CHERBOURG- MALLAGA

SEVERA

Hi
wondering if any you guys have taken a similar road trip (northern France to southern Spain) and if so have you any dos or don-ts. places to stay see and eat (not literally) along the way etc . taking the wife and 3 kids so it should be fun ha. i am dreading it!! going to go down west coast of France starting next wednesday, help

zagmund

That's a long drive, but you already know that.

With kids, we've found that the most important thing is to give them some days off along the way. According to the maps it's about 20 hours drive non-stop. As an adult you *might* break that into 2x10 hour days, or maybe 3x7 hour days, but the kids will be bored out of their minds sitting in the back of a car for that period if it is day after day after day without a change. I would suggest 1 short days drive with somewhere for the kids to play at the end of the day, then 1 long days drive, then a day off, then short, then long again.

If you don't build in a break along the way, the kids will likely resent having to get into the car *again* on day 3 or later. They will have no perception of the fact that the drive is a necessary evil to get them to the fun bit of the holiday, all they will remember is that yesterday involved sitting in the car for hours and hours and hours without end.

Every time one of your kids wants to go to the loo, it's going to involve pulling in to motorway rest area (or somewhere in a town along the way). In my experience these *never* take less than 30 minutes between pulling off the motorway, parking, walking, doing what needs to be done, locating lost/shopping children/spouses, walking back & pulling back onto the motorway. Add in some time to get food, buy some drinks for the car, etc . . . and you can easily be looking at 60 minutes. Bearing in mind that there will be 5 of you and most people need to go to the loo more than once a day (especially if drinking a good bitof water with the heat), I foresee a reasonable amount of your travelling time will be spent in rest areas.

peckerhead

...and the quality/cleanliness of these takes a sharp dip once you cross the border into Spain, so try to plan ahead and not get caught out having to stop at Servicios El Dungheap-crawling-with-flies. Have you checked out the Michelin website for route planners, traffic info, safety tips, etc.?

+1 to everything zagmund has said. You don't want to be rushing, or putting the kids through repeated 8-hour stints in the car, they'll just go mad on ya. Suggest you round off the trip with a day or two somewhere in N. France (not Cherbourg itself, find a nice campsite in Brittany within striking distance). You do not want a 500-mile trip to make the ferry home.

Disclaimer: I did Cherbourg/Cádiz/Cherbourg in 2002, in mid-summer, with 5 kids aged 4-13, in a dark navy RH-drive Mitsubishi Spacewagon with no AC and a dodgy roofbox. I/We have more or less recovered now, in fairness...

SEVERA

Thanks guys,
i must check that mitchelen website, good advise on rest periods too. we have been to france 4 times and found it no bother, but spain sounds a bit dodgy allright, if their service stations are anything to go by!

SEVERA

i know this is probably the wrong thread, but have any of you brought your laptops with you on holliday to use the internet check emails etc. at the moment i have 3 mobile broadband at home, or will it not work once we leave ireland??