How to Be Entertained While on a Long Drive

Listening to New Things

Break out your favorite CDs from childhood. While your taste in music has probably changed since you were a kid, you may still have those old CDs stashed somewhere. A long drive can be a great time for a walk down memory lane. Grab a handful of CDs you haven’t listened to in years and see if you can still sing along to all of the words. You can also take some of your current favorites, borrow new music from a friend, or check out something random from the library. If you prefer an MP3 player over CDs, consider playing it on shuffle and see if you are surprised by some of the music you forgot you had on there. When travelling with kids, bring some CDs of silly songs kids like to sing along to. Or if they are older, let them play some of the music they like.

Tackle a tough read with an audiobook. If you love to read, you probably have that one book you know you should read but have been avoiding. A long trip can be a great time to listen to an audiobook, especially of a book you can’t make yourself read. You get to experience the story without the potential boredom of hours of reading. Most public libraries have a large assortment of audiobooks on CD, which you could check out. You can also download from sites like Audible. Some libraries may even have digital audiobooks for streaming or download. There are all kinds of audiobooks that are kid-friendly, so consider finding a story kids and adults both could enjoy. You don’t have to just choose a difficult book. You could check out the latest best-seller or something a friend has recommended that you’ve put off for too long already.

Give podcasts a try. Although podcasts have been around for years, many people are still unfamiliar with them. These are scripted or unscripted audio recordings. Podcasts often have celebrity interviews but can also be done by people who are not otherwise famous. Searching in iTunes or the Google Play Store will give you nearly unlimited options. You can download podcasts that discuss the latest in sports, music podcasts that include full songs or clips, or serialized podcasts that tell a narrative in each episode. If you have a hobby or interest, there is most likely a podcast that will suit your taste.

Browse the local radio stations. If you are far from home, check out what music stations are playing in the locale you’re driving through. You might assume that radio is basically the same everywhere, but you might be surprised by what you find being played. Even if you don’t settle on a station, or if none have good enough reception, it’s a fun way to take a break from whatever else you’re listening to.

Playing Games as a Group

Create a story one sentence at a time. Start with the driver giving the first line of a story they make up. Then go clockwise through the passengers and have each person say the next sentence of the story. You can try working together to follow a logical pattern, or some players may think of something crazy to challenge the person after them. The idea is to think quickly and keep the story moving, so have a reasonable time limit on how long each player gets to say their sentence. If you play multiple times, rotate who starts the story, or let people jump in with their sentence in a random order. This is a great game for kids because they can make the story extra silly. It gives them a chance to engage their minds when the drive gets boring.

Make your trip a scavenger hunt. Before your trip, come up with a list of things you hope you will see along the way. Take the list with you, maybe even a copy for each passenger, and mark things off as you see them. You can even have a disposable camera with you to take pictures as you see the thing. If you have time, you can stop and stand by the things for the picture. Examples might be a round barn, a windmill, a rock formation, an RV, animals, towns in other states with the same name as your hometown, or a courthouse. You can come up with wild things that you’d never expect like a lion or a robot. You can make the items as general or specific as you want. For example you might say “a cow” or you might say “a brown cow.” You could say “a park” or “a park with a playground.” This makes some items harder to find. You could also put the items on a bingo grid and have everyone try to get bingo with the items. If kids are playing, the prize for getting the most items or a bingo might be letting them pick the restaurant when you stop to eat. Or you could have an actual prize for them like a candy bar or a small toy.

Play the alphabet game with kids. Starting with A, look around at signs, buildings, license plates, and anything with letters, and find each letter in the alphabet. Whoever gets to Z first wins that round. A good way to make the game harder is to say that the letter has to be at the beginning of the word. So you could use the B from Boat but not from Stable.

Put each passenger in the “hot seat.” Take turns going around and asking each other questions that have to be answered. Each passenger is allowed one skip during the game. Depending on how well you know each other, you can make them very personal questions to tease each other, or more general to get to know each other better. A personal question might be, “Who in this car would you want to kiss?” Or “What is something embarrassing that happened to you this week?” Good questions to get to know each other might be “What hobbies do you have?” “What is your dream job?” or “Where are some places you have travelled to before now?” This can be a risky game if some people want to push the limits with their questions. It might be good to agree not to ask questions that are going to make the rest of the drive uncomfortable.

Play license plate baseball. Before you start the game, every person chooses a number 0-9. You play nine innings, and each inning is a vehicle that you pass on the highway. Look at the license plates as you pass and if your number is on it, you get 1 point. If the number is there twice, or more, you get that many points. Whoever has the most after you pass 9 cars wins. You can adjust the rules, as you wish. You can make it any car you see and play for a certain time limit. Or you can make it only cars that pass you. Be sure everyone says out loud what their number is going to be so that no one tries to cheat.

Trying Something New

Use voice-to-text software to start writing something. Maybe you have an idea for a blog that you have been meaning to start, or you want to write a book but can’t find time. Use software your phone already has or download some and start speaking what you want to write. You could also use this option to write a letter or email to friends and family. This type of software does not always catch your words exactly right, so you will have to proofread what you write before doing anything with it. But this is a good way to get a start and get a lot of content down quickly. Make sure you are being safe anytime you handle your phone while driving. Start the software at a point when you are not driving.

Take a scenic route when you have the time. Long drives often end up being mostly highways and interstates, which are faster but can often become very boring. If you don’t mind taking a longer drive, consider using smaller roads that offer more scenery. You may drive a bit farther and take longer, but the drive will be more enjoyable than faster routes. This is probably best done if you are a very good navigator or have GPS handy so that you make sure you still get where you are going without getting lost. You don’t want to get stuck on back country roads with no idea how to get back to the highway. If you have kids who are old enough to read a map, you can let them choose the route you take. Make sure you double check to be sure you are still going in the right direction.

Make spontaneous stops. If you have some time to spare, or you just need a quick break from driving, stop at some attraction you see signs for along the roadway. There might be a local museum, a state or national park, or a unique attraction like the giant ball of yarn or Carhenge. Almost anywhere you drive will have something interesting you can stop and look at. This doesn’t necessarily have to be completely spontaneous. You could look ahead at your basic route and see if there is anything interesting to stop and see along the way. Even if you don’t see a sign advertising anything, you could choose an exit to take and just see if there is anything interesting in the area around the exit. Allow kids to point out attractions they see that look interesting and stop at them. You could say that each kid gets to pick out one stop along way.

Get to know the other passengers. If you are on a long trip with a couple people you don’t know very well, take the opportunity to find out more about them. You may have to push the conversation forward at the beginning if they are shy, but don’t be afraid to. Ask good questions and let them talk while you listen to their answers. You can always ask the standard questions like what they do for work, what they are studying if they’re in college, or what their hobbies are. When you want to dig a little deeper, you can ask them what social issues they care about, what they would do with their time if they didn’t have to work, or just ask them to tell a story about something that happened to them in the past. You can ask kids a lot of different questions to keep them entertained. Ask what kind of jobs they might enjoy someday. Ask what places they would like to travel when they have the chance. You can often keep kids talking for a while without too much work.