Stuck in Second Gear by Carmen Reid is out now! Get your copy 📖
What I’ve learned over the years.
The number one priority is a reliable car. If you’re not convinced in your heart of hearts that the clapped-out people carrier will make this lengthy journey, then take it from my bitter experience and either rent / beg / borrow something more reliable or go by train.
When I was a kid, our cars were always breaking down – even once on the way to the airport!! And this is the kind of stress no one needs. I have also as a 6-foot-tall teenager driven from Scotland to Germany in a tiny Ford Fiesta with four other family members, plus one radio and… it was tough going!
Next comes entertainment – this is obviously way easier in the high-tech era, but tiny screens and headphones are not for everyone. The car-sick travellers will not thank you. We need audiobooks and plenty of water and fresh air breaks.
Sometimes a long car journey is the ideal place to have heart-to-hearts with older children, if you can lure them from their phones. Younger children love it if everyone in the car is involved in the same thing, so audiobooks that have kept us going mile after mile include Just William, PG Wodehouse’s Blandings books, and Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter of course. On one memorable boiling hot drive to Cornwall with very basic air fan, we were all kept cool by Philip Pullman’s icy Northern Lights.
Best car trip snacks… crisps, tasty sandwiches (not egg!), grapes, but I always have to cut these longways because of paranoia people will choke when we’re doing 80mph on the autobahn. Cooling water and juice drinks, which you half freeze in advance by lying them on the side in the freezer. Don’t freeze the whole thing as you can’t get a drop out till it all melts. Chocolate is probably a no, as it melts and sticks to the car seats, clothes, and everything.
Ideally, there need to be one or even two destination stops en route – though no need to crazy with this, because usually everyone just wants to get there. Looking out a nice service station is a good compromise. Tebay services is the UK legend, and I remember stopping in a gorgeous one in France once with nice food, and a little walk with a viewing tower.
Try to pick a nice overnight stay on really long journeys. We once ended up in a ‘shabby chateau’ in Limousin – we still talk about this place and the dinner they rustled up for us. Still the best quiche I have ever eaten. There were beautiful grounds to explore and as we headed off, the card machine was broken, but they trusted me to send them a payment from home. Which I did, obvs!
Sickness, it happens. We always travelled with thick plastic bags, cool water, and a new t-shirt. The travel sickness pills seem to work quite well, as long as taken well in advance. We did have to give up on driving holidays in the west coast of Scotland though as it was just too much stress for all.
My final recommendation, when you arrive, try not to do much holiday driving. Walk, take the train, hop on a bus, swim, bicycle… you need a break before you’re back in the box on wheels heading back home again.
