I'd always choose a train if a train is possible. You can get up and walk around, there's lots to see out the windows, more space to spread things out, it's noisy so you can talk happily, and I feel very safe. The only drawback is having to carry a lot of stuff.

Car or train. Train because there is room, car because you can stop at any time and stretch your legs, find a place for the kids to run, buy them a quick treat.

car....we can take breaks...theirs the wonderful dvd player...we can toss snacks around...they can yell if they want..i can yell if i want...if we wanna pull over somewhere to give everyone a time to stretch..then we can

I chose plane. My daughter talks non-stop. We drove 8 hours when she was 3 and she spoke the entire time. She rarely sleeps on planes but at least she talks less.

LOL Ims my daughter is going on 2 and 1/2 soon and she's just'a talking away in the backseat now.. Oh what I have to look forward to! =D

I'd say neither plane nor car really.. I get SO nervous going anywhere with her. I'm so scared I'll lose her at the store or something or that we'll get hit and killed on the way to where ever we are going. Even just driving from her school (like 3 miles from my house maybe) I get so scared and am wayyyy more cautious. If I was alone I could total my car and care less. But if I have her with me I just get so nervous.

Ok so I'm not a parent yet, but I would imagine it would be better to take a child in the car. The noise is self-contained, there is more room to spread out (usually), and you can make stops whenever you want.

Plane. There may be a tantrum the whole way, but "the whole way" is much shorter than by car. Even if they cry the whole 4 hour plane trip to my parents', it's better than crying the whole 3 day trip to my parents'. Or making the trip take 4 to 5 days because of frequent stops, shortening the amount of time we see them.

Auto. Your'e in more command.

Car.. breaks, snacks, toys etc. are more easily transported and available to the children.. plus there is so much to see when driving, many learning opportunities and fun car games! Or sing a longs.

car. we have it down now. when i drive between our house and grandpa's it takes about 9 hours. we sing songs and play games and stop for treats a few times. they are good travelers

For something that would be within a day's drive, I'd prefer the car. My response was for visiting farther away.

I got that Greggie. All of our vacations prior to this year had been done by car. 11 and 13 hour drives - we'd stop for the night somewhere in the middle. This year we went to Hawaii.. can't drive there lol. Next year we're going to the east coast to visit family.. if we had the time we'd drive it (from NV) but we don't so we'll by flying for that one too. For us anything that can be done in 2 days or less is driven... so I completely understand a 4 day trip by car being shortened by taking a plane

oh and for the most part we choose our vacations by whether or not they can be driven to within 2 days. it's just what works for us... plus it's cheaper (even with the gas prices the way they are, since we are a family of 6).

We don't actually do full family vacations, we can't afford them. We do a lot of short weekend trips for my husband's races, and I visit my parents in Wisconsin.

I understand.. we couldn't always take vacations either especially when we were first starting out. I'm glad you are able to do what you can do. you're making memories either way