning, after breakfast and lots of coffee for the adults, and had a great drive down to my in-laws’. It was a fun week of being on the beach, swimming in the pool, and if I remember correctly, my wife and I even went out on a date one night – to a nearby Barnes and Noble. What a thrill.
The return trip was a very fascinating one. There was a nasty snow and ice storm that socked the eastern seaboard, and while our drive to Sanford was uneventful, the weather predictions must have made passengers change their plans. On the way down, we observed that Amtrak tried to make sure that families were together, so that the kids would not disturb those traveling without children. When we arrived at Sanford, we saw a few families waiting to board, but when we found our seats, we soon discovered that we were the only ones in our car. It was cool, and a bit spooky. We had an entire Amtrak car to ourselves. This also meant that we had exclusive use of all five bathrooms below!
As cool as it was, by morning, our oldest clearly missed not seeing other children. And our trip was far from over. The storm kept the train stuck in the Carolinas overnight, and we moved very very slowly. Amtrak had to actually serve us lunch! We did not arrive in Lorton until early evening, and since it was the middle of a storm, we were given vouchers for hotel reimbursements if we could not travel any further. We went as far as we could, but the snow was blinding and we stayed at a hotel somewhere in Maryland. A long day and night! And our trip was still not done!
The next morning, on the highway, someone called out to us, that a tire of ours was going flat! We managed to find our way to a nearby mall, and had Sears replace the whole set – it was time, anyway. Finally, several hours later – a full day after our original ETA – we pulled up to our community driveway in back of our house, only to find us stuck on an ice patch as we tried to pull in! Was this trip EVER going to end????
Despite all this craziness, I do think it was a fun trip, and the girls had fun. Again, the key was planning, even for the unexpected. We had lots of books to read, and food to snack on, and gave them as much time as we could to roam about.
Suggestions for planning big trips:
Have the children take part in the planning. Tell them about the means of transportation you’re taking, how fun it will be, and ask them to pack a few things they might want to have for the trip. Don’t let em go nuts with taking stuff, but participation in the process makes it more fun for them.
If they are old enough, give them a calendar where they can mark the days off until the Big Trip.
My oldest just took a special travel journal for this last trip we took. She wrote in it every day and drew pictures, too. It was a great idea her teacher gave us!
If you have doubts about an item of clothing, leave it. You can always buy or launder if necessary. Just don’t skimp on the underwear. Always have one extra handy.
Small food items in Ziploc bags. ‘Nuff said.
Fruit travels well, if you’re careful. Bananas are most vulnerable, but they are good to help, um, keep things together for long travels away from a bathroom.
Books, books, books. Coloring books, picture books, sound books, books on tape or CD. Whatever the format, books are really a parent’s best friend.
Before you get mad, remember: they’re young. They get tired, and so take a deep breath. You’ll be vacationing with them for a long time.