What Traveling With a One-Year-Old Actually Looks Like

Zach and I are no strangers to travel.

We've spent the last nine years on the road together. We've seen some remarkable places and had some of the most beautiful experiences of our lives. We've also traveled to places we'll probably never return to and had experiences we'd rather not repeat.

We've learned over the years that travel can be incredible and exhausting, beautiful and messy—all at the same time.

And then we added a baby to the mix.

Now that we're traveling with a one-year-old, people tend to assume that everything must be harder.

All. The. Time.

And sure, some things are. Traveling with Banks has given us some incredibly rewarding moments right alongside some really difficult ones. Our travel days are slower. There are more stops, more things to pack, more people (and dogs) to account for, and a whole lot more poop involved.

But harder?

Not necessarily.

If anything, traveling with Banks has changed the way we experience the journey altogether.

So what does traveling with a one-year-old actually look like for us?

How Long We Drive

Travel days used to mean driving from sunup to sundown. It was almost like a game of how far can we get? We could pack up, hit the road, and just keep going.

Then we started traveling with Banks.

The first big drive we attempted with Banks, the dogs, two trucks, and the camper, we had high hopes. We set out thinking a five-hour drive would be completely manageable.

Those five hours looked a lot more like eight by the end of the day.

Between rest stop pee breaks for us, lunch, diaper changes, letting Banks stretch his legs, and doggie poop breaks, five hours of actual driving was simply too much.

As much as I hate to admit it, traveling with Banks looks more like planning a three-hour drive that will inevitably turn into a five-hour travel day. And honestly, that seems to be our sweet spot.

It means we aren't rushing to pack everything up first thing in the morning, and when we finally pull into our next campground, we still have enough daylight left to get settled. Because after a full day of traveling with a toddler and two dogs, the last thing either of us wants to do is set up our entire home in the dark.

What Naps Look Like

I am very much a nap-on-the-go kind of mom. I always have been with Banks.

If it's nap time and we need to be somewhere, well... you can nap in the car, kid!

I think because of that, Banks has become a pretty adaptable little traveler. Some days he takes two one-hour naps. Other days, he takes one solid two-hour nap. And some days, 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there between stops is all there’s time for. I've never been someone who feels like we have to be home at exactly the right time just because a nap is approaching.

Travel days aren't much different.

He plays in his car seat. He naps in his car seat. And every hour or so, we stop for a little while to stretch our legs, change a diaper, eat something, and give everyone a break from being strapped into a seat.

Sometimes the nap schedule works out beautifully.

Sometimes it doesn't.

Either way, we just roll with it.

Where We Stop

Rest stops. Lots and lots of rest stops.

When you're pulling an almost 34-foot camper—and traveling with two vehicles—you can't exactly pull into any random gas station and hope for the best. We need somewhere we know we'll both fit comfortably, with enough room to get in and, more importantly, get back out.

Luckily, traveling around the East means there are usually plenty of rest stops along the interstates, and those are always our first choice.

When a rest stop isn't an option, we look for the biggest travel stop we can find. Google Maps has become one of my favorite tools for this because I can pull up the aerial view and actually look at the parking lot before we commit to pulling in.

Can we fit?

Is there RV or truck parking?

Can we easily get back onto the road?

Finding somewhere big enough for our camper, two vehicles, and everything we're carrying isn't always as simple as pulling into the nearest gas station.

We also use iOverlander pretty regularly when we're on the road. We've used it for years, and it's become one of our favorite RV travel apps, especially when we're traveling somewhere unfamiliar. We can quickly find everything from dump stations and propane fill-ups to laundromats, overnight stops, and even customs and immigration checkpoints.

These are things I never had to think too hard about before traveling with our home behind us. But now, we rely pretty heavily on tools like these.

Typically, we stop about every hour to hour and a half. It sounds excessive compared with the way we used to travel, but those little stops give Banks a chance to stretch his legs—and give the rest of us a much-needed break, too.

How Diapers Work on Travel Days

The dogs take up the entire back seat of our SUV, which means changing Banks in the back of the car isn't an option.

So, naturally, our camper becomes the world's largest traveling diaper-changing station.

Before we leave, I make sure there's a clear spot at the end of our bed with our favorite diapers, wipes, lotions, and creams ready to go. Our bed is usually covered with things I've had to move out of the way while packing up the camper, so intentionally leaving enough room for a diaper change is key.

When we stop, I take Banks into the camper, change him, and usually take a quick look around to make sure everything is still where it's supposed to be after bouncing down the road.

We also change his diaper at pretty much every stop—even if there's only a tiny bit of pee.

We've experienced major car-seat blowouts before.

We have absolutely no desire to add clean up the poo mess to our already-growing list of things to accomplish at a rest stop.

If a fresh diaper every hour or so helps prevent that particular travel-day adventure, I'm all for it.

How Snacks and Meals Work

For now, we are a strict no snacks while we're driving family.

I am paranoid about Banks choking in his car seat while I'm driving and having no way to immediately get to him. So, until I'm more comfortable with it, eating happens when we're stopped.

Which means snack time is frequent.

It's another reason we stop about every hour to hour and a half. Almost every stop includes some kind of snack or, depending on the time of day, a full meal.

I also pack food based on how long I think the travel day will take—not how long Google Maps says the drive will take.

If we're planning a three-hour drive, I'm packing enough food for five.

Sometimes a snack is as simple as a banana and some puffs. Other times it's one of our favorite meat-and-veggie pouches with some cheese. For lunch, we might find a kid-friendly fast-food place along the way, or I'll pack him a PB&J to munch on while we sit in the trucks with the windows down and take a break from the road.

Dinner, though, is something I try to think about before we ever leave.

Whenever possible, I have Banks's dinner already prepared and waiting in the camper fridge. By the time we arrive, he's usually hungry, we're tired, and there are about a million things that need to happen at once.

So while Zach works on setting up the exterior of the camper, I head inside, pull out dinner, and warm it up.

And after hours of driving, rest stops, diapers, dog walks, snacks, and Are we there yet?—even if Banks can't actually ask that yet—there's something pretty wonderful about finally sitting down.

A home-cooked meal while admiring a brand-new place through our dinner table window?

That's always the best.

How the Dogs Fit Into All of This

The girls, as I call them, take up the entire back seat of the SUV.

Before we load the motorcycle onto the back of my car and hit the road, I make sure they're set up with a very comfy bed and a water bowl with just a little bit of water in it. I've learned not to fill it too much—otherwise they'll either gulp the entire thing down immediately or, more likely, spill it everywhere.

Every single time we stop, they get water. But unlike Banks, they don't necessarily get out at every stop.

They're dogs, after all, and can usually handle longer stretches between bathroom breaks, so we typically let them out every couple of stops. When we do, though, we make it count. We find somewhere they can walk around, sniff everything there is to sniff, stretch their legs, and just be dogs for a while. And, of course, there are plenty of treats and snacks for being good girls on the road.

My SUV has bucket seats in the middle row, which means the girls can poke their heads right between them to check on Banks. They love coming up to give him kisses while we're driving down the road.

And he absolutely loves it, too.

Two seasoned travelers and the newest little member of the crew.

The girls have been along for this adventure since long before Banks ever joined us.

Marlee, our black Lab mix, is the OG. She's been traveling with us since December 2017 and loves being on the road almost as much as we do. Macie, our Mountain Cur/Feist mix, came along about five years later, and it didn't take her long to figure out how this whole traveling thing works either.

Now they're the seasoned travelers in the back seat with a brand-new little traveler learning the ropes.

And maybe, in their own way, they're teaching Banks something we've all learned after years on the road: sometimes you have to be patient, settle in for the ride, and learn to enjoy the journey just as much as the destination.

What Surprised Me

I'm not really sure what I expected travel days with a toddler to look like.

I never sat down and thought, Okay, this is how I want this to go, and this is how I don't. I think I just assumed traveling with Banks would look mostly the same as it always had.

And in some ways, it does.

In others, it's completely different.

What surprised me most is that I don't feel any more stressed traveling with him than I did before. I don't feel any less stressed either, for that matter. If anything, the camper stresses me out more than Banks ever will!

I think part of that is because Banks has loved car rides since the moment we pulled out of the hospital parking lot.

I know that sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I'm not.

This kid has ridden in so many different vehicles—including a school bus, which also happened to be his first home on wheels—that traveling seems to relax him. He doesn't cry or fuss in the car, even when he's bored. He plays, looks out the window, naps, and just seems content to be along for the ride.

The only time we really hear a peep out of him is when there's poop in his diaper.

And in that case, we're stopping long before whatever rest stop we had planned. No messy diaper rides for this little boy!

But maybe the thing that has surprised me even more than how well Banks travels is how much I've come to love the way he has changed the way we travel.

The frequent stops have become something of a relief.

We walk around the camper and the vehicles to make sure everything is secure. We take care of whatever business needs taking care of. We stretch our legs, let Banks explore for a few minutes, and enjoy the outdoors wherever we happen to be at the time.

Then we pile everybody back in and hit the road again.

If anything, I wish we'd stopped like this during our early travel days.

Marathon driving is great and all, and there was definitely a time when we loved seeing how many miles we could put behind us in a day. But this slower version of travel feels much closer to what I always wanted the journey to look like.

I also thought we'd have to keep more of a schedule with Banks.

Okay... maybe I really thought we'd have to keep a schedule with Banks.

But if I'm being honest, he does so much better when we go with the flow.

It took us about two months to figure that out. After two months of colicky cries, we took him on his first real adventure in the Skoolie. That's a story for a different post, but somewhere between the bus rides, hotel rooms, and weird places, we realized something about our baby:

He thrived in the unknown.

I know. It sounds crazy.

But he loved the hotel rooms. He loved the bus rides. He loved the weird places. He was—and still is—a real trooper.

Maybe that's why the biggest adjustment to traveling with a one-year-old hasn't actually been Banks.

It's been me.

Arriving somewhere after only three hours of driving is still weirdly difficult. The old version of me would've pulled in and immediately thought, We could've gone another 300 miles!

Now?

We stop.

We get out.

And somewhere along the way, Banks inevitably finds a flower—or, more likely, a weed—that absolutely must be picked.

Turns out, slowing down wasn't the part of traveling with a toddler I expected.

But it might be the part that's surprised me most.

What I'd Change

I've always prided myself on believing that the journey is one of the biggest parts of the adventure. And with a one-year-old, that has definitely been the case—probably even more than I ever envisioned.

And to be honest, I love it that way.

The messy travel days, the frequent snack stops, the diaper changes in the middle of all our things piled around him—they're what make the adventure even sweeter.

And if I'm being even more honest, I don't think I'd change a thing at all.

I'm sure our rhythm will change with age, with time, and with every new place we move to. We're already no longer in our nursing-in-rest-stop-parking-lots days. Before long, there will be another part of this routine we don't need anymore, another phase we didn't realize was ending until it's already gone.

Maybe that's another reason I've learned to appreciate the stops.

Because traveling with a one-year-old is slower, messier, and considerably less efficient than the way we used to travel.

But maybe efficiency isn't really the point anymore.

Turns out, slowing down has been pretty good for all of us.

And for now, I think we’ve found our rhythm.