Here’s what it’s really like travelling with 3 kids in a car for 6 hours…

Let’s be honest here, there’s no such thing as taking a vacation with small kids, it’s more like taking an excursion trip to a destination that requires more time than needed for travelling, includes poop explosions, sibling wars and … you know I can go on.

My husband and I decided to take a little break from work and travel with the kids down to the coast in our new Volvo XC60. My kids love adventures, so they were excited about this one and I was excited to take a comfortable drive to my hometown in one of the safest cars in the world. The XC60 has some amazing features like the semi-autonomous help which was a huge benefit for us during this long crazy trip!

The semi-autonomous drive (Pilot assist) technology keeps a set speed and distance to the vehicle in front of you (we were driving convoy with family) and uses steering inputs to keep you in the centre of your lane. Pilot Assist works at speeds up to 130km/h, helping to reduce the effort required when driving on busy highways like the one to Durban. Find out more here.

As a mom of 3, you would think that I would know what to expect on a long road trip with kids but no, I didn’t. It was my first time travelling with 3 kids on a road trip. 3 kids with different personalities and attention spans.

Halfway through the trip, I wanted to plug on my earphones and pull out all my hair because I didn’t know how to entertain my toddler anymore! Having a bottle of wine during this trip would’ve helped a lot. Just kidding… 😉 or am I?

Luckily, the Volvo XC60 has loads of space so I managed to carry little toys and half of the house to keep the kids occupied but that only helped for at least 2 hours and after that…they were bored!

The “are we there yet” question was asked every half an hour by my 6-year-old while my 3-year-old and 1-year-old screamed to get out of the car immediately.

With kids, whether you like it or not, you have to stop like every 2 hours or so for them to breathe, get their energy out, go to the potty and eat because they are always hungry…

And even though I always say, I won’t let the kids eat in the car, sometimes I have no choice. I just have to deal with having a dirty car because that is what happens when you’re a parent. Having a clean car is like a dream come true.

I decided to turn on the music to drown out the craziness that was happening in the back seat (my 3-year-old decided to play with his saliva while my daughter asked the weirdest questions, like if I’m having another baby?!).

I somehow managed to refrain from screaming at the kids during what suppose to be the start of a vacation…

As soon as I thought they would fall asleep, so I could fall asleep, someone would need to poop or pooped already in the car! Every time we were ready to leave after a pit stop, we were then delayed again by a poop explosion by the tiniest member of the family. So, my road trip was all about poop which sometimes ended up stinking the car.