When traveling long distances via car with younger kids, what is the most important determinant, in deciding which gas station you choose?
Please reply with your top 3 from the list below:
Brand/Brand Familiarity
Location
Proximity to Restaurants and other stations
Station Size
Well Lit
Clean Bathrooms
Co-Located/Attached Restaurant
Snack Selection
Covered Pumps
Other (please list)
Answers (68)
Clean Bathrooms
Co-Located/Attached Restaurant
Location
When traveling with my three children and wife, I choose a gas station that is close in proximity to restaurants and other stations to shop price, brand, and to see how full the line is first. I always look at the signs before exiting. Secondly, I would see how well lit the station is if at evening. Thirdly, but not lastly, I would make sure the restrooms are available and clean. I consider many things, but these would have to be my first selections.
Proximity to Restaurants and other stations
Clean Bathrooms
Location
Location
Clean Bathrooms
Brand/Brand Familiarity
Clean Bathrooms
Location
Co-Located/Attached Restaurant
We tend to do the same trip over and over to visit our families and we have our favorite stops along the way and almost always stop in the same places.
Brand
Location
Snack Selection
Dipak V.
Consultant Mobile 2G -3G, Iub, Metro Ethernet (FE/GE) consolidation planner.
Depends on how much fuel you have in the car!
brand (don't want "water" in my gas)
Clean bathrooms, though these are just a dream in most locations.
Proximity to restaurants
Well lit
In April, we took a 12 day road trip from Sacramento CA to the Grand Canyon, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada with our three kids and our dog. We tried to stop as often as possible in bigger chain gas stations as opposed to mom and pop gas stations, mostly because the chains tended to be a little cleaner and have less of a "you ain't from around these parts" mentality when we'd walk in with our brood.
We tried to avoid the snack aisles as much as possible, instead opting to bring our own snacks and pass them out throughout the day. I can't say they didn't get their share of road trip junk food, but the end of each day didn't find them cooped up in the car AND strung out on empty calories and sugar.
for whatever that is worth...
Well Lit, Station Size, Clean Bathrooms
Gas price
Location
Well Lit
1.Location
2.Proximity to Restaurants and other stations
3.Well Lit
Clean Bathrooms
Clean Bathrooms
Clean Bathrooms
I cannot over-emphasize how important clean bathrooms are to women, especially mothers with young children. Toddlers want to touch everything!
Brand
Clean Bathrooms
Covered Pumps
1. Price
2. Clean Bathrooms
3. Location
Location, Brand Familiarity, Co-Located/Attached Restaurant are key.
We keep it simple close to the main road as possible a brand that we know and use frequently and a place where we can grab some food as well. We often want to get back on the road as soon as possible.
Brand
Location- how close to the off ramp
Clean Bathrooms
Well-lit
Brand/Brand Familiarity
Location
Willem M.
Business Architect at GYBA BV and Information Technology and Services Consultant
Location
Clean Bathrooms (to bad you can't tell up front)
Brand/Brand Familiarity
Location
Co-Located/Attached Restaurant
Well Lit
Depending on how far you are traveling, I have in some cases determined when I will need to stop and googled the city/town to check what is available. Stay safe!
Fabien E.
Project Manager for Department 'Technical, Quality and Risk Management' of Bureau Veritas
Station Size
Clean Bathrooms
Co-Located/Attached Restaurant
Frans D.
Manager Network Support, Enterprise Infrastructure Operations at Canon Europa NV
Co-Located/Attached Restaurant
Brand/Brand Familiarity
Station Size
by experience:
Station size
attached restaurant
clean bathrooms
Kevin M.
Branch Sales Manager at Image Technology Specialist, Inc (Xerox)
Best Answers in: Sales Techniques (1)
When traveling long distance with my five children in the mini van the first thing I look for is:
1. Location- We are already traveling a long distance and I'm not looking to spend any additional time traveling an extra 2-4 miles searching for a place to stop.
2. Price- See comment above- 5 children- need to make sure we have resources available for their other needs like eating!
3. Overall Cleanliness- While clean bathrooms are a must and dirty bathrooms would prevent us from stopping at the gas station in the future, when choosing a gas station on a long distance drive you normally don't know how the bathrooms are. The only clue available is the overall cleanlineess of the gas station. If the place looks like a real dump I might spend a little more to drive to a well lit, clean looking gas station.
Location
Clean Bathrooms
Safety
Our tendency is to drive in the middle of the night, allowing our son to sleep through the trip, so the most important factors are:
- Location: something that's visible from the highway, and also in an area that draws a lot of people and is safe, clean and well lit. I guess that makes my other two preferences:
- Well Lit, and
- Close to restaurants and other stations, just for safety reasons
Price and brand are also factors, but my top three are those above.
Brand Recognition
Proximity to Restaurants
Clean Bathrooms w/ Expectation of a Baby Changing Facilities.
attached restaurant
clean bathrooms
location
I drove from Milwaukee to Atlanta and back with a 1-year old, a 3-year old and a dog this past summer. I can visualize almost each and every gas stop along the way but couldn't tell you a single associated brand.
In order of importance:
Location - easy on, easy off.
Exterior and grounds maintenance. Upkeep.
Clean bathrooms - as indicated by #2.
I can see restaurants and snack selection being definite detractors as the kids get a bit older, but was also quite pleased when my wife emerged from one "gift shop" gas station with a guitar shaped Sun Records flyswatter. I suppose a lot depends on how many miles are left ton the itinerary. Covered pumps and lighting are complete non-factors for me as we plan driving around daylight hours so the kids can see what they're doing in the car and what's going on outside the car.
