How do you survive long car/plane rides with your kids? Many of us might be heading out on vacation in the next few months, so thought it would be good to share some tips.

I've done a number of long trips with my daughter - several on my own.  What's worked for me:

1. Eat lunch, snacks in the car. I've found that if we stop to eat, she's so excited to play, run around, etc., that she ends up not eating anything. So we pack food to eat in the car, which kills time in and of itself, and then maybe make an extended stop at a rest stop, a park we find on the way or even a Target to kill some time. You can spend less on a new toy in the dollar spot at Target than on lunch at Wendy's.

2. Get some cheap new toys and library books. And then I wrap them in newspaper comics or something. You kill time as they unwrap the "presents" and then as they play with the toys.

3. Books on tape. We don't have a TV in the car, but we do listen to books on tape that we get from the library. The whole John Lithgow series is great - The Runaway Pancake, etc.

4. Activity book, blank paper, stickers, markers and other crafty items. 

5. If I'm taking a plane, I don't board at the beginning when they invite young children on. I wait until they call the last zone or until near the end of boarding (but before they're making the last call). I imagine if you have a sleeping baby, it might not be that big of a deal. But I don't see any reason to coup up a toddler or preschooler on an airplane for longer than you have to.

What do you do?