Tag: TRAVEL TIPS

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How to Keep Your Kids Entertained for Hours!: Our Road Trip Essentials

Our kids have become road trip experts at 7, 7, and 10 years of age.  They’ve been going on long car trips for as long as they can remember.  Our standard road trips are about 7 hours long, but they’ve spent as much as 12 hours in the car. 

Since they were about 4, they have been responsible for packing their own “Adventure Bags”.  Adventure bags are backpacks full of things to keep them occupied while they’re being chauffeured around the country.  Here are our kids favorite things to pack for a road trip.

Smiley's Travel Essentials

Now that our daughter Smiley is 11, her adventure bag looks a little different than it did when she was younger.  Before she was all about drawing and coloring while we were in the car, now she’s more into playing games.

Here are our daughter’s road trip essentials:

Nintendo Switch
Road Trip Trivia
Guess in 10
Car Backseat Organizer
Origami Puzzle Game
On the Go Games
Travel Pillow
Smartest in the Car
Kanoodle

 

The Boys Travel Essentials

The twins are now 7 and are at the age where they are obsessed with video games, but they can also still entertain themselves with things like Wikki Stix, magnetic tiles, and cars.

Here are our boys road trip essentials:

Nintendo Switch
Doodle Tablets
Wikki Stix
Car Bingo
Mini Magnetic Tiles
Magnetic Men

Our Road Trip Playlist

It wouldn’t be a proper road trip without a bangin’ playlist. Head on over to Spotify to listen to our Road Trip Playlist. The playlist is full of some of our favorite jams and road trip classics.

You’ll hear everything from Jellyroll and Fall Out Boy to Taylor Swift and Queen.  There’s a little something for everybody. 

When we go on trips, we sprinkle in songs that mention the places on our itinerary.  

Road Trip Planning

Want to plan a killer road trip but you’re not quite sure where to start?  We’ve mapped out our tried and true way of planning a road trip the whole family will enjoy!

In this post, we outline:

  • How to pick a destination
  • Our research tips
  • Budgeting
  • Lodging tips
  • Our road trip essentials

Save a Pin & Start Planning Your Adventure

Be sure to give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Instagram and Twitter for more travel tips and tricks. See you next time!

*5 Suitcases is an Amazon affiliate.  If you purchase something from our website, we earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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Blue Lagoon Europe Hofsos Pool Iceland

Visiting a Pool or Lagoon in Iceland for Newbies

Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Icelanders take their lagoons and pools very seriously. Relaxing in geothermal water is a long standing tradition for the locals.  Over the years, a handful of rules, both written and unwritten, have developed.  Before you visit, here are 4 Things to Know Before Visiting a  Pool or Lagoon in Iceland.

Blue Lagoon, Iceland

1. Showering Etiquette for a Pool or Lagoon in Iceland

Since relaxing in the lagoons or pools is such a sacred tradition for Icelanders, it is important that you follow their customs.  For instance, everyone is expected to shower prior to getting in the water.  It is expected that you shower naked and use soap to wash your face, underarms, private area, and feet.  

Once you have fully cleaned your body, put on your bathing suit and enjoy the warm water!

Okay, but do I really need to shower naked?

In short, yes.  Unlike other spas or pools where you typically shower with your swimsuit on, in Iceland you are expected to shower naked and then put your bathing suit on.  In fact, this is required by the Environment Agency of Iceland…aka, it’s the law!

Sure, it may sound uncomfortable, but literally everyone else will be naked.  It’s honestly not a big deal.  No one will be staring at you.

Are there private showers available?

If you’re visiting one of the more popular lagoons, geared towards tourists, you’ll most likely find a few private showers.  The Blue Lagoon, for instance, has several private showers…however, only a couple of private dressing rooms.  Nearly everyone changes in front of one another.

The local pools do not offer private showers.  There are designated areas where you’ll undress, store your belongings, shower, and dry off.  The areas are all clearly marked with signs in both Icelandic and English.

Hofsós Swimming Pool

2. Bathing Suit Requirements for a Pool or Lagoon in Iceland

Most pools and lagoons require bathing suits to be worn.  They do not permit shorts, sports bras, leggings, etc. to be worn instead of bathing suits.

What if I don't have a bathing suit or towel?

Sometimes space can be extremely limited in a suitcase, trust me, I get it.  If you do not have space for a bathing suit and towel in your suitcase, all pools have bathing suits and towels available for rent or purchase.  

Some lagoons even include the use of a towel or bathrobe in your entrance fee.  At the Blue Lagoon, for instance, our package included a towel and a bathrobe.

We did, however, pack quick dry microfiber towels, which came in handy at the local pools.  They didn’t take up a lot of space in our bag and were a great thing to have on hand!

One thing I noticed, at a local pool, is that Icelanders don’t take their towels with them to the pool.  Instead, they stash them on a shelf just before exiting for the pool area.  I didn’t realize this at first, and later saw that I was the only person with a towel by the pool.

Hofsós Swimming Pool

3. Do I need flip-flops of sandals?

The distance from the showers to the pool is typically pretty short and you can absolutely get away without wearing flip-flops or sandals.  In the interest of space in my suitcase, I chose not to pack any.  Like many other people, I walked barefoot from the showers to the pool or lagoon.

At the pools, the locals didn’t wear their shoes out.  At the lagoons, several tourists had their flip-flops, Crocs, or sandals with them.

Honestly, this is totally up to you.  Depending on the outside temperature, you may want them though as the walkways can be frozen or slippery.

4. How do I pay for drinks?

While at the Blue Lagoon, you'll use your wristband to charge purchases to your account.

If you’re visiting one of the lagoons geared towards the tourists, you’ll be provided with a bracelet that you can use to charge items to your account.  These bracelets are also color coded, which indicate what level package you purchased for your visit.  

The front desk will store your credit care information.  Simply tap your bracelet at the device at the bar and it will be added to your bill.

You’ll need to settle your bill, and scan your bracelet, before you are permitted to exit the facilities.

Save a Pin & Start Planning Your Adventure!

For future reference, save our post:  Visiting a Pool or Lagoon in Iceland for Newbies.  Pin one of the images below to Pinterest.  Go ahead and follow 5Suitcases on Pinterest while you’re at it!

While we were in the area, we also visited Pingvellir National Park, Gullfoss, and much more!  If you haven’t already, read all about our visit to The Blue Lagoon.

Be sure to give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Instagram and Twitter for more travel tips and tricks. See you next time!

**This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience** 

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Travel Tips

How to Pack a Car for Road Trips- Our Set Up for a Family of 5

Photo by Dominika Roseclay on Pexels.com

We often get asked questions about how we pack a car for road trips so we though we’d share with you our set up for our family of five.  Be sure to watch the video of how to pack a car for a road trip so you can see how it all comes together!  If you have something that you’ve discovered works well for your family, we’d love to hear about it so we can try it!  Drop a comment below to tell us your ingenious idea!

About Our Road Trips

Our road trips typically last anywhere from 2 to 8 hours.  Whether we’re packing for the Florida Springs, a theme park, or our annual trip to Jellystone, how we pack a car for road trips is pretty much same.  Our video (below) shows how we set up the car when we bring along our dogs, LB and Parker, as well.  

When we take family road trips, we typically take our Ford Explorer.  Every once in awhile, we’ll take our Jeep Gladiator.  On longer trips, we use our cargo trailer, which you’ll see in the video.

How We Pack a Car for Road Trips

When we purchased our car we made sure it had three things: third row seating, a hitch, and captain seats (to easily access the third row).  These three features are key components on how we pack a car for road trips.  Our twins are still in car seats, so they sit in the captains seats.  Our oldest kiddo has the back two seats all to herself (unless we are traveling with the dogs).  The captain seats also helps to ensure all of the kids have their own space so there’s less arguing.  

In front of each of their seats, the kids have a hook to hang up their backpack.  This backpack is full of things to keep them occupied during the car ride (see our list of ideas in the “Great Ways to Keep Your Kids Entertained” section below).  They also have access to a snack box that lasts them for both legs of the trip.

The hitch comes in handy so that we can use a cargo trailer to store our larger items.  This helps create more room in the vehicle when we’re traveling with our pups.  In the video, you’ll see we used a suitcase to store all of our belongings  on this particular trip…but that isn’t always the case.  We often leave the suitcases at home and pack into storage containers with lids, instead.  We’ve found that these fit better on our cargo trailer.  Each family member has a different color packing cube set.  We fill our cubes for our outfits for the trip and toss them into the tote.  It couldn’t be any easier!

Our Road Trip Essentials

You’ll find items like these every time we pack a car for road trips.  They help keep our  items tidy, organized, and most importantly- accessible.  Some things that we have found that work for us include lap desks, hooks, storage totes, tablet holders, and snack boxes.

Great Ways to Keep Your Kids Entertained!

The key to a successful family road trip is keeping the kids entertained on the ride!  When we travel, each of our kids has a backpack full of things to keep them busy while we travel.  Believe it or not, we’ve actually managed to do a few 8 hour car rides without ever turning a tablet on!  Here are some of the things you might find in their bags:

It wouldn’t be a proper road trip without a bangin’ playlist. Head on over to Spotify to listen to our Road Trip Playlist. The playlist is full of some of our favorite jams and road trip classics.

You’ll hear everything from Jellyroll and Fall Out Boy to Taylor Swift and Queen.  There’s a little something for everybody. 

When we go on trips, we sprinkle in songs that mention the places on our itinerary.  

Road Trip Planning

Want to plan a killer road trip but you’re not quite sure where to start?  We’ve mapped out our tried and true way of planning a road trip the whole family will enjoy!

In this post, we outline:

  • How to pick a destination
  • Our research tips
  • Budgeting
  • Lodging tips
  • Our road trip essentials

Save a Pin for Your Future Adventures!

Be sure to give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Instagram and Twitter for more travel tips and tricks. See you next time!

 

**Please note that this post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. All opinions are my own. Pinkie swear**

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