Few things are as quintessentially Kiwi than a summer road trip. With the windows down and the radio loud, nothing beats packing up the car and hitting the road. That is until you hit peak traffic, the kids start bickering in the backseat and you realise the snacks were left on the kitchen bench.

In fact, whether you're embarking on a week-long road trip, or just making the long drive to the bach, a family car ride can be a stressful affair. But it doesn't have to be. Here are 5 of the best ways to make sure your journey is just as enjoyable as the destination.

1. Timing is everything
Whether you're travelling with little ones or just your mates, traffic can get the best of us.
Leaving the city on a Friday afternoon or holiday? It pays to check the traffic forecast online and work out the best time to leave to avoid the masses. Planning your departure time around peak hours won't just save you the bumper-to-bumper standstills but is also a far safer way to travel. For those early birds or night hours, research the times for sunrise and sunset and make sure you aren't driving in the dark for too long.

2. Have a helping hand
You probably don't need an official study to tell you that driving with kids can pretty stressful. So it makes sense that a recent study by Nissan found over 30% of parents looked for driving assistance technology in a car. Whether you're driving to the beach or across the country, Nissan's Intelligent Mobility technology suite can turn a stressful drive into a safe and carefree journey by assisting with speed, acceleration, steering and braking.

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3. Plan beforehand
Lucky for us, the days of complicated paper maps are behind us and the tap of a screen can show us where we are and where we want to go. By researching before you leave you can also discover and plot the best roads to drive and places to stop, whether you enjoy coastal highways and beach stops or rural roads and tiny towns. Keen to drive on the adventurous side and make up your route as you drive? In Nissan X-TRAIL, your 7" touch-screen display has built-in navigation*, so you can adventure for hours and never be lost. Even better, the Advanced Drive-Assist™ Display puts everything from maps and directions to caller ID and safety alerts right before your eyes, so you can keep your eyes on that road at all times.
*ST-L & Ti models only

4. Go on a payment holiday
Between presents and parties, holidays and celebrations, the stress of money can take the fun right out of Summer. The fix? Don't just go on a family holiday but a payment holiday too! A financially stress-free Christmas and Summer means you can hit the road in a brand new car and not worry about making a single payment until April 2020! Plus, you'll only pay 1.9% finance over 36 months with zero deposit.

5. Stay entertained
Avoiding the dreaded phrase "are we there yet?" on a road trip used to be near impossible, until now.

Nothing takes the fun out of a road trip like the dreaded phrase, "are we there yet", on repeat from the backseat or passenger side. Keeping everyone in the car entertained is essential and almost impossible, until now. The Nissan PATHFINDER Ti's tri-zone entertainment system has you covered with rear monitors that can play DVDs, video games, photos and more for the kids, while the front seat has full control of the audio system. Got a car full of different music tastes? No sweat, just adjust the 13-speaker Bose® audio system to play only in the front, letting everyone enjoy their own choice of entertainment in perfect harmony.