In the course of logging about 60,000 travel miles with my kids in the past eight years, I've found that most complaints can be tempered with simple solutions that can actually make it fun to travel as a family. A good game, for example, makes the miles fly by. In addition to games, I've developed many activities and strategies designed to amuse the most bored backseat passengers (click on the following links to see them all: audiotapes for the road, car-ride treats, classic road-trip games, getting-to-know-you games, inventing, finding and counting games, scavenger hunt for the car, tray-top games and the ultimate travel activity bag). I hope they'll help smooth your own family's journey.

FIND IT IN THE AIR

Test your skills of observation. Compete against each other or work together as a team to spot all the items below. Look for one or two at a time and work your way down the list. Each time your team finds something, everyone gets a treat, such as a coin. When you're finished spotting as many items as you can, make up your own list. Make sure the items are challenging, but not too difficult to find.

•Bridge below
•Hear someone speaking in a foreign language
•Traffic below
•Vegetarian meal
•Person with hair that is two different colors
•Laptop computer
•Person in a uniform
•Father holding a baby
•Mustache
•Wire-rimmed glasses
•Red dress
•Person in an apron
•Dessert
•Briefcase
•Soda can
•Walkman
•Somebody sleeping
•Someone sewing or knitting
•Pillow and blanket
•Cloud
•Another airplane
•Mountain range
•Candy
•Lake
•Ocean
•Bare feet
•Someone wearing socks without shoes
•Detective novel
•Cell phone
•Blue tie

When she's not involved in scavenger hunts, Susan Fox is a freelance writer in Palo Alto, California.

Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and prices are subject to change. Updated August 2005.