Karak
Like you, some days I still can't believe what we now pack. Seven years ago I was kidless and a Jetta was plenty. Now I have 3 kids and a dog. Being young kids we need to travel with a stroller, kid carying backpack, booster seats or highchairs for eating, diapers or porta potty and the list seems to go on. We also like to go camping and fish'in so need fishing rods, sleeping bags, stove, water jug and the list goes on and on.
But even if we weren't into the camping thing, I think there are two things that have changed since our parents were hauling us around in sedans and the like. They had motherjesus big station wagons or sedans back then with lots of cargo and passenger space. Heck, I remember the Ford Country Squire station wagon (fake wood siding included) with jump seat for 4 people in the back and the land-yacht of a 4 door hardtop Chev Impala my parents owned. We could damn near get a Queen sized bed in the trunk. But then the oil crisis of the 70' came along and the vehicles shrunk. The other difference is the change in affluence and associated expectations of our generation versus the last one or two. We seem to "need" to bring more "essentials" than our parents did. It's unfortunate but as the wealth of our societies increase, so does the stuff we have to cart around. the materiale are more
