Packing for summer holiday travel

It's that time of year, summer holiday! This year our family of four are heading back to our favourite summer holiday spot - Greece! We will be visiting 3 islands and are traveling to Greece from Austria, by car...I know, we are crazy. We drove last year with a 1 and 3 year old and survived, so this year with a 2 and 4 year old, we should survive too...

I though I'd share some of the little bits and ideas that I have gathered to keep my girls occupied while we drive and then board a boat in Athens to take us to the islands. I have done similar "activity bags" for the girls when we've flown before. With half of the parental unit coming from South Africa, our girls have done the long haul flight between Europe and South Africa a number of times, and I see the road trip in the same way, a long period of traveling.

1. First, I like to buy my girls a few small toys for them to open when we travel. I never give these to them all at once, and sometimes I've even wrapped each of the gift so that its one more activity to occupy the girls while we travel.

2. Snacks. I know pre packaged food isn't as good as fresh, but I forgive myself for this when we travel. Traveling is logistically hard enough without giving yourself extra worries... I will take some water bottles and bottles of water with to fill up as we go.

3. Books. I found these two books at my local TK Maxx. A colouring/drawing book for my 2 year old and a number book for my 4 year old who is totally fascinated by numbers and number sequencing at the moment.

4. Wet wipes and tissues/kitchen towel. These come in handy for fleshing up and for cleaning up any messes. As we'll be in the car, I will pop in a kitchen roll. And those small packs of tissues are always handy for families.

5. Potty. My 2 year old is just out of nappies during the day. My 4 year old has been out of nappies for a while now, but when we go on road trips I always pack a potty. It has saved me many times when they ask to go in the middle of no where. For my two year olds car seat I bought disposable changing mats to protect the car seat from any accidents. And if we go through too many of those, I will change her into a pull-up nappy.

6. Blankets. I always pack the girls one of their blankets from home and their favourite soft toy, these will go on their beds when we arrive at the hotels so they have a small home comfort at bed time.

7. iPads. I understand it's controversial to travel with iPads for kids but I view it the same as the packaged food, we are traveling. I don't beat myself up about it. I downloaded an App called "Video Saver" and I downloaded Youtube videos that my girls love. And of course, don't forget the chargers!

8. Extra clothing. I will take about 3 extra sets of clothes for the girls. Also, hoodies, with it being summer, we shouldn't need them, but they are for just in case the weather cools.