Do you give exact arrival times when travelling to see your parents?

[Toilin]

If your parents live around 1.5-2 hours away, and you have arranged to go and see them for the day or for the weekend…

How precise are you around your arrival time? Are you asked to give an exact time that you must stick to, do you give a window, or do you just say (for example) ‘afternoon’ and that’s ok?

I give them a time range (ie 2-2.30) then inevitably have to text to say we are running 15 minutes late 🤦🏼‍♀️

If I’ve learnt anything from this site it’s that people having wildly differing opinions on what things mean so saying “afternoon” could be 12.01 or could be 5.59

Dad is ex-Forces. He used to pride himself on giving an ETA and getting it spot on.

Much easier now with sat navs and mobile phones.

I would give a one hour window and then update. It’s a bit mean to expect them to wait in all afternoon.

A time range.

'Morning' or 'afternoon' I assume is what those who deliver parcels or work for BT tell their families when visiting. And then don't turn up no doubt.

I give mine a window initially, so ‘lunchtime’, or ‘early afternoon’, mainly depending on whether I’m getting fed or not, and then an ETA when I set off. It’s about 75 mins drive

I’d generally give a half hour window, no matter who I was visiting (why would my parents be any different?), unless there was a particular reason to need to be more exact.

If I travel to see anyone - close or far - I'd agree an arrival time in advance. Why wouldn't you? Are people supposed to just sit in all day?

We usually set Google maps when we get in the car for traffic so we let them know the ETA as we leave.

We tell them approx time. Then tell them when we leave. It's a long journey around m25 so potential for traffic. They get on with their day and we let ourselves in when we arrive if they are out/asleep.

AM or PM, then update when we leave and an accurate ETA once we've hit the halfway point.
This is partly so they can time food prep.

Parents live about 3 hrs away, I just tell them what the sat nav says when we set off and then after we leave the services (stupid I know but if I don’t give an eta once we leave the house she asks for one, even though it’s irrelevant due to the services stop).

I usually tell them when I'm intending to set off in advance then a quick text once I'm in the car ready to go. Gives them an idea of when I'm aiming for but no pressure if traffic is awful.

My journey could be 3 -5 hours depending on the M25 so I tend to be excessively vague and update as I go

If you’re arriving to anyone’s house you’d give an approximate ETA, surely?

If you said ‘afternoon’ would that be 12.30-1.30 (in time for lunch), or in time for afternoon tea, or 5pm or what?

I’d give as exact a time as possible and update as traffic/kids required. I know my mum finds it helpful to plan food and I wouldn’t like her to have to wait around unnecessarily.

I give what mealtime I'll be there for as that's the pertinent info so far as my mam's concerned. We live 5-8 hours away depending on traffic and car charging though

I'm off to my father for Christmas and have told him I'll leave about 10ish. Traffic takes what it takes, but it he knows when I'm leaving it gives an indication of when I'll arrive. Still doesn't stop him ringing 48753 times while I'm en route.

Yes I always give a fifteen minute approximation. Takes an hour and a half to get there.

We live about an hour and twenty away. We put in Google maps and share the journey progress with them when we leave. So they're given a heads up about rough time, based on getting the notification when we leave, but if they want they can see where we are and know pretty much the exact time we're due to arrive.

We live that time way.
We agree a 30min approx slot, phone to say when leaving, and then if we are going to arrive outside the slot we phone to give updates.

Takes 1.5 hours to get to MIL. We give a half hour approximation and would let her know if we were delayed.

My Dad is ery anxious and so I tell him approximately what time I will get to him. He knows I could be a wee bit earlier or a wee bit later. If there is a traffic jam or diversion, I will ring him from the car to let him know otherwise he really worries.

For an 1.5-2 hours I'd give a half hour window.
For longer trips of 4-6+ hours then I would give an hour window that we are hoping to arrive, and would update when we were closer.

I hate mid morning/lunch/afternoon sort of estimates because I feel it expects the host to wait around and doesn't respect their time.

we live in different countries, so not really relevant now, but before (as with anyone) I'd say I'll be there about x o'clock, then text when I'm on my way. Update if anything major happens.

I think giving a time is just good manners really, so they can plan around it. Even if you have a key etc. I think morning/afternoon is too vague. I know I feel like I can't settle if I've got no idea what time someone's arriving, it doesn't bother me though if they get held up & are later (earlier us sometimes and 'oh fuck' moment depending on who it is!!

Parents live around 45 mins away so closer than your example, sister is 2 hours away though. For both I would agree a rough time when planning, lunchtime-ish, late morning, early afternoon or before X time. Then I would text as we were setting off to say leaving now which gives them a rough ETA as long as traffic is clear.