Term 2 seriously flew by on the double.

Now we're part-way or well into a two- or three-week intensive, July Residential School experience in our very own homes.

Everyone who was previously off our campus part-time is now back on our campus full-time.

It's Residential School, pretty much as I remember it from CSU - Wagga earlier this century. (I was studying a Bachelor of Wine Science. Granted it was a big call for someone with a Bachelor of Arts - Communications. Hence, it's still very much a work in progress!)

There are differences of opinion on any campus, right?

There are clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.

Sometimes the younger students clash with the older students.

There are turf wars.

"She won't get out of my room!"

"She's taking too long in the bathroom!!"

There are insatiable appetites.

There are no regular meal times; instead there is one, very long lunch.

Everyone wants to eat chips at any time of the day or night.

Constant. Carb. Cravings.

Students need to be dropped places at odd times of the morning and afternoon for inconvenient blocks of time.

One needs to be at a dance holiday school for two hours in the morning.

Another needs to be there for five hours at a different time of day.

No one seemed to own a car back during my Res School days; I had my husband's "Fraud" to ferry would-be winemakers around the Wagga campus!

Now the students on my home campus aren't old enough to drive on account of them being tweens and all.

MORE MATERIAL GIRL:

If you didn't need a holiday before July Residential School kicked in, you may well need one now!

Otherwise you may have to settle for a garden-variety road trip.

Here's my cheat sheet on surviving the school holiday road trip free of heartache and hiccups:

1) Agree on a destination. When I told our eight-year-old we were going on a day trip to Cactus Country at Strathmerton last Sunday, she burst into tears. Turned out she had been scared of "cactuses" (or cacti) her whole life! "Where have you ever had a run-in with a cactus?" I had to know. "Minecraft!? They're less scary in real life." We managed to have a screen-free Sunday while we ambled among eight hectares of cacti in every configuration. Once everyone adjusted their sets to the outdoor graphics, there were no incidents. When it started sprinkling rain, we ate nachos and cactus ice cream under cover!

2) Choose a car DJ. This can make or break a long road trip. What to do when dad likes Beatles, mum likes Blondie and the offspring like Sia? It makes for a weird playlist. In the words of British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, to avoid murder on the dance floor, you may want to consider noise-cancelling headphones for all of the passengers in the car!

3) Choose a driver. Generally it comes down to a choice of two. Flip a coin. Having said that, I'm a very happy passenger!

4) GPS or wing it? My husband is a big fan of technology simply for the sake of technology. He clearly likes the sound of another voice in the car telling him what to do and where to go! On Sunday I refrained from mentioning that Cactus Country would stand out as soon as we arrived at Strathmerton. He says he likes to know the ETA that comes with the GPS function.

5) Pack apples and water. The only problem is you'll need to check the car door pockets for cores when you get back home. "The car is not a compost bin," is one of my most widely-used quotes.

6) Pack KeepCups or similar. There will be enough journey waste without all of the takeaway coffee cups you're going to need to survive the school holiday road trip! #plasticfreejulytoo

Travel safe everyone these school holidays even if you're only heading to Mexico.

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