Family Road Trip to Rostock

First a confession: it doesn't feel great that we drove for this family vacation as Germany is (hopefully) gearing up for a Russian oil embargo. When we booked in July, we planned on doing our train/bike plan until we learned that both electric bikes and trailers are not allowed on trains on our October trip. I looked into renting an electric car through the VW electric carshare service, Weshare, but unfortunately part of the agreement is one needs to use special charging stations (instead of the one that is in the parking lot of our hotel). I weighed the pros and cons of hanging out in a random parking lot for two hours with small children before deciding to go the carshare route.

You can skip just the cute photo of Carmen if you don't live in Berlin.

My plan was to use the car sharing company, Sharenow. It seemed like the cheapest option and I wouldn't have to go to a formal counter. The app shows the car locations which are usually within walking distance. This is where things went wrong. After all my research, I didn't make sure my account was all ready to go. For some reason I couldn't log into the app. If I can get into my share now account, I likely will use it in the future for a big trip because they have a book to your door option.  

My plan C was using Sixtshare which ended up being too expensive. Thus, after all my research, and getting the kids ready, I was off to the central train station to sign a traditional rental car contract. I even got suckered into an upgrade to an Audi. After having the kids wait with Paul for an extra hour while I got this sorted, I figured my traditional space optimism would not be a crowd pleaser. We gave the littles a Ninjago Magazine Pack:

20 minutes later:

One hour later:

We then started listening to Prince Caspian by CS Lewis. One credit, five euros on Audible, for the whole seven book was a steal.

In summary, even the best planners have the occasional big fails. And that's what this blog post is about, the best planners. My packing strategy was more of an art than a science. AKA I didn't have a good packing list. I'll spare everyone putting a spreadsheet in this blog, but ping me if you would like to see it. This blog, I will share a tricks of the road trip trade I've discovered through our epic Kur adventure and our big Bulgarian trip. Sadly, the latter trip has no associated blog documentation.

This blog post will highlight 10 essential items for road tripping with small children, as we are two days into this gloriousness:

Another caveat: this list is unfortunately not all ethical companies. If someone out there has found the equivalent products made in the USA or other countries with labor laws, please do let me know.

1. Hydroflask - Kids - 12 oz wide mouth for the kids.  Adults - 20 oz for water, 12 oz coffee for coffee/tea

The pros:

- Straws = less backwash
- Metal = keeps cool, and less plastic touching your water. I recycled all of our plastic water bottles after reading the book Boys Adrift.
- We've tried imitation, they just aren't as good

- Rubber bottoms = not as loud

The cons:

- made in China
- should only be used for water, putting anything else in them will get funky fast
- for amateur drinkers, you need to make sure the straw is all the way straight to not get bubbles

2. Metal straws

My bleeding heart is all for avoiding plastic straws, but paper straws + toddlers = cute photo opps

I mean, a papery unusable pulp in 15 minutes.

3. Mesh park bag

Paul, the real travel pro of the family, had the brilliant idea to get a bag that lets the sand through. The combination of size and pockets is a win. We got something like this, which sadly I can't imagine is ethically made.

4. Fancy travel stroller

It seems silly to have have both an everyday stroller and a packable stroller. But, it's a must. My friend, Caitlin, brought this one to Berlin and we were so jealous. Ours does not handle the cobble stones as well, as poor Carmen who got thrown from it yesterday, will tell you.

5. My carry potty and Potette

Our cute bungalow has two bathrooms. Winning! We just brought our trusty Carry Potty, but I wish we would have brought a foldable one to leave at home for the big toilet. Some hotels include the extra seat, but unfortunately this one doesn't. 

6. Medicine Bag

Ok, this seems obvious, but it is specifically important in Germany where everything is closed on Sundays. Your kid will get a fever on a Sunday. You have to bring all the things. Also, don't get me started on how IB profin for adults only comes in blister packs.

7. Emergency Meal

Even resort restaurants will have a "Ruhetag" or day they are not open. I knew the main restaurant would be closed on Monday, so I grabbed a jar of bolognase out of our freezer and a bag of pasta for our first night. It turns out this other gem, the blue buoy, was open, however:

But, I forgot the next day, Tuesday, it was closed. Since we'd promised the kids ice cream, we ended up on a pleasant trek through the dunes and back through the forest.

We didn't find ice cream at our Brazilian Oasis, but they did have Caparinhas:

8. Techni Ice Packs

After all sorts of successful adventures in traveling with dry ice with my breast milk in the US, I was shocked to have so many troubles in Europe. Chalk it up to better maternity leave not requiring every nursing woman to travel with a pump and thus a ton of milk? Anywho, I finally found these ice packs that are just as good, and don't require extra trips to pick them up. Also, they are great for cooler bags.

9. Biarritz Sunscreen

This is the best non chemical sunscreen that won't make you look like casper. This tinted version is great for everyday, especially if you have a beard or stubble which usually isn't great for the zinc based version. It's expensive, but organic, made in France, good stuff is worth it.

10. Cream based make-up

Powder eye shadow and blush just end up breaking and getting everywhere. Also, the littles love using brushes and/or putting them in their mouths. I'm sure people who know about beauty stuff have been using this for years, but if I can't put it on with my fingers (ie no additional brushes), it's not travel friendly. 

Those last two items are a good segue into a future post - air travel without small children AKA luxury travel.