How To Survive a Two Week Road Trip With Kids (In Scotland)

I was born in Scotland and I’ve lived here most of my life. In that time I’ve been lucky enough to inhabit both the wilds and the cities of this incredible country.
Now, Scotland’s weather is notoriously…shit. Changeable to say the least. Us Scots tend to escape to warmer climes during the vague Scottish summers and often we neglect what’s on our very own doorstep. That’s certainly been the case for me.
I’m a photographer and when I booked a wedding on the Isle of Harris, my husband and I decided to plan an entire trip around it. We got excited about some really old rocks and trees we were going to see and then got really scared at the prospect of driving so far with an 11 year old, and a 2 year old who gets car sick.
I know a lot of people dread going on long car journeys with kids, (any long trip really) and they avoid it. I look at people who travel the world with their toddlers as gods and goddesses of parenting and patience.
When I plan a trip I go deep. When you plan a trip with kids, you can’t go deep enough. Travelling with kids is definitely something you should prepare for whether you’re flying, driving or just walking to the store. It’s all a mission.
In the end, we travelled as a family for just over two weeks and drove just about 2000 miles.
Here are some of our top tips for making it bearable and entirely spew free.
Thanks to those who shared their tips with us!
1. Re travel sickness.
- Line your car seat with a towel and take spares. We cut holes out of an old towel and threaded the straps from the car seat through it. Anyone who has scraped vomit out of a car seat’s many crevices roadside will understand how helpful this is.
- There isn’t really any medication for travel sickness in kids under 3 (In the U.K.) but we heard Piriton (Chlorphenamine) can work for some kids. No definitive evidence but our 2 year old wasn’t sick once on this trip and we dosed her with baby Piriton for the longer stretches of driving.
- Don’t let your kid eat within 30 minutes of getting into the car. We found that apples were OK as an in car snack but they were used cautiously and when the complaining became too much to bear.
- Do not give into the urge for books/phones/iPads/colouring/toys. Your kid must not look down, they will vomit everywhere.
By carefully managing all of these elements we drove 2000 miles, and on some really winding, hilly roads, without one incident of travel sickness. Prior to this trip our daughter was sick on nearly every journey longer than 30 minutes.
2. Put up with some high-pitched bored whining to start and the mind-melting complaining will lessen over time. We’re not fans of ipads/phones etc for the kids (travel sickness reasons included) as we find extended viewing turns them into monsters. Our eldest daughter occasionally played some games on her iPod but in general they stared out of the windows or chatted to each other or us. By the end of the trip they were both entirely more pleasant to travel with and even started enjoying the views of ‘a load of old boulders’.
3. Some entertainment ideas.
- Podcasts and music came in handy. There are so many amazing podcasts for kids and adults and they are all free. The Podcaster app is great, you can download to your phone what you want to listen to in advance so as to avoid not being able to access them in remote areas. Our eldest probably got the most out of this and my husband was just sad our holiday wasn’t sitting in a darkened room listening to podcasts for the entirety.
- Paying for a subscription to Spotify for a month so you can download playlists is a great investment. There is nothing worse than being unable to satiate a toddler’s desire for the Moana soundtrack out of 3G range. 90% of our trip was out of mobile signal range so having music we all loved on hand made it so much more bearable.
- I was taking my laptop anyway so having a few kid’s films on hand was great for when we wanted a bit of time to ourselves in the evenings.
- A friend suggested ‘Reggae Randy’ (he’s on Spotify) and it was a huge hit with our toddler and honestly, it’s bloody fantastic listening for adults too.
- Someone also suggested Mad Libs for our eldest and they were great as was a wee digital camera for her to use. You can turn the photos into a project.
4. Pack using packing cubes. I bought packing cubes in a trip planning frenzy where I was not thinking entirely rationally but wanted to cover every single base. They turned out to be one of the best things we had. I allocated us each one ‘cube’ and we packed our clothes into it. They help to constrain both your mind and the physical space you take up with your stuff. We used them as our sole method of packing. It was easier to get them into the boot of the car than a case would have been, you can sort of work them around other objects as they are small and soft. Also, when you arrive at your destination you each take your clothes to your room and it easily packs away instead of there being a massive suitcase to lug around. Highly recommend packing cubes, they made the whole process of packing and unpacking and packing again much more pleasant.
5. Allocate time for breaks and try not to have too many driving deadlines. I planned so we had only one day where we had a long drive to make a travel connection, but we chose the later boat and spent the day stopping whenever we felt like it and it was entirely less stressful than having to be stuck in the car to get somewhere on time. There were points when a break for leg stretching or for food literally saved our marriage. Sandwiches save lives.
6. Look into all accommodation options. Airbnb actually worked out best for us. It was easy and relatively cheap. We just turned up tired and could immediately relax instead of faffing with a tent or looking for a place to park a camper van etc. It also meant we didn’t have to eat out and we saved a lot of money by cooking meals ‘at home’. Actually, the only option that would have been cheaper is camping and I honestly think two weeks of that combined with the kids and the driving would have been hellish. Scotland isn’t cheap in general though and the trip was financially the equivalent of spending the same time in Mexico. It was however, entirely worth it.
7. Prepare for the weather. As the saying goes, ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothes’. I bought waterproofs for the whole family and it was a fantastic investment. You just can’t plan in advance around the weather in Scotland so be prepared for any eventuality (Top tip — It’s probably raining). It’s either that or miss out. We went to visit the stunning Luskentyre Bay on a day that turned out to be really wet and windy. We got waterproofed up and had an amazing walk along a deserted beach, then back in into the car happy, dry and warm. The whole experience was a highlight of the trip actually.
8. Midges are as bad as you’ve heard. Especially in the summer. Especially in the Highlands and Islands. I have a pretty bad allergy to midges and nothing really works re preventing them from biting me. I did find that red Tiger Balm stopped them itching and swelling and seemed to help with healing time, if I applied it soon after I was bitten. This is a pretty huge breakthrough for me as normally I suffer very badly from pain, swelling and even infection, plus they usually take weeks to go away as opposed to a few days with the Tiger Balm.
9. Be safe not sorry. I packed a first aid kit and was surprised at how many times it came in handy! You need all the essentials plus extra things like a tick remover, tweezers, basic pain medication and allergy medication. Also, check for ticks daily if you have been out walking and read about how to safely remove them.
10. Here are some weirdly specific but great tips direct from my husband.
Plan grocery shopping in advance.
Shops close relatively early in rural and remote areas and we found ourselves in the position of being around 60 miles from the nearest supermarket quite a few times. Also, unless you like sausages and a strangely large selection of gluten free goods for every meal, often shops in villages won’t be great for cooking for a family.
Pack herbs and spices you like and use regularly.
We basically use smoked paprika, cloves, cumin, coriander, turmeric and curry powder on rotation for everything from Mexican to Middle Eastern to Italian. We didn’t pack herbs and spices and kept having to go buy a new one as we thought of meals we were going to make.
Ask what to do with recycling. And do recycling.
Often in more remote areas recycling points are in towns only or they have special protocol for specialist stuff like glass. Make sure you recycle as much as you can, it’s important. Not recycling is pretty awful, visiting remote and pristine places and not recycling is slightly more pretty awful.
Travelling extensively as a family in our home country was an amazing experience. The trip was a once in a lifetime experience and our kids, who are both very much ‘city kids’ have, at least the beginnings of, serious outdoor chops. Also, they literally learned how to enjoy the journey and not just the destination.
If I could give you one more tip for travelling with kids, it’s this…
Every day raise your kids like one day you’re going to have to take a two week road trip with them.
