From Austin to Destiny with 4 kids!

We are travelling with 4 kids from Austin to Destin: is it manageable doing in one day or should we stop for a night somewhere in between?
Any places worth to stop by on the way?
We are looking for places to eat on the way, kid friendly and safe.
Any other suggestion is welcome, thank you!!

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

To Destin FL you would definitely need to stop overnight on route for safety reasons and to save the Kids from going crazy. It's much further than professional drivers are permitted to travel in a day and they don't have 4 kids to take care of ! Gulfport area is the furthest you should aim for, but Baton Rouge LA would set a more child friendly pace with time for stops to allow them to run around and let off steam.

I have to agree, trying to make this trip in one day with kids is a very bad idea.

Frankly, even with a group of adults, it's not a very safe or smart thing to attempt to do in a day. While as a one day sprint, it might be possible, you would also be set up to be exhausted when you arrive, and not really in any shape to have fun at your destination. Trying this with kids will pretty much guarantee they will be miserable. Even if you try to "drug" them with movies and electronics, no kid can be expected to sit still for the 14-15 hours it will take to make this trip in real world conditions. Make it 4 kids, and you'd be lucky if they don't kill each other!

You really want to make a stop.

Over 740 miles....two days, or at least a day and a half. My kids were at their breaking point at about 550 miles, when they were younger, though they'd go 600 if they knew there was a pool and/or playground on the other end.



Donna

You don't say the ages of your children, but I wonder what message they are getting about roadtripping, if you could even consider driving all that distance in one day. To us a roadtrip was always to learn about what is along the way, as well as what is at the destination. We would stop at places which interested us, be they geological, geographic, historical, or touristy, and share them with our five children. Sure, it took longer to get there, but hopefully they learned a lot about their country and the world in which they live. It also forced us to learn all about the route before departure.

Roadtripping can be such a large part of their education.

Lifey