Heading out on a family vacation is a big deal. And when you travel by car, driving potentially long distances to get to your destination, keeping safe and attentive has got to be one of your top priorities. And depending on how old your kids are, and how many of them are jumping around in the back seat yelling that they’re bored – that’s another set of factors as well.

So, what are some family travel tips that you can use to stay safe and sane during your next vacation journey? Consider brushing up on roadside safety, having power and chargers ready for keeping kids occupied, having travel games ready, mapping out your GPS directions before you start driving, and keeping the right snacks on hand.

Know Your Roadside Safety

There are several aspects of roadside safety that need to be a part of your pre-vacation driving checklist. You need to check your fluid levels, first and foremost. That means oil, engine coolant, windshield washer, and transmission fluid levels. Vehicle trouble because have haven’t paid attention to those easy to discover issues can easily ruin an entire trip – and it would have been entirely preventable!

Get Your Chargers Ready for the Kids

These days, you can keep kids occupied for almost the entirety of any trip by using a combination of devices to keep them settled. But, nothing is going to be worse than your children burning through phone and tablet power supplies, then having nothing to do. So, before you go, stock up on batteries that will get you all the way to where you’re going without recharging, or have car power adapters that will work with the devices on the go.

Have Travel Games Ready

And when the family gets tired of the devices, knowing a few car games will keep the natives from getting too restless as well. There are the classic license plate games, and there are a ton of others for kids of various ages and attitudes as well to keep everyone occupied.

Map Out GPS Before You Leave

And you should always map out your entire journey before you even leave. You never know when and where connectivity or power issues will happen with GPS devices, so having a printout of directions before you even leave your driveway is a good failsafe to keep you on the right road.

Keep the Right Snacks at the Ready

And nothing is worse than hungry, cranky kids. So before you take off, make sure you have a cooler ready with a few non-sugary snacks that your children enjoy. The smart money’s on packing snacks that won’t make a mess either, so be careful about things like crumbly granola bars.