This post is sponsored by Babbleboxx.com on behalf of Single Edition Media.

I LOVE road trips, in fact most of my favorite vacation memories happened while road tripping. There is something completely amazing and adventurous about road trips and I am totally hooked on them. I don’t care where i’m going, as long as it’s new to me i’m excited about it. I love seeing everything this beautiful world has to offer us. I’ve taken many road trips throughout the US (although never out West surprisingly!) and even took one through Germany and Austria once. Once having kids, especially our car seat hating 2 year old our, road trips have slowed way down and the longest stretch we’ve done in recent years has only been 5 hours. My travel loving soul is completely crushed for the time being, but my youngest is finally starting to turn the corner and doing much better in the car so I can see us taking longer road trips later this year, hopefully!

No matter where we are going, or how long the drive is I consider myself an expert road trip packer. There are a few things that make road tripping easier and more fun, especially with children involved. Here is my breakdown of some road trip essentials:

Audible
I recently started using Audible and I am hooked on them! They are an audiobook subscription service perfect for long road trips. I find it really difficult to read in the car without feeling sick so Audible makes it much easier to enjoy a book through my headphones. Some people have asked me if listening to a book is as good as reading one, and yes I can promise you it is. It might actually be even better. I swear I get goosebumps from listening to certain parts. All you need to get started with Audible is an account (you can sign up here for 1 month free!) and a listening device such as an iPhone, android device, fire tablet or other mp3 player.

IHOP Gift Card
Besides seeing new places, food is one of my favorite things about road trips. I usually pack up a ton of snacks and car friendly meals -healthy and not ;)- but we absolutely love stopping and eating at restaurants. It gives you a nice break from the car too! One of our favorite road trip guilty pleasures is IHOP. I can’t even tell you how many we’ve been to across the US, but we might be IHOP visit world record holders, just saying. If you’ve never been to one, you’re missing out. They serve breakfast, all day. Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal. If you happen to be on the road, or live near one on July 18th be sure to stop in because they are celebrating 59 years in business and from 7am to 7pm you can get a short stack of pancakes for just 59 cents!

T-Rex Tape
When packing for a road trip you can’t forget the essentials in case something goes wrong! We always have an emergency kit in our car and just recently added the T-Rex tape to the mix. It’s a durable, 3 layer tape duct tape with sun resistant materials perfect for any unexpected issues along your road trip. We’ve lost a license plate on our camper before (thanks to that 2 year old mentioned above) and needed to tape it back on until we were home again and my husband could re-drill the holes for it. So yeah, you just never know when you’re going to need it! Get your T-Rex tape here.

Chops Snacks Jerky
Back to the fun stuff- food. One of my husbands favorite snacks for road trips is beef jerky. We were lucky enough to find the Chops brand because they are are natural, USDA choice, free of preservatives, nitrates and MSG. My husband loves them and they come in a variety of different flavors. You can get 20% off your first order here with code 5CHM79Z7Q1BE .

Cube-tastic! 3×3 Puzzle Cub
Our 4 year old is obsessed with this STEM puzzle. I’m constantly amazed at the level of creativity and critical thinking that a 4 year old has, especially when playing with this cube. It’s basically a modern twist on an old toy, the software scans the real-life cube and creates a virtual copy in the game. Children can then follow the customized step by step tutorial on how to solve it themselves. I love that while road tripping my son can work on his problem solving skills, memory and hand-eye coordination. A bonus is that it is BPA free and non-toxic. You can get your own for 15% off with code “CUBETRIP” right here.

Whether your flying to the start of your road trip travels or not my friend Melissa from The Family Voyage has a very helpful post regarding the game changing device known as the Ride Safer Delight vest which has the potential to eliminate the use of bulky car seats. Any travel loving family knows this could be a valuable space and time saving way to travel so check out her post here to read more.
So, there you have it- a few of our road trip essentials. Are you a fellow road trip lover? What’s your favorite road trip of all time, or where are you hoping to go?