Feature article

How to stay sane on a family road trip

Keeping your marbles intact and family happy on a family road trip can be tricky. Here's our top tips.

1) Play together to stay together

Car cricket – each person in the car takes a turn being the ‘batter’ and makes runs by counting the cars you pass going in the opposite direction. When the flow is broken by anything other than a car (a truck, bus, motorbike, campervan etc), the batter is out and the next player steps up. The person with the most runs at the end of the game wins. You can make it even more fun by adding 4s and 6s for different, unusual vehicle types spotted. Howzat?!
Number plate initials – simply take the letters from the first number plate you see and make up a phrase from it. For example, MEC848 becomes ‘Mum’s endless chatter’ or suchlike. As everyone takes a turn and tries to outdo each other, the suggestions will become more and more ridiculous and amusing!
I spy – an absolute road trip classic, in which one person chooses something they can see and declares to their fellow travellers, "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with...A (or whatever letter of the alphabet the item starts with)". Everyone else has to try and guess what the object is – whoever gets it right, takes the next turn.
Hey cow! – a slightly less well known game, but perfect for playing whilst journeying across rural NZ, this game sees players take turns to call out "hey cow!" whilst passing herds of cows – then counting how many of the lovely livestock raise their heads and look at the car in response. The highest number wins.
Car colour game – arguably the most simple of the lot, this game requires each player to pick a particular colour and then keep track of the number of cars they see in that colour. The player with the highest number wins. It’s a good idea to ban certain colours from use or the game can be over before it has even started! For example, nobody can pick silver.