Traveling with siblings is often both refining and memorable. I’m thankful that my brothers have put up with me for a handful of adventures and for the bond of shared stories. It’s great to be able to say one word that sends the other into fits of laughter, thanks to the story behind it. 🙂
01: Mix up seating arrangements.
If you have multiple siblings and you’re on a trip involving a form of transportation other than hiking, try rotating sitting next to a different sibling each day. We all have different styles of what occupies our time on the road (i.e. music, creative projects, logics, deep conversations, reading the Word, games, etc) and it keeps things upbeat to switch around.
02: Share snacks & such.
Be a rockstar and bring some snacks, gum (Z!), Kleenex, and band-aids to share/trade. Pretzel crisps and Clif bars (chocolate chip for him, cool mint for me) are two faves. Also: clementines, peanuts mixed with chocolate chips or M&Ms, homemade granola, rice krispies, peanut butter or cocoa oat energy clusters, beef sticks, etc. Remember to bring enough water bottles, too.
03: Recharge.
As much as possible, stay up-to-date on sleep and refresh yourself in the Word (even if that means sitting on a cold floor with wet hair & a flashlight!) to be rooted in truth if things get tense. If frustrations are simmering, try prayer journaling first instead of laying into them. Choose a phrase from a verse to remind yourself of during the day or even scribble it on your hand.
04: Make the most of the time together.
Road trips are fantastic for having deep conversations, praying together, swapping what you’ve been learning from the Word, and singing praise. There’s also a lot of opportunities to be able to share the gospel love of Christ to others through tracts and conversations. This one is one of my faves, but we often copy tracts with our own artwork + verses to make it more personal and be able to say “we made this for you!”
05: Consider who bunks with who.
If you’re split up at someone’s home, it may be wise to room with who is closely on the same page of sleep schedules and packing habits.
06: Limit the “shushing.”
Oh boy, one adventure I was dubbed the “shusher.” Try to talk about things in advance before it gets rowdy and choose to communicate instead of shush, shush, shush. Also: Though I try to limit the time that I have earbuds stuck in, sometimes they can be helpful if you need to work on a project while others are having a conversation.
07: Unplug as much as possible.
Delete apps, slide on airplane mode, enable email auto-reply, get off the grid. We can live without it and it’ll be super fun to read the messages later. Unless you are intentionally doing something like vlogging together, enjoy the trip to the full and choose to be present with people!
08: Be on time. Set alarms. Wear a watch.
Lay out your outfit ahead of time, set an alarm, if you do makeup: do it early, don’t be the sister that holds people up with getting ready. You look fine. 😉
09: Zone in on similarities.
The common ground my brothers & I share is that we LOVE hiking off-the-trail. Cliffs and caves galore. Zone in on the things you enjoy doing together.
Yet you can also mix up varied things you enjoy. I’m not the hugest fan of disc golf, but enjoyed hiking around with them and taking video footage. They aren’t huge fans of trying unusual local foods, but they’d let me run in and grab some local ingredients.
10: A handful of packing tips:
- Put a piece of plastic wrap in between the cap & bottle of your shampoo bottles to prevent spillage. If your plastic wrap doesn’t last till the end of the trip, use plastic from a bag or plastic wrapped cups.
- Fold or roll clothes to create more space. This doesn’t chop down on weight though, so be aware of allowances.
- A tiny pack of laundry soap sheets (like this one) can go a long way with hand washing stuff in the sink.
- You can roll things like socks, put them in ziplock bags, and squeeze out as much air as possible to keep your duffel organized.
11: What would you add to this list?
Where is a place you’d love to travel to with your brothers? What are your favorite on-the-go meals or snacks? Do you have a travel/packing tip?
The Outnumbered Sister. 