(Half-)Year-End Recap
Or, It’s Been Trippy
I started this Substack this past summer, after thinking about it and drafting entries for at least a year. With the encouragement of a number of friends (especially the lovely and talented Molly W and Mia T) and, of course, my very patient Pilot/partner in road-tripping and all other ventures, I started posting stuff and getting some positive feedback–at least enough to know I’m not writing into the void! I’m not sure how much longer I will be able to keep this up–I have at least a few more months’ worth of weekly posts in escrow right now, waiting to be polished up and published, but for now, let’s take a look back at the year in posts.
July:
I explained what makes a good Snack Bag, literally and metaphorically.
Snack-sized bite: The number one rule for road snacks: nothing smelly, drippy, or sticky.
I talked about the difference between Real Life and Road Life and tried to convince you to eat candy in bed while on vacation.
Snack-sized bite: Road Life diverges not only from Real Life, but also from sixth grade math problems.
We considered what and how to pack for a road trip. TLDR: packing cubes. Somehow, my Schindler’s List allusion did not attract comment from my cousins, so I have to assume they missed these posts.
Snack-sized bite: Don’t pack all your underpants and then come crying to me when you can’t change out of your gross travel clothes when you get home!
August:
I enumerated stuff worth snagging, such as plastic souvenir cups that come in surprisingly handy in the bathtub.
Snack-sized bite: That hotel shower cap in the folded cardboard envelope? In a pinch, it will wrap a half-eaten bagel and cream cheese “for later.”
I shared my obsession with pressed pennies and other collections, quests, and souvenir ideas. This led to several friends texting me photos of pressed-penny machines on their travels, so I assume they did not miss this post!
Snack-sized bite: Socks are always a good bet; as I write this, I am wearing a beloved pair of Thumper-and-Flower socks from my last trip to Disneyland, and my Mount Rushmore socks give me that Fourth of July feeling on a cold winter’s day.
I dropped several references to twee Scottish indie rock bands of the 2000s and included links to a few streaming playlists in my post on music in the car.
Snack-sized bite: We make the kids try to guess top hits from the years we were their age (which is how my son knows who Digable Planets are) and then we make pathetic attempts to guess current chart-toppers (which is when I score points for semi-correctly identifying Mac Miller–a side effect of teaching high school.)
Homage was paid to NYT financial columnist Ron Lieber’s “spend/save/give” system in my post about trip money.
Snack-sized bite: Younger kids should practice with toy money that represents real cash you keep in your wallet or, perhaps, your credit card balance; the concrete experience of seeing how many “ones” or “fives” it would take to buy the astronaut ice cream (and how many fewer paper bills they would have less as a result) can make the abstract experience of spending a lot easier to understand for preschoolers and young elementary-aged kids.
It was time to come clean in my reflections on recent road trips, when I confessed that I had forgotten the Snack Bag at home.
Snack-sized bite: the pillow has now joined the pantheon of essential road trip supplies
September:
Libraries got some love in my first post of the school year.
Snack-sized bite: First and foremost, libraries offer no-cost places to be. That means bathroom access, places to sit down, A/C in the summer, heat in the winter, shelter from rain year-round, water fountains, and more.
Speaking of school, I shared some tips about college tours. And a bingo board.
Snack-sized bite: Little-known fact: it is legal to apply to a college without having toured the campus beforehand!
Everyone got a little Yiddish lesson in my post on Shlom Oyto.
Snack-sized bite: the person who sets the baseline for any compromise is the person who is the most demanding.
Like Sia, I love Sean Paul and cheap thrills, so I posted about ways to save money on admission fees.
Snack-sized bite: My favorite tip, though, is the fantastic Every Kid Outdoors program, which gives a free annual pass to fourth graders; the summer after my daughter’s fourth grade year, we planned a Southwest trip that took us to eleven national parks and calculated she saved us over $250 in entrance fees!
October:
The Sugarhill Gang helped us remember the merits of different kinds of lodging in Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn.
Snack-sized bite: Independent hotels can be great for families with kids who enjoy quirks and will happily pose for a photo examining a manual typewriter or sitting on a settee once owned by Elton John.
“See, We Can Be Spontaneous if We Plan” essentially sums up my risk-averse philosophy of life.
Snack-sized bite: On days with long drives planned, I try to list some suggested stops in case we need a break; on activity-heavy days, I’ll list alternatives in case something looks to be less enticing than anticipated.
In “(Not At) Home School,” I shared strategies for how to minimize the impact of missing school for a trip and let Bored Teachers clips remind us of how desperately some people need this guidance.
Snack-sized bite: Don’t spring a trip like this on kids old enough to be expected to keep track of their own schoolwork; they might not have let you know about the math quiz or history essay they have next week (and that’s a good thing! That’s called independence!), and they could be really stressed out if suddenly they find out their careful study plans have been upended for what is supposed to be a fun family vacation.
More tips for successful snacking were featured in You Could Do a Lot Worse Than Eating These Gas Station/Gift Shop Staples in a Pinch.
Snack-sized bite: You might have to hunt around the edges of the shop and possibly put on blinders to avoid being drawn in by the large displays of chips and soda, but trust me–relatively healthy and filling options are available!
November:
In “Getting Tripped Up,” I shared some lessons learned the hard way.
Snack-sized bite: In a beautiful example of turning two different lemons into lemonade, we realize immediately where we need to go for our consolation-prize trip: Back to Dollywood! All of my meticulous planning from five years before allows me to reconstruct the trip we didn’t get to enjoy all those years ago.
“Holiday Ro-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oad (Trip)” featured tips for packing holiday memories and grated nutmeg.
Snack-sized bite: Even if you’re all on board for what’s happening on the holiday, make sure you’re clear on who is doing it; just because someone always cooks the holiday meal when they host at their home doesn’t mean they’re necessarily in charge of all things food at a rental cabin.
“What to Do Before You Leave” covered some strategies for making sure you don’t forget something (or someone) important in the rush to get on the road.
Snack-sized bite: Cool trick: fill a clear water bottle halfway with water and rest it on its side in the freezer; once frozen, stand the bottle upright. If there is a power outage while you are away, you’ll be able to tell because the water will have melted to the bottom half of the bottle and then refrozen.
In “The Same You, Just in a New Place,” a classic Adam Sandler sketch reminds us that we are who we are, no matter where we are.
Snack-sized bite: What’s good for preschoolers, I’ve learned, is usually good for the rest of us, especially when we’re overtired, overstimulated, and touchy.
“Gifts from the Snack Bag” offered suggestions for packable, practical travel-gifts, like a Nightmare Before Chanukah t-shirt and an out-of-print series of puzzle books.
Snack-sized bite: Sunglasses, hats, and the like are always a fun gift, especially if they speak to the recipient’s interests. Outfitting a little one in a brightly-colored “high-viz” hat can help you spot them in a crowd or across a busy playground, which is always a comfort when traveling.
In “Road Trips Without the Kids,” I recounted a child-free anniversary tour with the theme of “Doing Things Our Kids Find Boring”.
Snack-sized bite: We took a five-hour bread class at the incredible King Arthur Baking School–and filled out the rest of that day by browsing at length in their store, which is possibly the one thing our kids would find even more tedious than waiting for bread to rise!
“How Not to Forget Stuff on the Road” offered tips for making sure you don’t lose a charger in the middle of the Badlands.
Snack-sized bite: Leave your empty cooler bag open and turn it inside out so that you remember to get the snacks out of the fridge; stuff your scarf into the sleeve of your coat so that you don’t leave it draped on the back of a chair when you check out; put your wallet in your shoe so that you literally can’t exit the hotel room without remembering to leave a tip for the housekeeper.
In “Weird Packing Essentials and Surprisingly Useful Stuff,” binder clips, pill boxes, and painter’s tape all got their flowers.
Snack-sized bite: Even if you aren’t packing perishable goods on your way out, throw a compact cooler bag in your car; it can be used to keep water bottles chilled on a hot day or carry picnic supplies during the trip. In a pinch, an insulated bag can also be used to protect fragile souvenirs.
So, now it’s your turn. Have you been able to try any of these tips? How did it go? Do you have your own tips to share? I’d love to hear them!
Safe travels and happy Snack Bag wishes to you in the new year!