What's the longest car journey you can manage?

[blinkboo]

Sorry if this is a boring question!

I hate car journeys with a passion and pretty much refuse to do anything over five hours without breaking it overnight.

Am I alone in this? My DH thinks so and I have noticed that others seem more tolerant. Should I get over it?

And just like @SquigglePigs for some reason the drive to somewhere we like to break up and make more of an event.

But the drive back home from holiday we tend to just stop at services as needed and get back as quick as we can.

I think maybe due to the fact we're heading towards London so don't want to get stuck on the M25 at the end of a long journey. Whereas when we're headed to the countryside we're leaving the risk of traffic behind us.

Also. Pre holiday excitement vs post holiday grumpiness.

If I'm driving alone, I'd rather not to do more than 8 hours non-stop as it's tiring to concentrate that hard for more than 8 hours.

If I'm a passenger, I don't really care as long as the driver's competent /safe.

About four hours is plenty for me.

We often do road trip holidays, I can do 18hrs if necessary but we usually do 8-10hr days for a few days and then stop somewhere for a few days straight.
With take breaks when driving obviously, we usually stop every 3-4 hrs although pre DD we used to go almost non stop from UK to Berlin (MIL lives there), which was about 9hrs off the tunnel with the UK leg before. We wouldn’t do it with a toddler though now.

Wow some of these replies I can’t manage more than 3 hours. I drove from Norfolk to Wales one year for a holiday (5.5 hours) and it nearly killed me. I just hate the stress of it all and find it uncomfortable.

The longest I've ever driven is 90 minutes each way

I've been a passenger on trips that were 4 hours each way, and I've done bus trips like Glasgow to London or Edinburgh to the south of France. Awful. Never again.

10-12 hrs with two drivers.

I regularly drive to Skye alone which takes me nearly 8 hours from where I live in Lancashire.
I usually have a brew at Fort William.

I once drove from Lands end to John o Groats. That's 1800 and some odd miles. Can't remember how long it took.
Obviously had to stop a couple of times for petrol and a wee.
I did it because I enjoy driving and me and my ExDh had the weekend off with no plans.
We were young and carefree and foolish; Didn't make any plans and were surprised to have to drive back to Inverness to find any available accommodation.

Oh actually have driven from near Lands end to the south coast of France which might be further? But got a nice little rest and a steak and ale pie and chips on the ferry.

I would and do drive 5 hours without more than a pee break without giving it much thought.

I’ve done Edinburgh to Paris in a day, but these days I prefer to overnight in Kent on the way down, and the Midlands on the way back.

3 -4 hours now

Was happy doing 8 when younger - but I'm too tired/grumpy/achey if I drive longer than that now

Around 15 hours when I drive home.
I tend to go either alone or with my grandkids so there's no one to share the drive with.

8 hours. Usually through France on the way to the med.

My current limit is how long DS will nap for otherwise he vomits everywhere repeatedly.

I don't know what your traffic situation is, is that 5 hours of straight road or in traffic? And do you have young DC with you?

I do that a few times a week for work.

I do live in another country though so we are a bit more used to it.

I'm doing a 16 hour journey for my holiday next month. My ds and I will share. But before he could drive, I'd do a 12 hour trip with a few decent breaks. I don't stop overnight. It takes a whole day off my holiday imo.

12hours - London to S. of France via tunnel. Only stopped for petrol, loo and one coffee and sandwich. French tolled motorways very easy .

Dorset to Northern Ireland via ferry in Scotland one driver, two kids usually have two breaks in the way up and arrive early for the ferry

Since getting healthy and into exercise, I get really, really fidgety and restless if stuck in one position for too long. Even an hour feels too long to me to just sit. I used to love driving and now find it a necessary evil instead.

Midlands to Belgium in one go is about the furthest I've driven, but I did get a break for a couple of hours on the ferry. That was pre-kids though, I wouldn't want to do more than 6 hours with them.

Probably 5 or 6 for me too. I hate going in the car for long journeys, much prefer the train. You can stretch your legs, there’s plugs and WiFi, can visit the loo at any time, etc. There’s usually more to look at out of the window as well.

About 9 hours in a day. It depends on the car though, a large comfortable quiet automatic with cruise control makes a whole day driving easy and pleasant, in a rattly little hatchback my limit would be a fraction of that.

We do a 9-hour one a couple of times a year. It's hard but weirdly occasionally when we split it into 5 and 4 hour chunks over two days I find it just as hard and irritating.

So I think after about 5 hours it doesn't get increasingly worse because you just get into a mindset of getting it over with.

I can't sit still for long and hate being in cars, half an hour is my limit!

I drove to Lucca in Italy only stopping for fuel from Calais.

Though someone I know drove from Sweden to the UK (couldn't fly) again only stopping for fuel.

I’d rather get a journey over in one day. 12 hours is about my limit.

We did 18, France to. Islands, once and it was miserable, but 6 hours of that was sitting in traffic on the M25.